Quality Management

Cummins

Incorporation is a company that makes, designs, sells, distributes and services engines. It also deals with technology concerned with diesel engines such as electrical systems, air management, emission controls, filter systems, power generation systems, etc. The company has it headquarters in Columbus, IN, USA, and is present in 160 nations throughout the world. It has more than 550 units throughout the world and more than 5000 dealer outlets. The company obtained a net income of about $ 715, through the sales of $ 11. 4 billion in 2006.

The company employs about 33, 500 throughout the world (Cummins Inc, 2004). During the early 1980’s, Cummins Inc, remained a strong contender in the diesel engine market, controlling about 50 % of the market. In the year 1884, the company’s market share of diesel engine sales went up to 60 %. However, following this the company had some problems with quality issues and stiff competition. Recession began to strongly affect the company, and in order to counteract losses, the company began to decrease its employee strength by about 14 % in the 1990’s.

However, things began to change slowly in the later stages of the 1990’s, as the company felt some improvements following a complete new quality control statement and adherence to the pollution control limits. The company also became more focused on customer-satisfaction. The company is also expanding into other areas including creation of high-HP engines. The engines are more custom-made to suit the consumer’s requirements. The company now caters to fulfilling the needs of the consumers.

Cummins is also able to grow drastically in the field of engine electronics, which has turned out to be major support systems for its high-technology engines. The company had stiff competition with Caterpillar Inc in the high-HP sector and with Detroit Diesel in the cost area (Plumb, 1992). Some of the goals of the company with regards to quality include:

1. Helping people lead a better life.
2. Committed to being the leader in the market for power-generation systems.
3. Improving the society in which people live and function.
4. Motivate people to work as a team, and each having independence.
5. Meeting the expectations of the clients.
6. Working in partnership with the customers.
7. Working for a safer and a cleaner environment.
8. Ensuring that the stakeholders of the company receive greater than their expectations.
9. Provide value for money to all customers.
10. Ensuring that collaborations with others are possible for a more effective business strategy and outcome.
11. Remain attractive to the customers by ensuring that the company’s values and mission is constantly maintained.

The company achieves its quality control goals by ensuring that certain activities, processes and resources are enabled. These include:

1. Presence of certain policies and strategies.
2. Use of sound evaluation processes.
3. Close monitoring for quality and consumer satisfaction levels.
4. Ensuring that the quality standards are met according to accreditation organizations such as the ISO.
5. Ensuring that the human resources skills are frequently updated.
6. Rating and evaluating the consumer satisfaction levels.
7. Ensuring that appropriate staff are procured and maintained in the organization. Staff members are familiarized with the quality process during the training stage itself.
8. Identifying and sorting out any barriers that could directly affect quality.
9. Ensuring that the research and development is conducted for the products of the company to ensure that Cummins stays as the leader in diesel engine system.
10. To improve safety levels and ensure that error is minimal.

Some of the problems the company could be facing include:

1. Human resource problems.
2. he issue of the products meeting the stringent pollution control levels imposed in several countries. The fact is that the company would have to meet varying environmental legislations (in different countries)
3. The need to constantly improve the engines with regards to fuel efficiency, power generation and pollution control.
4. The need to develop sophisticated electrical and electronic support system.

Effectively the company has to develop appropriate support systems for its products. The quality system of the company is quite effective in ensuring that the company stays as the leader in diesel engine systems.

The company has developed and grown to be the leader in the field of diesel engine power generation. The company has identified some of the constraints it was having and has made an attempt to lower them. Some of my suggestions for quality control includes:

1. Development of sufficient support systems including software and hardware that could improve the efficiency of the engines.
2. Side-by-side development of environmentally-friendly technology.

References:

1. Ameri Health (2006), Quality Management Goals & Activities – New Jersey, Retrieved on July 7, 2007, from Ameri Health Web site.
2. Cummins (2004), About Cummins, Retrieved on July 7, 2007, from Cummins Web site: http://www. cummins. com/cmi/content. jsp? siteId=1&langId=1033&menuId=1&menuIndex=0 KPIT Cummins (2004), FAQ’s January 2004, Retrieved on July 7, 2007, from KPIT Cummins Web site: http://www. cumminsindia. com/cdss/parts/FAQs. html
3. Plumb, S. E. (1992), Cummins comin’ back – Cummins Engine Company plans to regain market share while holding down prices – Heavy-Duty World – Company Profile, Retrieved on July 7, 2007, from Find Articles Web site: http://findarticles. com/p/articles/mi_m3165/is_n2_v28/ai_11858998

Elan employs 3 full-time workers year round and 7 seasonal employees in the summer months. Elan Management has been successful through the con injections it has with one of America’s top builders, DRP Horton. DRP Horton has chosen Elan Management as one Of its go-to management communities in the Atlanta metro area. Elan does a good job of quality control in keeping the clients happy but there are several competitors in this industry and in order for the company to grow, Elan will need to implement ways to improve quality through quality planning and assurance. Robber Statement We are focused on becoming the go-to firm for other builders in the metro Atlanta area. We have deiced that we have an issue with quality planning and implementation which is needed if the company is to grow in the next few years as it would like. Elan is looking to obtain on average 3- 4 new clients per year. The current quality planning initiatives are basically non-existent. It appears to be more of a “go with the flow’ type of planning. In other words, if something comes up, then it will be handled, if not no one worries about it.

This process is not sustainable for growth and the company will never gain more clientele. We need to incorporate procedures on how to build clientele and implement those procedures timely. When Elan Management opened in 2008, we had 6 clients (communities). Over the next 4 years, we gained 8 more clients. These clients were assigned to us directly by the builder of the communities. There was no effort on our part to obtain the communities. In the past 2 years, 4 of the communities have since turned over to the homeowners and we no longer manage them.

The goal of all homeowner’s associations is to eventually turnover to the homeowners if they are willing. If we are unable to develop better quality management skills, we will eventually have no clients and will continue to wait for DRP Horton or other builders to provide hem to us instead of us attempting to get the clients on our own. Literature Review As stated by Catalina “In the current market economy, companies are constantly struggling to achieve a sustained competitive advantage that will enable them to improve performance, which results in increased competitiveness, and of course, profit.

Among the few competitive advantages that can become sustainable competitive advantages, quality plays a crucial 234) In the current state, Elan cannot compete with those top local management agencies such as Community Management Associates or All Property Management which have oratorios that is considerably larger than ours. We have to be willing to create ways to better market our company to potential clients. Although, we are able to maintain the quality with our current clients, future clients are seemingly unaware of our existence.

As stated by Crosby ‘There is no such thing as a quality problem. Problems originate in functional departments. Thus, a firm may experience accounting problems, manufacturing problems, design problems, technical support problems, and so on. In Crosby view, these are all quality problems, but the burden of the responsibility for solving them falls on these national departments and not in the quality department. The role of the quality department should be to measure conformance, report results, and provide leadership and support to drive quality improvement. ” (p. 3) Since Elan Management is such a small company, there is no dedicated quality department to turn to for answers on quality improvement so each individual employee in some way will need to contribute to the quality process. According to Schroeder, “Managers and employees should be trained in the quality initiatives the company has implemented. Employees should be a part of the process in developing methods to assist in getting other employees involved in quality improvement and acceptance. ” (p. 6) As I stated above, since Elan doesn’t have a quality management team, all employees should have input in the quality process.

Not only will it benefit the clients that we serve but it will also increase employee morale. Although there are only 3 full-time employees, having them involved would show them that they are appreciated and their opinions are valued. According to Kenton, “the process of collaborative planning can promote networks, coordination, and buy-in that promotes implementation, even if the plan itself is not directly influential. ” (p. 436) So, having a bottom-up approach and including members of the entire company is beneficial overall even if it doesn’t fully result in what was expected. The quality experience process occurs when firms (alone or with customers) deliver attributes for customers to experience and customers perceive these attributes through the lens of their measurement knowledge and motivation, emotions, and expectations. ” (Colder, p. 4) Incorporating ways to enhance the customer experience is critical. Including customers in the process through voice-of-the-customer (VOCE) analysis with customer input would be helpful. Many organizations currently invest in quality improvement programmers.

However, the literature has revealed that many companies felt that the quality improvement programmers had fallen short of their expectations and that these programmers were not generating the anticipated improvements (L am, 1997). The key reason for this gap between quality improvement expectations and the realization of benefits is the absence of an effective quality planning process before its implementation (Curran and Godlier, 2000). Thus, quality planning is identified as the most significant phase in a corporate quality management process requiring ore attention. ” (Generate, p. 02) As Generate states, quality plan inning is pertinent to the quality management process. Companies have to create a clear cut plan in order to become successful. In order for companies to be in a position to improve and offer a higher standard of quality, they must come up with avenues to make it happen. Analysis Elan Management’s problem starts with the lack of a quality planning process. By not having a quality plan, we are not allowing ourselves to improve and go after what we want, which is increased clientele. Elan blames a lot Of its lack Of progression on the size Of he company rather than its lack of utilizing available resources.

Just because the company is small does not mean that it cannot grow and be as successful as those larger management firms in the area. The owner must realize the importance of providing quality to the clients and how we have managed for this long. Clearly, we are capable since we are still in business. Although, an actually quality management department cannot be created with the amount of staff we have, it is possible to hire an expert that could lead us in the right direction. “Project management requires achieving cost, schedule, and performance arrests while providing an outcome that satisfies the client.

A measure of the value of the project to the client is the level of quality associated with the completed project. “(Liberator, p. 422) For Elan, our project is simply how do we get more clients and once we get the clients how do we not only keep them but also have them to refer others to us as well. With property management, our clients are the Board of Directors for each community. If the Board feels we are doing a great job, they will be more inclined when a friend or relative gives them about their HOW management many, to let them know about us and all the things we offer that would benefit their community.

Recommendations have a few recommendations for Elan Management. First, I would suggest root-cause analysis. In root-cause analysis, organizations must identify the root causes of their quality problems and fix them rather than only dealing with the symptoms of the problems. In order to get to the root of the problem, Six Sigma should be used. In the Analyze phase, we ask the 5 Whys to get to the root. By starting here, we begin to see what how the problem arose and leading to the next steps o resolve them.

Secondly, I would suggest benchmarking which is when the company examines other like companies so they are able to take actions that will lead to performance improvement. Researching your competition is essential as you all are reaching out to the same clients. Whichever company has the better plan or more knowledgeable, better quality product or service will more than likely surpass the others. Elan needs to plan, plan, and plan in order to be successful. Allowing the company to basically move freely without structure is not going to allow Elan to receive the type of clients hey want or even gain more clients.

Role of Stakeholder Paper Jasmine Zeno MGT/420 November 1, 2012 Dr. Allen Timmons Role of Stakeholder Paper Introduction The purpose of this paper is to identify who are the stakeholders in an organization and the importance they play within an organization. First I will identify what a stakeholder is and explain how important stakeholders are to the growth of the organization.

Next I will explain how and identify the quality management process and how the stakeholders play an important role in the implementation quality management process. Finally I will conclude by using Federal Express as an example organization from our reading how they were able to involved different stakeholders within their organization to roll out a new process. Stakeholder and their importance with an Organization Stakeholder is someone who has an interest in the well being of the organization.

A Stakeholder can be defined as a person, group, or organization that may have either a direct or indirect stake in an organization and can be affected by the actions, objectives, and policies of the organization or have an effect on the actions, objectives and policies and organization may take (Business Dictionary, 2012). Stakeholders are essential to the growth of any organization because of the role each one of the stakeholders plays. Stakeholders can be internal; internal is someone who works for the organization who provides an important service for the organization.

A stakeholder can also be external as well; external can be someone who invest money into the organization but is not involved in the day to day running of the organization. It is important to understand the roles and the influence that a stakeholder has in implementing a quality management process. For one to understand the importance a stakeholder plays in implementing the process one would have to understand and really what a stakeholder is and the role they play in the implementation of the quality management process. Quality management and its importance

The culture of the organization plays an important part of the implementation in quality management process, and understanding how the stakeholder plays an important part in the implementation process is important. According to our reading the management processes that overarch and tie together the control and assurance activities make up quality management (S. Thomas Foster, 2007). It is important for an organization to have effective quality management. The reading states that a number of mangers, supervisors, and employees are all involved in quality management.

Such as, planning for quality improvement, creating a quality organizational culture, providing training and retraining and providing leadership and support and the list goes on (S. Thomas Foster, 2007). Federal Express management evaluation system Federal Express doors open in 1973; there were eight small aircrafts at that time to handle the workload. Now today Federal Express is one of the world’s largest cargo fleet. FedEx’s philosophy guide management policies and actions were “People-Service-Profit (S. Thomas Foster, 2007). FedEx integrate all levels when implementing a policies within in their organization.

Let’s take for example FedEx management evaluation system called SFA (survey, feedback, action) that involved a survey of employees, analysis of each group’s results by the work group’s manager, and a discussion between the manager and the work group to develop written action plans for the manager to improve and become more effective (S. Thomas Foster, 2007). Conclusion Stakeholders play an important role in the implementation and the affect that each one of the stakeholders has all depends on the type of control they have as a stakeholder.

For the implementation to be successful it is important to know who the stakeholders are and each one of their needs. Stakeholder’s roles within the organization are vital to the growth and the successes of the organization. Involving stakeholders in the implementation in any process within the organization has proven to be a right decision.

References S. Thomas Foster. (2007). Managing Quality. Integrating the Supply Chain. Retrieved from S. Thomas Foster, MGT/420 website. Stakeholder. (2012). In Business Dictionary. Retrieved from http://www. businessdictionary. com/definition/stakeholder. html

W. Edwards Deming was considered to be way ahead of his time. His philosophical ideas were also considered radical in the United States during the 1950’s, but were quickly adopted by Japan. He developed what later became known as Deming’s 14 points, that would later launch the Total Quality Management Movement in the United States, which were not actually accepted until the 1980’s. One of his philosophies that I found interesting was Point #5: “Improve constantly and forever the system of production and service, to improve quality and productivity, and thus constantly decrease costs. This philosophy was foreign in the 1950’s, where managers’ philosophy was focused more on power and control. Deming’s concept leaned more towards a teacher/student relationship, instead of the power and control focus of his time. Humans are very resistant to change however, and that is why I feel this is an important concept that some companies still struggle with today. My employer for example, Lowe’s Distribution Center, has some managers that don’t like to change processes because “it is the way they like it to be done”.

Deming’s philosophy involved a new focus, which involved management to constantly be looking for improvements that can be made in both their processes, and technology that would reduce cost. Our computer system that controls every function in our facility is about 22 years old, and is outdated to the point where it has employees repeat steps to convince the computer system the task has been completed. Inefficient methods lead to higher cost. Higher costs in turn seem to add to our society’s need for power and control, resulting in increased pressure on team members to make up for the inefficiencies of the system.

At this point, team members than reduce quality to meet increased expectations, resulting in decreased customer satisfaction. The long-term result involves lower profit margin and decreased sales, which all could have been avoided if Deming’s points were followed in the first place, by replacing or updating the equipment. Deming’s philosophy also referred to the service industry. If improvements were made to meet the expectations of customers, than overall costs would be decreased. This is commonly still seen today with new technology being put on the market, only to be recalled later when it is tested and announced to be “unsafe. For example, the recall of the Toyota model Prius, which was found to have quality issues with the clips that hold the floor mats in place. If the clips came loose, the mats could slide and hold down the accelerator, which risked causing an accident. This recall was estimated to cost Toyota around two billion dollars, as well as a loss of $100,000 in sales in both the U. S. and Europe. Imagine if Toyota had invested more in the quality side of producing the clips, and the savings that would have came with it.

Deming’s philosophies triggered the Total Quality Management movement in the 1980’s. Beforehand, factories focused solely on productions numbers, without even taking quality into consideration. I can see why Deming’s ideas weren’t accepted at first, if you think back to how things probably were in the 1950’s. Not to mention the increased costs that comes with higher quality. For example, a shoe factory probably only had two options for shoes, black or white. Now we have a large selection of brands to choose from, each representing a different level of quality.

With the focus now being on quality, businesses can provide a higher level of customer satisfaction, bringing different levels of quality to meet their customer’s budget, as well as expectations. Having strict levels of quality guidelines in the service industry, especially in fast food, customers are more reassured that they are consuming food that is safe, and has met requirements set by health inspectors. Deming’s philosophies have also made our business processes more efficient. Businesses today focus on the future, and predict possible changes they would need to adopt to survive.

Technology is constantly changing, and is also bringing a higher level of quality to both manufacturing and service industries. In conclusion, I think Deming’s philosophies are vital today to businesses survival. For a business to get ahead of the competition, they need to not only be efficient, but also possess a certain level of accepted quality by consumers. Quality continues to improve as new technology emerges on the market, and processes are continually evaluated. Any business would benefit by following Deming’s 14 points.

A Forefather of TQM Principles: Kaoru Ishikawa Total Quality Management (TQM) principles are based off of the philosophies of numerous individuals – W. Edward Deming, Joseph Juran and Philip Crosby, to name a few. One such individual is Kaoru Ishikawa. Touted as the “Father of Quality Circles and as a founder of the Japanese quality movement” (Beckford, 2002), his philosophy on quality control is critical to understand TQM in general. Knowing the fundamentals/ building blocks of TQM can be used to shape the future direction and improvement of TQM.

Ishikawa hoped his philosophy would improve quality in work, which in turn would lead to improvement in quality of life (Beckford, 2002). Ishikawa was born July 13, 1915. He graduated from the University of Tokyo where he received an engineering degree in Applied Chemistry. Later he would become a professor of the same University. After graduating, he joined the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers (JUSE) in 1949. This could be seen as the first steps he took towards developing his quality control philosophy and following in the footsteps of his father in Management Science (Hutchins, 1989. The core ideas of Ishikawa’s philosophy on quality control – companywide quality control (CWQC) – can be divided into three main concepts (Beckford, 2002). The first is that quality is based off of a holistic approach. The second core idea of Ishikawa’s philosophy is that there is active participation in the quality program amongst the employees. The third core idea is that there is direct, simple communication between management and workers. A holistic approach means that not only is the end product/service a quality product/service but also extends to the process that developed it.

The end is just as important as the means. The company has a program in place that strives for quality management, quality workers and quality processes within all levels of the company. I think this concept of quality at all levels within a company is especially important in today’s society where it is not enough to know a company provides a quality product but is socially and environmentally conscious. For example, if a company has a quality process in place when choosing and working with certain suppliers – they lessen the chance of being surprised that the supplier uses child labor or contaminates the environment.

Ishikawa’s second core idea of active participation among employees emphasizes the importance the workers. It’s not enough to have a quality program in place; the employees (including leadership) have to be involved and to have a voice within the company. This is based off of the idea that employees not only can recognize the problems in a process but also the solutions (Beckford, 2002). One of the main complaints that employees have is that management is not in touch with what they actually do so they don’t listen when there is a problem or a solution. Ishikawa’s second core idea looks to avoid this phenomenon.

The last core idea of direct, open communication between workers and management rounds out Ishikawa’s philosophy on quality control. It stresses the importance of group communication to be understandable and in “layman terms” so it can be pertinent for all levels of the company. Ishikawa’s contributions to quality management were numerous. He wrote 600+ articles and 31 books (Smith, 2011). He had 2 English translated books – “Introduction to Quality Control” and “What is Total Quality Control? The Japanese Way”. He was also behind the concept of quality circles and the Fishbone Diagram.

Quality circles can be seen as a method of creating active participation within a company. It shows how Ishikawa believed that “all workers must be involved in quality improvement through teams to enhance the capability of individual workers and improve work processes” (Watson, 2004). Quality circles are groups of workers within a company that is formed to review, analyze and make recommendations for issues and problems. The Fishbone diagram was developed in 1943 as a problem-solving tool and was used to identify possible root causes to problems in a simple and straightforward presentation.

It is one of the seven tools of quality control that is recognized worldwide (Smith, 2011). While all the tools of quality control is important, this diagram can be used in numerous disciplines ranging from not only quality management, but science, education, etc. The other tools of quality control is Pareto Charts, Stratification, Check sheets, Histograms, Scatter graphs and Control charts (Beckford, 2002) Throughout his career, Ishikawa was the recipient of numerous awards. Per Beckford, he received the Deming, Nihon Keizai Press and Industrial Standardization prizes and the Grant Award from the American Society for Quality Control.

Ishikawa’’s work also prompted an award to be given out in his honor. In 1993, ASQ established the Ishikawa Medal where it is awarded “to an individual or a team whose work has had a major positive impact on the human aspects of quality” (ASQ, 2012) Ishikawa passed away April 16, 1989. Although he is no longer with us, his work and his philosophy is still vibrant and in use today. Understanding the core concepts behind Ishikawa’s CWCQ sheds light on TQM principles. His philosophies help shape how companies today develop their quality control programs.

Maybe from the lessons and philosophy of Ishikawa, a future TQM guru could emerge, giving the world another individual that further advances quality in work and ultimately in life. References Beckford, J. (2002). Part two: The quality gurus: Chapter 8: Kaoru Ishikawa. Quality (Routledge), pg. 93 – 104. Watson, G. (2004). The Legacy Of Ishikawa. Quality Progress, 37(4), 54-57. SMITH, J. (2011). The Lasting Legacy OF THE MODERN QUALITY GIANTS. Quality, 50(10), 40-47. Kaoru Ishikawa 1915-1989. (2010). Quality Progress, 43(11), 19. Bauer, K. (2005). KPI Identification With Fishbone Enlightenment.

DM Review, 15(3), 12. Hackman, J. , & Wageman, R. (1995). Total Quality Management: Empirical, Conceptual, and Practical Issues. Administrative Science Quarterly, 40(2), 309-342. Hutchins, David. (1989). Obituary: Professor Kaoru Ishikawa. The Independent. April 26, 1989. http://asq. org/about-asq/who-we-are/bio_ishikawa. html http://asq. org/about-asq/awards/ishikawa. html (Evans, James R.. Managing for Quality and Performance Excellence, 8th Edition. South Western Educational Publishing, 01/2010. p. 110). <vbk:1111509360#outline(3. 7. 2)>

Although the Six Sigma approach has provided General Electric an effective means in evaluating its performance and thus greatly contributing positively to the company’s quality management, it should be noted that the approach also has its limitations. For one, the Six Sigma approach was designed to be effective for business organizations whose operations are involved in the manufacturing industry.

As such, the implementation of the Six Sigma System Approach in the quality management efforts of business organizations that are working in an industry other than the manufacturing industry may not be able to experience the same positive results experienced by General Electric. Another limitation of the use of the Six Sigma System Approach is that the system relies heavily on the Human Resource department of the company in order for the various methods and processes would be properly be executed and implemented in the different departments and divisions of the business organization (Bohlander & Snell 2007).

This is especially true when it comes to the part of trying to change the attitude and outlook of the employees of the business organization in order for them to accept the changes that are to be implemented in the organization to improve not just its productivity by the quality of the services and products being provided. Read how is six sigma defined SSD1

The reason why this is considered to be a limitation on the part of the Six Sigma System approach is because the guidelines provided by the Six Sigma approach are relatively broad, causing it to be vulnerable to subjective interpretation. This would eventually lead to the possibility of various interpretations of the guidelines being provided by the Six Sigma approach by members of management from different departments. As a result, this subjective interpretation would pave the way for friction between divisions and departments to occur.

Recommendations

This being the case, it is important that each performance evaluation plan should be based on a variety of criteria in order for such a plan to be experience the same success and progress as part of its manufacturing operations as well as other business operations and activities General Electric is currently involved in. Some of the criteria that should be included are the prompt delivery and servicing the needs and issues the target market of each of the divisions of General Electric’s conglomerate as well as periodic measures of the quality of services being provided to these target markets.

ABSTRACT

This paper reports on research which explores the links and differences between quality assurance, or certification of the quality system according to the ISO 9000 series, the broader approach of Total Quality Management and European Foundation for Quality Management. First section of this paper outlines a typology of approaches to introducing ISO, TQM and EFQM. The second section of the paper explains similarities and differences between three quality systems first two by two and then all systems together. Major objective of this paper is to address the competing views on ISO, TQM and EFQM concepts in an attempt to show that these approaches complement each other.

1.INTRODUCTION

In recent years, many changes have been lived in every topic in the world and the most important change that affects the business is change about quality. Management system in a business refers to what the organization does to manage its processes, or activities, so that its products or services meet the objectives such as, satisfying the customer’s quality requirements, complying with regulations and meeting environmental objectives. Because of these reasons, business must attend the developing technology and change their quality angle. And with the help of constructed quality assurance system, business provides needs of customers, reduces cost of suppliers, increases the competitive power, and improves quality level and efficiency.

The International Organization for Standardization widely known as ISO is an international standard setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organizations. The quest for certification to the ISO 9000 quality standards is a relatively recent growth phenomenon throughout the world. A large number of organizations are also moving down the TQM path. TQM is a management philosophy that seeks to integrate all organizational functions to focus on meeting customer needs and organizational objectives. Limited research is available which examines a number of questions concerning ISO certification, such as the reasons for seeking certification, the types of benefits which might result and in particular, the links with TQM. On the other hand EFQM is a non prescriptive TQM framework based on nine criteria such as customer focus, supplier partnerships, people development and involvement, systematic process management, continuous improvement, leadership, public responsibility and results orientation. Read about lean production vs mass production

In this paper an information about ISO, TQM and EFQM quality systems are given. A comparison between these three systems are made. In section three of this project differences and similarities between ISO, TQM and EFQM will be covered extensively. Finally a total comparison is made between these three systems in order to explain these concepts complement each other.

2. BACKGRAUND INFORMATION

2.1 INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS FOR ORGANIZATIONS (ISO)

ISO is an organization, the International Organization for Standardization that sets standards in many businesses and technologies, including computing and communications. ISO-9000 series of standard was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and over the last few years, the ISO-9000 has become the most popular quality standard. The first ISO standards were published in 1987 and then they were revised in 1994 as the ISO-9000:1994. The next and latest revision of ISO standards was released in 2000 and is therefore referred to as ISO-9000:2000 Standards. The ISO-9000:2000 can be applied to virtually any industry worldwide and is widely embraced in the semiconductor industry.

ISO-9000 currently has three quality standards: the ISO-9000:2000, the ISO-9001:2000, and the ISO-9004:2000. The ISO-9001:2000 has specific requirements for compliance while the ISO-9000:2000 and the ISO-9004:2000 just present information or guidelines. ISO-9000:2000 Quality Management Systems-Fundamentals and Vocabulary aims at establishing a starting a point for understanding the standards and defining the fundamental terms and definitions used in the ISO-9000 family to avoid confusion in their use. ISO-9001:2000 Quality Management Systems-Requirements’ purposes are providing the requirements that must be met in order to achieve certification and defining the requirements for satisfying the need of customers. And finally, the aim of ISO-9004:2000 Quality Management Systems-Guidelines for performance improvements is benefiting all parties through sustained customer satisfaction.

2.2 TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT

Total Quality Management is an approach to the art of management that originated in Japanese industry in the 1950’s and has become steadily more popular in the West since the early 1980’s.TQM is a set of management
practices throughout the organization, geared to ensure the organization consistently meets or exceeds customer requirements and it is wider than just assuring product or service quality. TQM places strong focus on process measurement and controls as means of continuous improvement. In other word, TQM is the process of instilling quality throughout an organization and its business processes.

Total Quality is a description of the culture, attitude and organization of a company that aims to provide, and continue to provide, its customers with products and services that satisfy their needs. The culture requires quality in all aspects of the company’s operations, with things being done right first time, and defects and waste eradicated from operations. Total Quality Management can be considered as a philosophy than a model or method. The three accepted principles well describes Total Quality Management. i) Customer focus; every decision should be taken based on customer expectation in mind. ii) Continuous improvement; continuous effort to improve the organization at all level in products and in services. iii) Integral approach; TQM concerns every aspects of the organization.

2.3 EUROPEAN FOUNDATION FOR QUALITY MANAGEMENT (EFQM)

The European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) is a membership based not for profit organization, created in 1988 by fourteen leading European businesses, with a Mission to be the driving force for sustainable excellence in Europe and a Vision of a world in which European organizations excel. EFQM has promoted the concept of partnership with similar National organizations in Europe to help promote sustainable excellence in European organizations. All of these National Organizations have worked with EFQM to develop the Fundamental Concepts of Excellence and promote the EFQM Excellence Model.

EFQM is a way of managing activities based on the Total Quality Management concepts that can lead an organization to sustainable business excellence. The main Total Quality Management concepts engaged include customer focus, supplier partnerships, people development and involvement, systematic
process management, continuous improvement, leadership, public responsibility and results orientation.

3. A COMPARISON

3.1 ISO AND TQM
There are some linkages between these two quality concepts, ISO-9000 and TQM. There are complementary between them. ISO-9000 represents a trend in quality management and it cannot be ignored in today’s business environment. Companies that want to remain competitive and improve their quality systems use the ISO-9000 as a foundation for TQM system. Namely, based on this ISO-9000 is an important part of TQM and implementation of both approaches provide organizational success and competitive advantage. So, both approaches complement each other. ISO-9000 can be implemented first to create stability and consistency in the organization’s work, then the implementation of TQM can enhanced employee motivation and operational efficiency, success and performance. There are essential differences between ISO-9000 standards and TQM. ISO-9000 series registration is done by the quality manager. Quality manager writes manuals and procedures for other managers who afterwards just confirm and approve them without necessarily understanding them. And ?f an organization wants to get ISO-9000 series certification, there is a tendency to think they learnt that how to do quality. TQM, on the other hand, is opposed to this approach. It cannot be done by the quality manager. It has to be led by management and involve all members of organization. Therefore, when it is seen this point of view, getting ISO-9000 series certification in a way is disadvantage. An organization has to unlearn the way of getting quality before they start towards TQM. TQM focuses internally on management commitment and employee training and education and externally on meeting customer requirements exactly. The objective of TQM is to improve continuously every part of organization culture. And TQM considers customer needs and satisfaction as a part of their strategy to gain competitive advantage. On the other hand, ISO-9000 standards focus on consistency in the production of a product or service. The objective of ISO-9000 is to provide a common basis for assuring buyers that specific practices are in conformance with the provider’s stated
quality systems. ISO-9000 is considered as a quality assurance program and TQM is a quality management program. When they are compared, It is seen that quality management approaches are more comprehensive than quality assurance approaches. And these approaches are absolutely different from each other. ISO-9000 is focusing on quality goals based on internal capabilities. Its implementation is associated with line workers and application areas are line functions that are related products. Quality department, line management and staff are the participants of ISO-9000. The basic focus of ISO-9000 is to prove compliance, gain certification and customer assurance. ISO-9000 is used for external assessment needs in order to achieving customer satisfaction and organizations that use ISO-9000 depend on their customers and the aim at meeting customers’ requirements and exceeding their expectations. ISO-9000 process conform step by step procedures in ensuring the quality of finished goods or services and uses different techniques such as process capability and control charts that are used for conforming the specifications and reducing variations in order to achieve a stable and predictable system over time. ISO-9000 does not focus on human interactions. It emphasizes comprehensive guidelines on a quality system. Desired end goal of ISO-9000 is providing advantage in marketing. TQM is more related with top management. TQM focuses on continuous improvements, achieving and maintaining customer satisfaction. In addition of the customer satisfaction, TQM purposes the satisfaction of owners, employees, suppliers and society. TQM is internally generated opposite of ISO-9000 that is externally imposed. Entire organization is seen as a application area and all management, staff and employees in the organization are the participants of TQM. And TQM integrates all organizational functions such as production, customer service, marketing, finance and engineering. It is focused that product and process improvement continuously because of quality is a moving target. There is statistical monitoring namely, data and statistics not just opinions are used to evaluate and improve the quality. In TQM customers determine the quality and people working within the system create quality. For producing in high quality, quality is designed into products and variability is reduced initially. There is zero defect policy means any problem in the production process are filtered out before they get anywhere near the customer. Besides the differences between these two approaches,
both systems interact with one another because of that they cannot be separated. Succeed, leadership and management commitment play an essential role for both system. The similarities and differences between TQM and ISO 9000 can also be explained by a Venn diagram. As seen TQM is like an extension of ISO 9000.

3.2 ISO AND EFQM
The EFQM Model and the Quality Systems Standard

The IS0 9000 version of ISO series of Quality Systems Standards specify the requirements aimed at achieving primarily customer satisfaction by preventing nonconformity at all process stages from design though to servicing. They are what can be called compliance standards aiming at demonstrating confidence in product or service conformance. Issues such as leadership people management, resources, people satisfaction, customer satisfaction, impact or society and business results are not seriously considered. More specifically, the current IS0 9000 standards is linked with the EFQM model criteria as follows:

(a) Leadership:
Management must demonstrate commitment towards the implementation of a quality management system. Also management is responsible for setting the organization’s Quality Policy and Quality Objectives. In the case of the EFQM Model, leaders must inspire support and promote a culture of Total Quality Management, which has a wider scope than Quality Assurance.

(b) Policy and Strategy:
Although in IS0 9000 Quality Systems the policies are more focused on quality rather than more open as in the EFQM Model, the method of developing, communicating and updating is similar to the EFQM stated criteria, provided the leadership is fully committed to this process.

(c) People management:
The IS0 9000 standard, specifies the need for competent people whose training needs are defined, reviewed and satisfied, whereas the EFQM model goes much
deeper assessing the involvement, empowerment and recognition, their agreement on targets and performance, the caring for people and the need for an effective dialogue.

(d) Resources:
The IS0 9000 Standard calls for resources to be identified and be provided for in a generalized statement whereas the EFQM Model is specific on which resources have to be effectively managed and the method by which they are managed. Such resources are financial, information, supplier relationships, assets, technology and intellectual property.

(e) Processes:
An effective IS0 9000 Quality System could be able to meet the EFQM requirements, always depending on the commitment of management. The EFQM Model requires more insight into the target setting and also the need for using innovation and creativity.

(f) Customer satisfaction:

The IS0 9000 standard calls for the proper handling of customer complaints on one hand and on the other hand, the effective use for the information collected in corrective/preventive action activities. The EFQM Model calls for the provision of results relating to the customers’ perception on one hand and on the customers perception on the organisation.

(g) People satisfaction:

The EFQM Model asks for the provision of information regarding the expectation of its employees and their satisfaction.

(h) Impact on society:

The EFQM Model calls for the existence of evidence regarding the satisfaction of the needs and expectation of society relating to the perception of the organization and the measurement of the organization’s impact on society.

(i) Business results:
While in the IS0 9000 Quality Systems the monitoring and control focuses on the process management side, in the EFQM Model the performance of the whole organization has to be demonstrated and compared against competitors or best in class organizations.

The IS0 9000 / EFQM connection is shown below.

The new edition IS0 9001: 2000

The new version is addressing the company’s quality system in completely new setting, both with respect to concept and structure. It follows in the footsteps of the EFQM Model. Its conceptual model is structured on the process approach “Plan, Do, Check, Act” and based on the Total Quality Management principles. The focus is shifted towards customer satisfaction, people’s satisfaction, measurement, analysis and improvement. The major difference is that IS0 9001:2000 is more focused on the product or service while the EFQM Model has a wider scope encompassing wider activities of the organization.

Similarities and Differences

EFQM and ISO 9001 are both overall quality management systems and they can be compared as follows,
Objective

EFQM constantly improves the organization’s own performance. ISO delivers total client satisfaction through an effective and constantly improving system.

Benefits

In EFQM, efficiency and better performance results in relation to clients, people, society, and key performance. In ISO, there are more satisfied
clients, and fewer quality related problems and related costs. Improved efficiency is achievable, but there is no explicit objective.

Format

EFQM is non-normative, i.e. it does not prescribe the minimum to be done. It offers a framework for good management. Comparison with others can be done through a system of benchmarking. ISO is normative and prescriptive. A minimum number of well-defined processes must be in place so as to comply with the norm.

Key performance indicators

In EFQM, reporting and indicators are in three domains, namely people, customer, and society. The orientation is rapid towards indicators. In ISO, reporting and indicators focus on the client.

Audit
In EFQM there is self-assessment framework. Application can be submitted for external quality award. You perform at your own pace. In ISO, there is recognized validation and accreditation for meeting the standard. Everything must be in place and up to date for the auditor.

3.3 TQM AND EFQM
In order to give any substances to the concept of TQM, many tools, many methods and many models have been developed world wide so far. But In Europe the model for business excellence was issued by the European foundation for quality management (EFQM) which is defined as EFQM is a non for profit membership foundation, is the primary source for organizations in Europe looking to excel in their market and in their business. The model for business excellence by EFQM has gained broad acceptance among both profit and non profit making organizations. The EFQM Model for Business Excellence has 9 distinctive areas, each representing different aspect of the organizations. These nines are subdivided areas which are concerned with what result has been achieved and how these results have been achieved.
Figure shows us nine areas and how they are related to each other.

As mentioned above there are several principles in the TQM. In order to translate these principles into everyday practice we now use the Business model for excellence developed by EFQM. This EFQM may be considered complementary to the existing ISO 9000. Before TQM for examples in ISO 9000 there is a systematic approach. This implies that working processes and resources identified by using performance indicators (PIs).ISO 9000 quality system is quite suitable for seeking for continuous improvement by helping of performance indicators. Actually it is not enough by own self. So that a new quality management tools is required because of the fact that ISO 9000 quality system is stable in dynamic organization. It has ensured no more satisfaction for continuous improvement or goals that are specified from the company after 3 years using ISO 9000. So that they have found their demands met in the model of TQM which is defined by EFQM. The EFQM’s most important requirement is its ability to focus on both organizational and result aspects and their relationship with each other. We use self-assessment in EFQM to see what results are achieved at a given moment. Based on these findings organization can decide what improvement action must be taken to strengthen one or more several enablers in order to achieve better results. EFQM is not only useful for future improvement initiatives. Current projects can also be reprioritized and evaluated on the self-assessment. EFQM intends to disseminate and stimulate the TQM philosophy throughout Europe. At different levels in the organization and in the content of either internal or external quality management, this method can be used to make a self-diagnosis and to formulate points for improvement.

Explanation of the basic method of the EFQM

The basic model illustrates that leadership gives content and guidance to policy and strategy, people management and resources. These are the organizational manner by means of which the process management can be implemented. This determines the degree of satisfaction among the various interested parties customer satisfaction, people satisfaction which is according to internal people (employees), impact on society and in the way
in which they influence with each other lead to desired business result. EFQM looks like Plan Do Check cycle of Deming’s. Formulates its plan and objectives which stands for PLAN, carries out actions which stands for DO, measures the results which stands for CHECK.

The differences between EFQM and TQM

TQM
EFQM
TQM has been conceptualized around basic principles such as consumer focus, continuous improvement and human resource management.

EFQM excellence model was introduced at 90s as the framework for assessing organizations for the European Quality Awards( EQA)

TQM is an excellent model to use after successful implementing of an ISO 9000 Quality System

EFQM model makes TQM easy to enlarge the quality management viewpoint and to take an objective look at your organization and it’s result to achieve

TQM can be considered a philosophy rather than a method or model.

EFQM is a model for business excellence issued by the European Quality and guide to self-evolution, self-assessment .Guide to positioning and improvement.

TQM ensures to guarantee it’s comprehensiveness, dynamism, tracking of the latest developments

EFQM helps to relate the different aspects of the organization to one balanced viewpoint.

It’s ability to focus on both organizational and result aspect and their relationships to each other. These are the elements that classical ISO does
not focus on but takes for guaranteed

Organizational self-assessment to identify and improve their competitive position in order to cope with an ever changing environment. It helps to set priorities in the improvement projects.

4. CONCLUSION

5. REFERENCES

[1] Alan Brown, Ton van der Wiele, “A Typology of Approaches to ISO Certification and TQM” Australian Journal of Management, Vol. 21, No. 1, June 1996,The University of New South Wales.

[2] Mehdi Jamshidian, Arash Shahin, “ISO 9000 or Total Quality Management: Which One First?” University of Isfahan, Iran