Quality & Supply Chain Management with Personnel, Systems and Output
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Background: Product Quality and Distribution Problems at the Denver facility: This facility has experienced slow physical growth since its beginning in the 1930s. Over the years, new production units (measuring 2 km x 1 km) have been added on the periphery of the facility, in a widely scattered manner. Unfortunately, your previous recommendations regarding customer service have not yet been implemented due to budgetary constraints; customers desiring to pickup multiple products must now drive from point to point within the plant to pick up each product. There are often waiting lines at each loading point. This is causing gridlock within the facility caused by the arrival pattern of trucks picking up products. In addition, there are product quality problems, primarily due to new rules that the automotive industry (ISO 9000) is imposing on all of their suppliers.
Scenario: Once a month, you meet with other quality analysts in your local area. This month topic is "getting back to basics". The speaker reminds the group that any quality management program includes people (managers, workers, executives, inspectors, and so on), systems (machines, procedures, processes, equipment, communications), inputs (raw materials, information, energy, and so on), and outputs (materials, information, reports, and services).
Problem: Discussion after the speech focuses on the importance of good managers and good systems. You participate by explaining why both are integral to an organization and the effects, if any, of an imbalance within any of these areas.
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Solution Summary
This solution of 1,038 defines Total Quality Management (TQM) and explains the three foundational elements of the management strategy. It also looks at the importance of good managers and good systems on managerial decision making. All references used are included.
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Good systems. You participate by explaining why both are integral to an organization and the effects, if any, of an imbalance within any of these areas.
Total Quality Management (TQM) is a management strategy carried out by an organization with the aim of embedding awareness of quality in all organizational process. Boje, et al, (1993) argued that Total Quality Management has a wider application than that of assuring product and service quality but also it is a way of managing people and business to ensure complete customer satisfaction at every stage internally or externally.
Following are the foundational elements of TQM
1. People: Involvement of all the employees is an important principal. It can be accomplished by Teamwork, Training, Multi-skilling, Leadership development, giving more responsibility. It will help in creating amicable environment where all employees delight and potential will be improved.
2. Process:
The focus will be to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the processes. It should also take care of customer delight. Problems will be solved through team through teamwork. Processes are designed with customer requirement in focus.
3. Customer
TQM's main area of focus is customer; all the activities are aimed at customer delight and not just satisfaction. In production processes for every process the customer is not only the final user but also the next process.
Hence both quality management and systems are required for success of the organization.
Management is a science of creative problem solving. A manager is a person who makes the appropriate decisions and is responsible for running the show smoothly in an organization. The creative problem solving ...
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