Quality is a measure of how well something is made or how well it performs according to specific standards or expectations. It encompasses characteristics such as reliability, durability, efficiency, and meeting the requirements or specifications set by stakeholders. Quality can refer to the excellence or superiority of a product, service, process, or organization in meeting or exceeding customer needs and expectations. It involves adherence to quality standards, consistency, and continuous improvement to ensure customer satisfaction and added value.
Total Quality Management Total Quality Management (TQM) is a comprehensive management approach that focuses on continuous improvement, customer satisfaction, employee involvement, process efficiency, data-driven decision-making, leadership commitment, and supplier partnerships to achieve organizational excellence. By emphasizing the importance of quality at every level of the organization and encouraging a culture of collaboration and innovation, TQM aims to deliver products and services that meet or exceed customer expectations while driving operational efficiency and competitive advantage. Through systematic process improvement, employee empowerment, and strong leadership support, TQM enables organizations to create a sustainable culture of quality that drives continuous growth, innovation, and customer value.
Historical Evolution of TQM
Cost of Quality The cost of quality refers to the total cost incurred by an organization to ensure that products or services meet customer requirements, including the costs associated with prevention, appraisal, internal failures, and external failures.
Quality Control and its objectives Quality control refers to the process of monitoring and ensuring that products or services meet defined quality standards and requirements through systematic checks, inspections, and corrective actions to prevent defects and maintain consistency in quality.
Statistical Process Control Statistical Process Control (SPC) is a quality control method that uses statistical tools and techniques to monitor and control the production process, ensuring that it operates efficiently, produces high-quality output, and remains within specified quality limits. By analyzing process data and variation over time, SPC helps identify trends, patterns, and deviations that may affect product quality, enabling timely corrective actions to be taken to maintain process stability and consistency.
JIT and Six Sigma Just-in-Time (JIT) is a manufacturing and inventory management philosophy that focuses on producing goods only as they are needed, thereby minimizing waste, reducing inventory levels, and improving efficiency. JIT aims to eliminate or reduce non-value-adding activities, such as excess inventory storage or overproduction, to enable a lean and responsive production system that delivers goods or services precisely when needed to meet customer demand. Six Sigma is a data-driven methodology and set of tools aimed at improving business processes by reducing variability and defects to achieve near-perfect quality. It focuses on identifying and eliminating errors or defects in processes through statistical analysis and rigorous problem-solving techniques, with the ultimate goal of delivering products or services that meet customer requirements consistently and efficiently.
Quality Management System A quality management system (QMS) is a structured framework of policies, processes, and procedures that an organization uses to ensure consistent delivery of quality products or services, meet customer requirements, and drive continuous improvement.
ISO 9000 Series The ISO 9000 series consists of international standards that provide guidelines for establishing, implementing, and improving quality management systems to ensure consistent delivery of products and services that meet customer requirements.