Total Quality Management

At the core of Total Quality Management (TQM) is customer satisfaction. Sure, there are many other valuable reasons for heading down the TQM path, however, without the improved customer satisfaction, it is difficult to justify a full blown total quality management effort.

TQM has developed over several decades and has evolved into a system of processes and technologies. Yes, there are different approaches but most businesses follow the ISO requirements to achieve the goal of improved customer satisfaction. And, of course, along with customer satisfaction comes improved sales and profitability for the corporation.

The History of Quality Management

The history of quality management can be traced all the way back to The Middle Ages. Work completed by journeymen and apprentices were evaluated and inspected by the skilled worker to ensure that quality standards were met in all aspects of the finished product, ensuring satisfaction of the buyer. And while the history of quality management has gone through a number of changes since that time, the end goal is still the same.

What is Total Quality Management?

The concept of Total Quality Management, or TQM, is single-minded in its purpose:  To improve customer satisfaction.  As simple and as obvious as that may sound, it has taken many decades for the process to evolve to what it is today.  Even now there is not unanimous agreement as to how to achieve this one simple objective, although most businesses follow a similar model that has been fine-tuned over many years.

Benefits of an Integrated Quality System

This article provides a real life story that demonstrates the value of an integrated quality system. In business things go awry and often management takes it out on the employees who run the processes.  Deming said that employees were the cause of problems only 15 percent of the time, while the processes were the true cause the rest of the time.

Designing a Quality Management System

When in comes to creating a quality management system, managers often do not understanding where to begin.  This article covers the basic steps to implementing a quality management system and how to define roles and responsibilities in the process.

How to Create a Quality Management Plan

A company’s quality management plan can help find differences in customer expectations, determine what corrective action is required and provide a system for continuous improvement.   While some departments may have controls and inspections built into their processes, others may operate without any documentation. An integrated total management system gets all areas on the same page.

What is Quality Assurance and How Does it Help Your Business?

If you have no systems in place to control your process or measure customer satisfaction, you are merely guessing at what the customer expects. Every business can benefit from a quality assurance program. The detail to which it is applied is entirely up to the leadership of the company, but the more robust it is, the higher the chances are that a business will survive and even thrive in today’s economy.

The Greatest Quality Management System Failures in History

A quality management system is only as effective as management’s dedication and insistence to adherence and accountability. Here we examine the greatest quality management system failures in history.

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