Introduction to Total Quality Management(TQM)

Introduction

• Total – made up of the whole
• Quality – degree of excellence a product or service provides
• Management – act, art or manner of planning, controlling, directing,….

Therefore, TQM is the art of managing the whole to achieve excellence.

The concept of TQM

• Produce quality work the first time
• .Focus on the customer.
• Have a strategic approach to improvement
• Improve continuously.
• Encourage mutual respect and teamwork.

Different Definitions of Total Quality Management(TQM)

• Total quality management (TQM) has been defined as an integrated organizational effort designed to improve quality at every level.
• The process to produce a perfect product by a series of measures requires an organized effort by the entire company to prevent or eliminate errors at every stage in production is called total quality management.
• According to the international organization for standards defined TQM as, “TQM is a management approach for an organization, centered on quality, based on the participation of all its members and aiming at long-term success through customer satisfaction and benefits to all members of the organization and to the society“.

Characteristics of TQM

• Committed management.
• Adopting and communicating about total quality management.
• Closer customer relations.
• Closer provider relations.
• Benchmarking.
• Increased training.
• Open organization
• Employee empowerment.
• Flexible production.
• Process improvements.
• Process measuring

Traditional approach and TQM Quality element

The three aspects of TQM

Counting

Tools, techniques, and training in their use for analyzing, understanding, and solving quality problems

Customers

Quality for the customer as a driving force and central concern.

Culture

Shared values and beliefs, expressed by leaders, that define and support quality.

Principles of TQM

• Produce quality work the first time and every time.
• Focus on the customer.
• Have a strategic approach to improvement.
• Improve continuously.
• Encourage mutual respect and teamwork

The key elements of the TQM

• Focus on the customer.
• Employee involvement
• Continuous improvement

Focus on the customer

• It is important to identify the organization’s customers.
• External customers consume the organization’s product or service.
• Internal customers are employees who receive the output of other employees.

Employee Involvement

• Since quality is considered the job of all employees, employees should be involved in quality initiatives.
• Front line employees are likely to have the closest contact with external customers and thus can make the most valuable contribution to quality.
• Therefore, employees must have the authority to innovate and improve quality.

Continuous Improvement

• The quest for quality is a never-ending process in which people are continuously working to improve the performance, speed, and number of features of the product or service.
• Continuous improvement means that small, incremental improvement that occurs on a regular basis will eventually add up to vast improvement in quality.
• TQM is the management process used to make continuous improvements to all functions.
• TQM represents an ongoing, continuous commitment to improvement.
• The foundation of total quality is a management philosophy that supports meeting customer requirements through continuous improvement.

Continuous Process Improvement.

• View all work as a process – production and business.
• Process – purchasing, design, invoicing, etc.
• Inputs – process – outputs.
• Process improvement – increased customer satisfaction.
• Improvement – 5 ways: reduce resources, reduce errors, meet expectations of downstream customers, make the process safer, make the process more satisfying to the person doing.

BENEFITS OF TQM:

• Improved quality.
• Employee participation.
• Teamwork.
• Working relationships.
• Customer satisfaction
• Employee satisfaction.
• Productivity.
• Communication.
• Profitability.
• Market share.

Advantages of TQM

• Improves reputation- faults and problems are spotted and sorted quicker.
• Higher employee morale- workers motivated by extra responsibility, teamwork and involvement indecisions of TQM.
• Lower cost.
• Decrease waste as fewer defective products and no need for separate.

Disadvantage of TQM

• Initial introduction cost.
• Benefits may not be seen for several years.
• Workers may be resistant to change

Conclusions

• TQM encourages participation amongst employees, managers, and organizations as a whole.
• Using Quality management reduces rework nearly to zero in an achievable goal. The responsibilities of either it’s a professional, social, legal one that rests with the pharmaceutical manufacturer for the assurance of the quality of products are tremendous and it can only be achieved by well organized.
• Work culture and complete engagement of the employees at the workplace. It should be realised that national & international regulations must be implemented systematically and process.
• Control should be practiced rigorously
• Thus quality is a critically important ingredient to organizational success today which can be achieved by TQM, an organizational approach that focusses on quality as overachieving goals, aimed at the prevention of defects rather than detection of defects.

References: Justin K joy First year M.Pharm Analysis St.James collage of pharmaceutical sciences PPT.