The Evolution of Quality Management

Résumé du document

Quality plays an important role in the production chain. Companies have stepped in to the shoes of a customer to understand his point of view. Customer satisfaction depends on the quality and the image of the brand / company. The control of quality has evolved with the importance of customer satisfaction. It has gained a lot of importance and has undergone through a series of changes. What used to be only vague inspection has now become total quality management (TQM). To study this evolution, we will analyze these theories and apply the same to General Electrics.

Extraits

[...] Six sigma is a way of measuring total quality management. It can be very useful to companies like General electrics to be able to place itself on a quality level. General electrics applied it to its organization in 1980s. It transformed their way of thinking and helped them having more and more customer. As a matter of fact, six sigma is very helpful to understand what the customer wants and how he behaves. Six Sigma, in turn, is embedding quality thinking - process thinking - across every level and in every operation of our company around the globe.”³ Six Sigma enabled General Electrics to improve their quality and especially their vision of quality and how it should be handled. [...]

[...] Hence, quality became a single discipline to itself. In the 20's, theories arose applied to quality control. The first to develop a theory was Stewhart who described a sketch of modern control chart. Deming developed other theories based on Stewhart's chart. These theories completed with Dodge's and Romig's is part of our late statistical process control theory. In spite of this, those theories were not used by manufacturers until the late 40's. This is where Japan enters the race of quality. [...]

[...] Other tendencies could be the cheapest, the most tiny, the most designed, etc It is obvious that this movement is going to grow bigger and bigger during the next few years. After that, maybe another movement, another philosophy will take place. [...]

[...] Deming, Juran and Crosby initiated the total quality management in the 1980's. - Armand Feigenbaum He developed a theory according to which all organizations should be focused on quality. He also introduced the idea to separate quality costs (prevention, appraisal and failures). - W Edwards Deming He was the one describing the fourteen criteria for quality improvement . He also invented the quality wheel. - Joseph M. Juran His main theme was quality control, he initiated the Juran trilogy for managing quality: Quality plan Quality control Quality improvement[?] - Philip Crosby He wrote about the “four absolute of quality” (conformance to requirements, prevention not appraisal, zero defects, “measurement of quality is the cost of non-conformance”)². [...]

[...] It is some kind of evidence. TQM is a philosophy, a way of thinking. It takes in account many different principles including: 1. “Quality can and must be managed Everyone has a customer and is a supplier Processes, not people are the problem Every employee is responsible for quality Problems must be prevented, not just fixed Quality must be measured Quality improvements must be continuous The quality standard is defect free Goals are based on requirements, not negotiated Life cycle costs, not front end costs Management must be involved and lead Plan and organize for quality improvement.”¹ After applying to a company the TQM principles, it should help you adding value to your offer, implying all your staff being sure that your performances and processes are well understood. [...]