Paper

APPROACHES FOR EFFICIENT QUALITY

MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

CIOBĂNICĂ MIHAELA - LAVINIA

Spiru Haret University, Romania

[email protected]

Abstract

Quality management system should reflect the management culture and quality culture.

Total quality management principles must be translated into organizational culture. This

system is a way to implement, manage and master quality at the micro level in order to

obtain confidence and competitiveness of products / services in various markets.

An organization can excel if fructify the full potential of each individual within it,

stimulating his creativity, giving reason for pride and making him aware of his own worth.

Effective management of total quality needs intelligence, education and capability to

achieve the objectives, policies and strategies for organization and information leading

internal processes and to adapt to the external environment.

Keywords: quality culture, customer satisfaction, competence, efficiency.

JEL Classification: M10, M 14.

1. INTRODUCTION

Quality can’t be considered an economic category that lies outside the

economic factors that come out of their actions, but must be understood as being in

constant change and in close interaction with these economic and social factors.

Quality can be placed as a factor of influence on other economic categories

and especially on the economic and financial results of the firm.

One of the basic requirements for increasing the quality level of production

and products is the proper organization of the quality control activity.

Ensuring a qualitative level of products, in constant correlation with the

maximum level of the requirements of the beneficiaries and satisfying them as high

as possible, makes it necessary to improve the control activity.

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2. IMPROVING QUALITY CONTROL ACTIVITY AT THE

ORGANIZATIONAL LEVEL

2.1 FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE QUALITY CHANGE

A. Influence of technical and creative factors

Technical factors relate to the structure and state of the equipment, the

efficiency of which depends on the good and efficient development of the

technological process (Drăgulănescu & Drăgulănescu, 2008, p. 28).

Creative factors have a great importance in changing quality and achieving

products with a high degree of competitiveness (design, fashion, customer

requirements).

Creative spirit is the most important element of any business. Without it a

firm becomes bureaucracy and is ruled by routine. If it is large, it suffers from

splitting. It becomes a group of small bureaucrats fighting each other.

B. Influence of material factors

Of particular importance is the quality of the raw materials and auxiliaries

used, as well as the quality of the technological operations executed along the

technological flow.

C. Organization of quality control of production and products

The way in which the quality control of the production and the products

obtained is directly dependent on the increase of the profitability and the superior

capitalization of the raw materials.

Following the control, the factors of influence on the quality are hierarchy,

the causes that determined inferior quality products are evaluated so that, after

critical analyses, a more objective grouping of assortments and product groups can

be obtained in order to orient the production towards those assortments that ensure

an increased efficiency of the activity of the economic agent.

It is necessary to introduce into the production process only those raw

materials that have the quality characteristics provided by the standards or rules

invoked by the beneficiaries when specifying these raw materials when the order is

launched (Mitonneau, 2007, p. 179).

Executing a rigorous control over the manufacturing stream that prevents

the promotion of non-compliant products with approved documentation and

technology implies a sustained activity of quality controllers.

They must show professional training, experience in the profession, ability

to make decisions and collaborate with performers, foremen, to solve the problems

that arise, and to have self-training and self-denial concerns.

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D. The influence of labour force qualification

Product quality means not only raw materials and quality materials, tools

and methods but also the professionalism of those who make them.

A professional is a person who gains satisfaction, not just a salary.

Professionalism means you're not good at anything: if you were a poet, you did not

write lyrics and slogans and dialogues for movies.

2.2 ASSESSING THE CAUSES THAT HAVE LED TO THE

PRODUCTION OF INFERIOR QUALITY PRODUCTS

An important point in the critical analysis of the system in which the

analysed company operates is the detection by control of the causes that lead to the

production of inferior quality products.

For a statistical analysis of these cases, the share of these causes in the

production of lower quality products in the years 2016, 2017 and the first months

of 2018 is to be found in Table 1.

The causes that determined inferior quality products are:

a) The use of inadequate workplaces in terms of qualifications in some jobs.

b) Using raw materials and inappropriate materials.

c) Damage due to machine wear.

The share of human-induced defects has declined somewhat, but has

remained rather high due to increased fluctuations in personnel, and the continued

employment of new staff (Oprean & Kifor 2007, p. 112).

Table 1. Causes that have led to high quality products

Cause

The year

Measurement

Units

1

Employees

2

Material

3

Equipment

TOTAL

Pieces 4487 1109 1885 7481

2016 % 60 15 25 100

Pieces 4172 740 1094 6006

2017 % 70 12 18 100

Pieces 1831 281 626 2738

2018 % 67 10 23 100

Pieces 10490 2130 3605 16225

TOTAL % 65 13 22 100

Source: Adapted by Nicolae, 2010

As regards the proportion of defects due to poor quality materials, there is a

decrease due to the continuous selection of contractors.

The share of defects due to machine wear remains high, although part of

them has been replaced and upgraded.

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2.3 THE ECONOMIC EFFECTS OF IMPROVING THE CONTROL

ACTIVITY

The measures for improving the control activity are mainly aimed at

raising the quality level of production. For this purpose, it is possible to act in two

directions (Jaba, 2007, p. 126):

I. Improvement of the defect prevention activity, which leads to a

reduction in the share of defective production in the total production and results in

the following effects:

1. Reducing losses due to defective products.

2. The decrease in costs to remedy the defects found (effects specific to the

new measures) is therefore calculated on the basis of the costs of the remedy if the

existing measures were applied.

3. Improving the quality structure of production (increasing the share of

high quality products in total production on the basis of defect prevention action).

II. Improving the identification and correction of defects, improving the

quality structure of production.

The new measures taken will not lead to the loss of defects but only to an

improvement in the quality of the production obtained by remedying the defects

(Rotaru, 2008, p. 49).

For two of the assortments made at the analysed company, the data

necessary to calculate the defects of the proposed measures will be presented in

Table 2.

Table 2. Data to calculate defects

No.

Assortments

Bathrobes Swimsuits

Items First

quality

Second

quality

Total First

quality

Second

quality

Total

1. Physical production

(Pieces)

119457 294 119751 11422 9 11431

2. Selling Price

(Monetary Units)

7300 6570 - 17500 15750 -

3. Unit cost

(monetary units /

pieces)

4500 4500 - 10746 10746 -

4. Unit benefit (units /

piece)

900 170 - 2149 399 -

5. Products with defects

(pieces)

330 25

6. Share of defective

products (%)

0,27 0,21

7. Products benefiting

from interventions for

430 30

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defect prevention

(pieces)

8. Share of beneficiary

products for

prevention of

deficiencies (%)

0,35 0,26

9. Expenditure needed to

remedy defects

(thousands of

monetary units)

507 175

Source: Adapted by Jaba, 2007.

The second quality products are tanned bathrobes and swimsuits with

uneven seamless prints.

The situation of products with defects and the expenses for remedying

them, by causes, is presented in Table 3.

Table 3 The situation of defective products and the costs of remedying them

Assortment Bathrobes Swimsuits

pd ch r Pd ch r

Causes Pieces % Thousands

of monetary

units

Pieces % Thousands

of monetary

units

1. Defects due to

machine wear

200 68% 116 6 66% 47,5

2. Damage due to

inappropriate

materials

84 28% 87,5 2

22% 16,2

3. Disabilities

related to human

qualification

10

4% 45 1 12% 9,5

TOTAL 248,5 73,2

Source: Adapted by Oprean & Kifor, 2007

The production of the month of May on assortments was estimated on the

basis of the average rate of evolution, taking into account the actual production

achieved over the previous 4 months, as shown in Table 4.

Table 4Production made on assortments

Assortment Production made (pcs)

January February March April

Bathrobes 115528 115975 119751 115916

Swimsuits _ 5454 11422 9529

Source: Adapted by Jaba, 2007

The average rate of evolution will be determined by the formula:

𝑟 = [(𝑄𝑓𝑒𝑏𝑟 − 𝑄𝑗𝑎𝑛 ) + (𝑄𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑐ℎ − 𝑄𝑓𝑒𝑏𝑟 ) + (𝑄𝑎𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑙 − 𝑄𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑐ℎ )]/3 (1)

𝑄𝑚𝑎𝑦 = 𝑄𝑎𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑙 + 𝑟 (2)

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𝑟𝑏𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑒𝑠 = 129 𝑝𝑐𝑠

𝑟𝑠𝑤𝑖𝑚𝑠𝑢𝑖𝑡𝑠 = 3176 𝑝𝑐𝑠

So, 𝑄𝑚𝑎𝑦 = 115916 = 129 = 116045 𝑝𝑐𝑠 (𝑏𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑒𝑠)

𝑄𝑚𝑎𝑦 = 9529 + 3176 = 12705 𝑝𝑐𝑠 (𝑠𝑤𝑖𝑚𝑠𝑢𝑖𝑡𝑠)

With the help of the presented data, depending on the measures taken, the

economic effects of the improvement of the control activity will be determined, by

assortment, as follows:

1. To eliminate defects caused by machine wear, modern machines are purchased for the production of bathrobes and bathing suits.

a) In the case of the production of bathrobes, 25% lower quality products are reduced, representing 0.17% (0.25% / 0.68% = 0.17%) of the total

production of this range. At the same time, 0.17% increase in high-quality

production.

a.1) Profitability gained by reducing losses due to defective products:

∆𝐵/𝑝𝑑 = −11604588 × (−0,17/100) × 4500 = 887,744 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑠

a.2) Benefit gained on account of improving the quality structure of

production:

∆𝐵/𝑠𝑐 = 116045 × (0,17/100) × 900 = 177,548 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑠

a.3) Influence of expenses to remedy the defects:

∆𝐵/𝑐ℎ 𝑟 = 116 × (0,17/0,68)) = 29 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑠

So, the benefit for the production of bathrobes is 1,094,292.

b) For the production of swimsuits, the application of the measure led to a 25% reduction in lower quality products, which represents 0.16% of the

total production of this range (0.66% / 0.25% = 0.16%) and a 0.16%

increase in high quality products.

The profit margin will be determined as in the case of the bathrobes

assortment:

b.1) 𝐵/𝑝𝑑 = −12705 × (−0,16/100) × 10746 = 218,444 monetary units

b.2) ∆𝐵/𝑠𝑐 = 12705 × (0,16/100) × 2149 = 43,684 monetary units

b.3) ∆𝐵 𝑐ℎ𝑟 = 47,5 × (0,16/100 ) = 11,515 monetary units

The benefit margin, in this case is 273.643 monetary units.

As a result of the first measure, the benefit related to the entire production

is: 1.367.935 monetary units.

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2. Regarding the proposal made for the improvement of control through the training of the staff, the study is made on the basis of the situation resulting

from the first improvement measure.

a) In the case of the production of bathrobes:

a.1) The share of defective products declined by 0.17% to 0.10% of total

production.

a.2) The share of products benefiting from defect prevention interventions

increased by 0.17% to 0.52% of total production.

a.3) Expenditures needed to remedy the defects decreased by 29,000

monetary units to 478,000 monetary units.

Following the implementation of the second measure, it is assumed that the

share of lower quality products will be reduced by 10%, representing 0.004% of

the total production of this product (0.04% * 0.10% = 0.004%). At the same time,

the share of high quality products will increase by 0,004%.

The benefit margin will be determined as follows:

1’ ∆𝐵/𝑝𝑑 = −116045 × (−0,004/100) × 4500 = 20,888 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑠

2’ ∆𝐵/𝑠𝑐 = 116045 × (0,004/100) × 900 = 4,177 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑠

3’ ∆𝐵/𝑐ℎ𝑟 = 45000 × (0,004/0,04 ) = 4,500 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑠

So the benefit margin for the production of bathrobes will be 29,565

thousands of monetary units

b) In the case of the production of swimsuits:

b.1) The share of defective products decreased by 0.16% to 0.05% of total

production;

b.2) The share of products benefiting from defect prevention interventions

increased by 0.16% to 0.42% of total production.

b.3) Expenditure to remedy defects decreased by 11515 and became

163485 monetary units.

For this assortment, the application of the second measure will result in a

defective product reduction of 10% representing 0.012% of total production

(0.19% * 0.12% = 0.012%) and an increase of 0.012% of high quality production.

The expected benefit margin will be calculated as follows:

1’ ∆𝐵/𝑝𝑑 = −12705 × (−0,012/100) × 10746 = 16,383 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑠

2’ ∆𝐵/𝑠𝑐 = 12705 × (0,012/100) × 2149 = 3,276 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑠

3’ ∆𝐵/𝑐ℎ𝑟 = 9,5 × (0,012/0,12 ) = 950 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑠

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So the benefit of the bathing suit will be 20,609 monetary units and the

total increase to the entire production will be 50,174 monetary units.

7. CONCLUSION, LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH

One of the basic requirements for increasing the quality level of production

and products is the proper organization of the quality control activity.

Ensuring a qualitative level of products, in constant correlation with the

maximum level of the requirements of the beneficiaries and satisfying them as high

as possible, makes it necessary to improve the control activity (Nicolae, 2010, p.

87).

The measures proposed for this purpose are:

▪ The responsibility for the quality of operations rests with the master for all jobs in his field of activity. Ensuring the high quality

of all the operations required in the production process is one of the

basic tasks of the foremen in the sectors they lead.

▪ Interphase control groups focus their work on the key points of the technology process.

▪ Performing a sample survey of operations under direct responsibility of foremen.

▪ Expanding self-control by workers. This form of quality control presents, besides the economic aspect, other aspects of particular

social importance related to the work psychology, namely,

increasing the workers' responsibility for the executed works.

These proposed measures may be further supplemented, depending on the

causes which led to the production of lower quality products:

▪ A cause for inferior quality products is damage caused by machine wear. But the acquisition of new performance machines means a

step forward in quality assurance.

▪ Regarding the quality of raw materials and materials, the best commissioners should be appointed in the reception commissions

and the analytical laboratory will be equipped with the necessary

equipment to test the materials before they are introduced into the

manufacturing.

▪ An important measure is linked to the workforce. The staff of the company must be filled in only with qualified staff, previously

tested for knowledge and skills.

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▪ The quality process can be transformed using the most precious resource: people. People working for the enterprise often have the

best ideas for improving quality and productivity. Everything is

like these people feel safe: do not be afraid to express their ideas;

do not be afraid to ask questions.

▪ It is recommended that training courses and training in quality assurance are organized within the unit for all staff, irrespective of

the position they occupy.

REFERENCES

Drăgulănescu, N., & Drăgulănescu, M. (2008), Managementul calităţii serviciilor

(Quality of service management). Bucharest: AGIR Publishing House.

Jaba, O. (2007), Managementul producţiei şi operaţiunilor (Production and

operations management). Iasi: SedcomLibris Publishing House.

Mitonneau, H. (2007), O nouă orientare în managementul calităţii (A new

orientation in quality management). Bucharest: Technical Publishing House.

Nicolae, N. (2010), Calitatea şi managementul calităţii (Quality and quality

management). Constanta: Ex Ponto Publishing House.

Oprean, C., & Kifor, C. V. (2007), Managementul calităţii (Quality management).

Sibiu: „Lucian Blaga” University Publishing House.

Rotaru, N. (2008), Sisteme de managementul calităţii (Quality management

systems). Bucharest: Romanian Foundation for Quality Promotion.

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