Total Quality Control
Total Quality Control is a set of organised Kaizen activities in which everyone in the company—managers and employees are alike – participates in a seamless integration effort to improve performance at all levels. Quality, cost, scheduling, workforce, product innovation, and new product development are just a few of the cross-functional goals that have been enhanced. Consumer satisfaction is believed to be improved as a result of these practices in the long term.
The way businesses are run influences not just the quality of their products and services, but also their long-term success. Firms require a Total Quality Management organizational structure in order to enhance the quality of their work.
The top – notch quality gurus of our time — Deming, Crosby, Juran, and Feigenbaum, to mention a few – developed quality improvement techniques that are used to make these changes.
History of Total Quality Control
Total Quality Control (TQC) is a production-optimization system based on principles established by Japanese companies beginning in the 1950s. The method, which combines Western and Eastern principles, originated with the notion of quality circles, which assigned responsibility for the quality of the goods produced to groups of 10–20 people. It evolved into a variety of strategies engaging both employees and management to increase productivity and quality, such as strict staff monitoring and outstanding customer service.
Definition of Total Quality Control
The term “Total Quality Control” defined as an effective system for integrating the quality development, quality maintenance and quality improvement efforts of the various groups in an organization so as to enable production and service at the most economical level which allow for full customer satisfaction.
Total Quality Control may be classified as a ‘‘Management Tool’’ for many industries outstanding improvement in product quality design and reduction in operating costs and losses.
Product Quality is described as “the component of engineering and manufacturing that determines the degree to which the product that is being used will meet the expectations of customers”.
‘‘Control’’ represents a tool with four steps :
- Setting up of quality standards.
- Appraising conformance to these standards
- When these criteria are breached, action must be taken.
- Planning for improvements in these standards.
Quality control emerges as a function based on the collection analysis and interpretations of data on all aspects of the enterprise.
Essential engineering designs, good manufacturing techniques, and deliberate inspection activity have always been needed for the manufacture of high-quality products, and total quality control is a tool for ensuring that these requirements are fulfilled.
The quality of any product is influenced by a number of factors during the manufacturing process:
Marketing : Evaluates the level of Quality which customers want for which they are willing to pay.
Engineering : Reduces this marketing evaluations to exact specification.
Purchasing : Chooses, contracts with and retains vendors for parts and materials.Manufacturing Engineering : Select the jigs, tools and processes for production.
Manufacturing Supervision and shop operators : Exert a major quality influence during parts making, sub assembly and final assembly.
Mechanical Inspection and function Test : Check conformance to specifications.
Shipping : Influences the caliber of packaging and transportation.
Installation : Helps ensure proper operations by installing the product according to proper instructions and maintaining it through product service.
In other words, the determination of both quality and quality costs actually takes place throughout the entire industrial cycle. Quality control is responsible for quality assurance at optimum quality costs.
Total Quality Control has eight characteristics
1. Customer Focused
The client isAll quality comes from the client’s satisfaction. The significance of the goals, as well as the method by which they will be accomplished, are determined by the client. The customer, on the other hand, is the one who determines whether or not the efforts were successful.
Organizations, for example, ask customers for feedback on their products and services. Use what you’ve learnt from the comments to make your product or service even better.
2. Employees Involved
Employee participation is critical in organisations that use Total Quality Control management. Those who working on the front lines often have the solutions to issues and suggestions for how to make things better.
3. Process-driven
There is a strategy to everything. There are steps that lead the way in each operation, whether it’s hiring people or baking cookies. TQC organisations examine process stages, fine-tune them, and look for ways to eliminate superfluous procedures that save time and money. Use high-quality technologies to generate a visual representation of internal processes, for example.
4. Systems that are mutually reliant
Most businesses have several departments or areas of expertise, but they all have processes in place to support the ultimate product delivery. Total Quality Control – managed organisations combine these internal processes to produce a streamlined process.
This is done via the development of a culture that recognizes and appreciates the processes through which excellence is created and achieved. Create training for all workers that teaches quality principles and emphasises why they are there in the first place – the organization’s vision and goal.
5. Approach to Strategic Planning
Businesses that use the Total Quality Control model employ strategy to assist them accomplish their vision and goal. They create a strategy plan that serves as the foundation for all of their quality initiatives and decision-making. Spend the time to write a purpose and vision statement that will help you establish a strategic planning.
6. Continuous Improvement
Continuous improvement refers to an organization’s efforts to enhance processes that generate products and services in order to become better at what they’re doing. These continuous efforts contribute to the organization’s competitiveness and ability to satisfy the expectations of important stakeholders.
7. Decisions Based on Data-Driven
Internal processes are improved by collecting, analysing, and using data. All choices are based on the acquisition of business data on a continual basis.
The determination of important success measures determines the nature of business data. Decisions are based on these metrics. Spend some time defining your organization’s important success criteria and developing a system to gather and report statistics on them.
8. Clear and concise communication
In businesses that aim to develop, maintaining an clear and concise communication is a top priority goal. Employees and consumers are given opportunities to communicate and connect with the company on a regular basis.
Employees are informed of internal changes as soon as they become accessible, thanks to communication techniques.
Difference between Total Quality Control, Total Quality Assurance and Total Quality Management
Benefits of Total Quality Control:
The following are some of the advantages or benefits of total quality control:
- Reduction in operating costs and losses
- Reduction in production line bottle necks
- Improvement in employee morale
- Improved inspection methods
- Setting time standards for labour
- Definite schedule for preventive maintenance
- Availability of purposeful data for use in co-advertising
- Furnishing of actual basis for cost accounting for standard and for scrap, rework and inspection.