Total Quality Pioneers Charletta Berry Quality Management and Productivity/449 June 29, 2010 Mr. Tom Gilmartin Total Quality Pioneers Introduction This paper will discuss the definition of quality and its elements, and how the total quality elements made the pioneer successful. Included will be why the elements of quality are useful in today’s environment, and what do I see about the future of quality? Define Quality and its Elements.
Quality is a dynamic state associated with products, services, people, processes, and environments that meet or exceeds expectations and helps produce superior value. Now let’s take a look at the element of quality which is prevention of problems. According to Six Sigma an organization must consistently produce what the customer wants but at the same time reducing errors before and after the delivery to the customer. An organization must continually improve the quality of its products or services to keep its customers coming back for its product.
In the prevention of problems before they occur, worker’s should inspect their product while they are working on the product which will reduce time loss on repairing the product, which in turn will keep the customer from discovering the error and become dissatisfied with the product or service and not returning to that business. The next element of quality is cooperation with the “organizations vendors or suppliers. Many organizations treat suppliers with indifference, and often with hostility. Instead of having many potential suppliers, each competing to give the organization the cheapest price. Six Sigma, 2010) Six Sigma emphasizes a different relationship, in an organization that implements Six Sigma; vendors are treated as business partners, with all parties working to deliver a quality product. Companies choose suppliers based on consistently delivering a quality product or service. ” This means that for an organization to succeed, its suppliers must implement Six Sigma as well. A key philosophy in dealing with customers is that it is they who define what quality is all about. In other elements of quality is to improve and eliminate wasteful steps in the organization.
Quality and reliability is on the move and need to be continuously targeted in the organization. Just like Toyota it appears the company failed to keep up with the reliability aspect of the cars and not paying knowing how quality is always on the move. Once reliable does not mean always reliable. To have quality engaged in an organization, one element must empower the organizations employees. The employees must feel they are an important part of the organization and then they will be more willing to improve their work, innovate and feel respected and trusted in their environment. In another element an organization must also use problem solving and problem prevention cycle used in Six Sigma. The three elements used are 1) gathering information, brainstorming 2) create possible solutions before creating ideas 3) and evaluate your success. This can also be called the Deming cycle and its components are PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, and Act. ” (Chaudron, 2010) An organizations key to success is to continue providing quality product or service to your customers. To see how well your organization is doing in these areas you can have it measured graphically.
With the data, employees can be trained to read the data or shown by management how well the organization is performing. This data can also 1) show trends, 2) use data for problem solving in certain areas 3) used to identify major characteristics that will affect and optimize the product or service. Statistics will allow the decision-maker to see what differences or occurrences will significantly affect the product or service. The above elements are good business sense if used. Pioneer’s use of the Total Quality elements W.
Edwards Denning proposes when quality is improved costs decreases, fewer mistakes, market shares increase the organizations is profitable, jobs increase. Joseph M. Juran has experienced that 80% of quality defects are caused by management and not the fault of employees. Mr. Juran’s Pareto principle if implemented, the organizations quality planning control and improvement would minimize the mistakes, which result in higher costs and re-do the product or service for a second time. In checking the quality of the product or service, by qualified personnel then any defects or chronic efects can be analyzed and a solution is implemented. Philip B. Crosby’s contributions to quality are legion, ranging from his best-selling books on quality-related subjects to his Quality College. An enduring contribution from Crosby is a set of four absolutes of quality management. These absolutes are as follows: (1) quality must be defined as conformance to requirements—not just as a good thing to do; (2) the best way to ensure quality is prevention, not inspection; (3) the standard for quality must be zero defects, not “close is good enough”; and (4) quality is measured by nonconformance, not indexes. (Johnson, 2001) Elements of Quality used today/future of Quality If organization’s use the elements of quality in their businesses 1) the employee’s will work to improve their product or service with less defects 2) the business profits rise 3) maintain a strong customer base 4) able to increase jobs 5) continue to strive to keep the customer first and continue to innovate their product or service. References Johnson, K. (2001, October 10). Mark on Quality. Retrieved July 5, 2010, from Quality Progress: http://www. encycloopedia. om Six Sigma. (2010, July 2). Retrieved July 2, 2010, from Elements of Six Sigma: http://www. sixsigma. com Chaudron, D. (2010, January 18). Organizational Chaange Consultancy. Retrieved July 5, 2010, from Elements of Quality: http://www. organizedchaange. com Johnson, K. (2001, October 10). Mark on Quality. Retrieved July 5, 2010, from Quality Progress: http://www. encycloopedia. com Six Sigma. (2010, July 2). Retrieved July 2, 2010, from Elements of Six Sigma: http://www. sixsigma. com . In an organization that implements Six
