Total Quality Management

Total Quality Management (TQM) is not a management system in and of itself. Rather, it is a philosophy of process improvement that incorporates elements of  

TQM has frequently been used to focus on and improve processes in order to meet customer requirements, but not necessarily to look beyond processes for integration opportunities and organizational changes. Thus, it may need to be used in conjunction with another Quality Management system for the purposes of integrating PSM and ESH activities. 

Total Quality Management (TQM) is a way of managing an organization so that every job, every process, is carried out right, first time and every time and affects everyone. Many books have been written on TQM [39-48] and much advice has been delivered by the Gurus, not always in consensus. TQM involves three major components  

TQM can be aided by employing the guidance and experience of a consultant, but it is user driven and ideas for improvement must come from those with the knowledge and experience of the methods and techniques. 

All members of the team are equally important and all must have their say and be entirely frank when presenting their contribution. Complete agreement of any action has to be achieved and duly recorded by the Organizer. 

The object of the team is to work together to improve Quality and the following principles should be observed  

Every activity can be described by the work process model 

The concept of total quality management (TQM) recognizes the importance of the contributions of all departments and individuals to the quality of the service provided and supports and cultivates a one team approach. In order to optimize the quality of outputs, staff must be adequately trained, involved in their tasks in such a way that they can contribute their skills and ideas, and must be provided with the necessary resources to do their job effectively and efficiently. All employees, from top management to technicians and support staff, must know the mission of the laboratory, including the role they play and their specific tasks, and must work in harmony with each other and with the laboratory s clients to achieve the organizational objectives. 

Under such a system, it is accepted that quality is a dynamic issue and mistakes and failures are inevitable. The 

TQM approach was more widely practiced in Japan tlian anywhere else. In 1951, tlie Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers introduced a prize, named after W. E. Deming, for tlie organization tliat implemented tlie most successful quality policies. On similar lines, in 1987, tlie USA government introduced an award related to TQM. 

Adopt the new philosophy for making the accepted levels of defects, delays, or mistakes unwanted. 

Stop reliance on mass inspection as it neither improves nor guarantees quality. Remember that teamwork between the firm and its suppliers is the way for the process of improvement. 

Stop awarding business with respect to the price. 

Discover problems. Management must work continually to improve the system. 

---

The specific character of NDT related to the quality assessment of safety critical products and objects requires constant analysis and continuous improvement of processes and their interconnection. Sometimes interaction of processes is very complicated (Figure 3) therefore the processes have to be systematized and simplified when possible to realize total quality management in NDT. 

Total Quality Management. Total quahty management (TQM) is the term which encompasses all of the continuous improvement activities with the goal of world class quahty. This corporate culture sets up the conditions for a climate favorable to companywide improvement. 

A recent survey of companies in the automotive and aerospace industry found that many companies are unaware of the benefits that can be gained from the utilization of quality tools and techniques. The adoption of BS EN ISO 9000 (1994) and Total Quality Management (TQM) strategies might be expected to increase the utilization of methods. However, the extent to which companies utilize methods is more strongly related to annual turnover than employee count, therefore the use of tools and techniques is dominated by large companies (Araujo et al., 1996). 

Radovilsky, Z. D., Gotcher, J. W. and Slattsveen, S. 1996 Implementing Total Quality Management statistical analysis of survey results. International Journal of Quality and Reliability Management, 13(1), 10-23. 

Schonberger, R. 1992 Total Quality Management Cuts a Broad Swathe - through manufacturing and beyond. Organisational Dynamics, Spring, 16-27. 

Total Quality Management—diseussed in the first edition as Modern Quality Control. 

Excess resources can contribute to the Total Quality Management continuous improvement process Spare capacity provides resilience to unusual demands. Increasing resources does not necessttnly meitn more people, but it may be achieved by better design of jobs, equipment, or procedui.. s. 

Quality systems can address one of the quality goals or all of them, they can be as small or as large as you want them to be. They can be project-specific, or they can be limited to quality control that is, maintaining standards rather than improving them. They can include Quality Improvement Programs (QIPs) or encompass what is called Total Quality Management (TQM). 

PSM buiids on what is in piace, and seeks to integrate safety issues into ongoing business operations"as opposed to imposing an eiaborate exter-nai structure. The goais of PSM are process-oriented, not procedure-driven, and reflect the Total Quality Management principle of continuous improvement. 

Many companies have adopted Total Quality Management as a way to promote continuous improvement in a broad range of business applications. TQM considers all business activities as processes, each one of which involves specific customer-supplier relationships. These relationships may be entirely internal, defined in terms of the process under study. For example, delivering efficient electronic mail service is a "process" in TQM terms. The "customers" for your company s electronic mail system are the employees who use it the "supplier" may office services, MIS, or other support personnel. 

User feedback should be obtained periodically, not just at the time of installation. As users gain familiarity with PSM systems, they may identify potential system breakdown points and improvement opportunities. In addition, evaluation of trends in the responses from survey to survey can help to Identify areas needing improvement and measure your success in improving systems. Where user survey responses suggest an improvement opportunity, you should involve those users in defining the opporhmity and in its analysis. The tools of Total Quality Management can be veiy useful in this effort. 

Sociotechnical approach (control of error through changes in management policy and culture) Occupational/process safety Effects of organizational factors on safety Policy aspects Culture Interviews Surveys Organizational redesign Total Quality Management More frequent in recent years... 

This section provides an overall structure within which the different aspects of data collechon and incident analysis methods can be integrated. The importance of effective data collection systems as part of the continuous improvement process in Total Quality Management. 

Griff Holmes and William Leslie, Management of Change and Total Quality Management Programs, Westinghouse Electric Corporation, 1993. 

---