Total Quality Management 305

This presentation will discuss how Total Quality Management has involved, and continues to involve, major paradigm shifts. Quality has been fraught with traditional views and practices. The best-in-class companies have made the break with these inhibiting traditions. Regretfully, many companies continue to abide by the sacred cows. These traditions have been an obstacle to competing successfully. We will examine some of these shifts in traditional thinking and also look at some more recent changes in perspective and practices, and how to benefit from them.

When I started my career in Quality, more years ago than I care to admit, the following principles were taught:

• There are three methods of inspection:

1. Screening (100 percent inspection)

2. Lot-by-Iot inspection (of rational lots)

3. Process inspection (also known as patrol)

• Only if you inspect every piece can you be sure to catch all the defectives. In fact, we were taught that if perfect quality was to be guaranteed, it will usually be necessary to do at least 200 percent inspection unless some completely mechanical inspection device can be used.

• Screening can be used only sparingly. It is expensive, time consuming,and inhibits the flow of the product.

• Establish an allowable percent defective (AQL)

The stated belief was that given the speed of mass production, it is often impossible to turn out 100-percent-satisfactory products.

In the early stages of Total Quality Control the above beliefs were, more or less, discredited. With the new beliefs three new ques­tions came to the forefront:

1. How much expense on quality was tolerable?

2. How much quality was enough?

3. Who was responsible for quality?

The implication of the first question was: "How many inspectors would be needed?" The second question dealt primarily with compliance to specification. There was limited concern about fitness for use. The third question came from the concern of quality professionals and their belief that the "mysteries" of statistical methodology and other abstract sciences were likely beyond the comprehension of managers in other disciplines, and certainly beyond the comprehension of line workers. These mind-sets were counterproductive. Fortunately new thinking came from new thinkers.

The breakthrough came when companies realized that quality was

essential to holding and gaining current and new customers. This recognition led to two further realizations:

Only a quality process can result in a quality product. Processes must be repeatable and reliable. The Japanese term Poka-Yoke (mistake-proof) was added to practitioners' vocabulary. The issue of variability came into consideration. This pertained to variability piece to piece, lot to lot, and over time. Statistical Process Control (SPC) was rediscovered and became the approach of choice.

It was a flash of insight that the best process cannot result in a quality product that has been poorly conceived and designed. The concepts of concurrent engineering, robust design, and other concepts become popular.

It became understood that the key was to eliminate the production of defective items. In this way there would be significant benefits resulting from:

• Improved productivity

• Operation would be simpler to manage

• Operation would be less costly to manage

This recognition was coupled with acceptance that to compete and survive:

Quality must mean pleasing the customers, not just pro­tecting them from annoyances.

The acceptance of the primacy of the customer in the quality equation, coupled with significant potential bottom-line impact, is a major break with quality traditions. The fact that many companies still fail to measure their Cost of Quality shows that the change is not total. Broader acceptance will come when it is generally recognized that high quality is not something that results from a few management decisions; it requires the creation of an all-encompassing, interacting system.

To be Continued

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