Total Quality Management: What is TQM?

Our role here at Clarity is to equip your teams with all of the knowledge required to embed a culture of continuous improvement and operational excellence throughout your business. One of the Lean management principles at the heart of this process is Total Quality Management, or TQM.

In this blog we’re explaining what TQM is, how to implement it, and how it will benefit your operations in a multitude of ways.

Definition of Total Quality Management

Total Quality Management focuses on improving all aspects of quality and customer satisfaction. It involves removing delays, errors and constraints that are preventing your teams from being able to deliver a consistently fast response, impeccable service and products of the highest calibre.

In order to apply TQM across your premises, it must begin with top management and work its way down by diffusing responsibility to all employees. Multiple quality tools are used during the application of TQM, such as:

QFD (Quality Function Deployment)
Taguchi methods (statistical or robust design methods)
SPS (Systematic Problem Solving)
Corrective-action response teams
Cause and effect analysis
Fail-saving techniques

Definition of Total Quality Control

A core element of TQM is Total Quality Control, or TQC, which is also sometimes referred to as Company Wide Quality Control (CWQC). This is a set of organised Kaizen activities carried out by all management and workers, focusing on improving performance at every level through totally integrated effort. Numerous cross-functional goals are given extreme attention, such as:

Quality
Cost
Scheduling
Manpower
Overall development
New product development

How to implement Total Quality Management

There are eight core principles of Total Quality Management. By following them to the letter and giving each one equal focus, you can effectively implement TQM and never stray from its objectives:

Customer focus: Your customers require a product that is fit for purpose and lasts at least as long as expected, all while falling into a suitable price band. As such, in-depth research into customer needs, two-way communication with your consumer base, outstanding customer relationship management, and a balance between customer satisfaction and stakeholder satisfaction are equally imperative.
Employee engagement: Your business is a machine and each manager and employee is a cog within it. If even a single member of staff isn’t on board with TQM, the wider system can become sluggish and ineffective. Commitment from all workers is crucial, which can be achieved through training, coaching, employee ownership, a company culture of trust and openness, and clear communication using visual management tools.
Process approach: Each process in the creation of a product has to be fast, reliable and cost-effective. This means that machinery and systems need to be optimised, all team members must know their roles and responsibilities, clear measures are constantly in place to ensure maximum output, and a visual action plan is at the heart of your teams’ daily tasks and targets.
Integration: Even the smallest businesses have more than one department. The larger the company, the more departments there will be. Each one has a specific function and purpose, yet they all work together toward a shared objective. When all departments are united under an integrated system of policies, standards, processes, goals and company culture, everyone remains on the same page and operational excellence becomes possible.
Strategic and systematic approach: When employees realise that individual processes combine to form a wider system, they gain the power to remove inefficiencies. Through training, resources and embedding individual ownership and accountability, everyone has the ability to recognise constraints and suggest plans of action to remove them.
Continuous improvement: This is the seeking of both incremental improvement (small enhancements on a regular basis) and breakthrough improvement (major changes that can transform how the business operates). When staff embrace continuous improvement and realise that it’s a shared responsibility, amazing things can happen thanks to both a positive mindset and a hands-on approach.
Fact-based decision making: Up-to-date information is at the core of TQM. A business is only informed when it applies market research, data analysis, industry knowledge and personal intuition to full effect, as the decisions that follow will be based on facts rather than opinions.
Communication: Every plan, strategy, new method and change to the way things work must be communicated to everyone involved in its execution. Communication can be delivered in multiple ways, including visual management tools, team training, companywide updates and always involving employees in the decision-making process where appropriate.

Total Quality Management advantages and disadvantages

As outlined above, the benefits of Total Quality Management are wide-ranging and significant. Customer satisfaction, employee engagement, reliable processes, integrated workflow, strategic management, continuous improvement, fact-based decisions and clear communication will each benefit your teams enormously, as well as minimise costs and waste whilst maximising sales and customer loyalty. However, we believe that we should share both the pros and cons when explaining a Lean methodology, so here’s something to consider: TQM requires unwavering commitment on a company-wide level.

This may not sound like a disadvantage per se, but it’s of the utmost importance that you take into account what it means. The system requires structured research on an ongoing basis, purchasing the right types of visual management assets, involving all workers in the process and giving them a platform to voice their ideas and concerns, being prepared to rectify even the smallest of inefficiencies, and understanding that the perfect system can never be sustained without applying change wherever and whenever required.

The commitment is enormous and does require investment in terms of time and money, though rest assured that the return is far greater and can enable a business to overcome even the most stubborn and seemingly ingrained obstacles standing in the way of achieving operational excellence.

We’re your Total Quality Management specialists

The Lean and visual management advisors here at Clarity are ready to help you understand and implement Total Quality Management as part of your Lean journey. For more information about how we can help and to book an initial consultation, get in touch with our team on +44 (0)1482 296451 or fill in our contact form.

Total Quality Management: What is TQM?