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Quality Control Manuel for American Licorice Company

BADM370-1803B-02 Quality Management

Quality Control Manuel for American Licorice Company

September 5, 2018

Table of Contents

Pg. 1 Title Page

Pg. 2 Table of Contents

Pg. 3- 4 Introduction

Pg. 4-6 The Roll of Leadership

Pg. 6-8 General Quality

Strategies and Tools

Pg. 9-11 Quality Tactics

and the Logistics

and Supply Chain Functions

Pg. 12-14 References

Introduction

This quality manual is for the “American Licorice Company.” According to its website, It started by Mark Kretchum, and “their first product was black licorice(History,2010, par 1).” Also, the quality management revolution will be explained, and some directions companies are taking for strategic quality management, and the pros and cons of six sigma.

The quality management evolution started because of the need for better products as factories got bigger, more customers, and then years later globalization. According to www.opentextbooks.com, Quality Management has been around “ since 2000BC,” and continues to this day.(Evolution and Development of Quality Management, 2016, par 1).”

They have had guilds, and labor unions, ect., that have all lead up to the modern version of quality management.Basically, as more is needed, different groups of people or brilliant individuals come up with better ways to do quality work, and keep up with production. The next subject is some directions companies are taking for strategic quality management.

Two directions that are being taking in strategic quality management are, one, refining the company mission, and refining the company statement. According to www.advisora.com, “If you are one of the companies that have not yet worried about defining and recording your company vision and strategic direction, now is the time to do so(Hammer, 2017, par 6).” They also suggest the use of ISO-9000, which is just a program that helps organize this whole process. And the last part is the pros and cons of six sigma.

Programs such as developed by Deming and the six sigma program were developed to keep production numbers up, make a team more cohesive, and have very high quality products. Some of the pros of six sigma are: According to www.comparebusinessproducts.com, “…who successfully implement Six Sigma typically deliver better return on investment, return on sales, employment growth, stock growth and value growth(The Pros and Cons of Six Sigma, 2010, par 1).” Where as the cons are “companies have to change, its hard work, and it does not work for every company,(The Pros and Cons of Six Sigma, 2010, par 4).” All that being said, it is still a remarkable way to improve quality in a company, and all these things and more will be looked at further in this manual.

The Role of Leadership

The senior managements role in a successful quality improvement program is to head up the different programs associated with the new quality program. They are also have the responsibility of hiring a total quality management manager (TQM), to take charge of the change. The change must be communicated efficiently, and all involve must be aware of why the change is happening, when it is happening, and what their position is in the change. It also helps to update the mission statement and the company vision. Some examples are from the “Journal of Healthcare Medicine,” where they are “trying to improve the reaction time of hospital visits(Bradley, E, PhD, Roumanis, S, R.N, Radford, M., M.D. FACC, etc, 2005, par 1). ” In one example, they were talking about a “victim who was picked up by an ambulance,(Bradley, E, PhD, Roumanis, S, R.N, Radford, M., M.D. FACC, etc, 2005, par 10),” and how they were able to make the visit more efficient by calling the hospital ahead, and administering certain meds and taking blood for tests. They also had another “path(Bradley, E, PhD, Roumanis, S, R.N, Radford, M., M.D. FACC, etc, 2005, par 13),” where they did not have the precare that the patient had in the first path. The results were faster as they had implemented a new plan that still made it more efficient. They took care of it all in triage, and had a plan for the right people to be in the right place. This study was done over a multitude of hospitals, and showed how these facilities improved quality at a hospital by more efficient visits to the hospital. The next topic is the general roles of a senior management in a large scale strategic quality program.

The role of managers in total quality management is quite extensive. But, two will be discussed herein. The first role is the “facilitator in the workplace(Role of Managers,2018, par 4).” This simply means that they are in charge of putting the right people in the right spots to make the transition process efficient, and keep the process going. The objective of the manager in this situation is success, and failure is not good for this persons career. The next role is, “ the manager must communicate(Role of Managers,2018, par 5), the process and the expectations of the quality improvement program. This is the most important part of the process, without communication the whole process will be difficult and may fail. The next section is why the different roles must be identified

The different roles must be identified and separated for efficiency. When specific people have specific roles they often concentrate on that specific role and are more successful. This is the reason, it is the same as having subject matter experts all take a percentage of a task and getting the job done. Fast. Efficient. The risk of not using the roles is non-efficiency, the whole process not being efficient. Another problem is there will not be a specific goal, or more likely everyone not being on the same page. The last part is the use of metrics by management to make processes goes well.

The metrics for the judging of performance is a task for middle and senior managers. And performance can be measured in many ways. Five will be gone over that can all relate to performance. Remember, performance can be measured by the actions of others, the success of the company, and efficiency. Some ways to measure these are, “Cost of Quality”, that is what it costs the company to produce said products, good or bad, “Overall equipment effectiveness,” that is how often the machines break down, or how efficient the use of them is, “percentage of products in compliance,” I.e. the amount of products that are good and meets the customers standard versus ones that do not, “On time and complete shipments,” that is the amount of on time shipments and the ones that are not, and finally, “new products introduction(Littlefield,M.,2011-2018, par 4-8).” These are all important to judge how well the personal are doing. If all of these metric are met, or even surpass said goals, the personal are doing well.

General Quality Strategies and Tools

In this section there will be a graph on a multiple quality management tactics. The following will be in the graph: Establishing Customer Expectations; Designing Quality;Defineing Metrics; Mistake proofing; Kaizen; Six Sigma.

The definitions of each will be given, and then in the graph the risks and values will be shown visually.

Establishing customer expectations is simply defining what the customer expects. One needs to,” Know their customer, understand needs, and meet needs(Meeting Customer Expectations,2017).”This can be done through surveys, customer complaints, statistics, and knowing the history or certain products that are particularly popular at certain times of year.

Designing quality is the process of determining what will be a acceptable product to the clients or customers. This can also be comparative to other companies, and this may have some basis on the standards set forth. “Design quality is the intrinsic fit between products design…and customer needs(Anderson,L.,2016, par 4-7).”

Defining metrics is the process of setting measurable standards than can be used to make improvements. Metrics are, “to take action, make decisions, grow…and collaborate, all based on data(Tyson, 2016, par 1).” And it comes in three types,” business, departmental, and individual(Tyson., 2016, par 12).” This means that these measurable standards are goals for the whole business, each individual department and for each individual. Promotions and terminations are the results of these.

Mistake proofing is the process of using machines or electronics to prevent mistakes. Safety devices and mistake proof. Shut off switches are also mistake proofing. It is, “the use of an automatic device or method that makes it impossible to make a mistake(Mistake-proofing, 2018, par 1).” Everyone has seen them mechanisms. They are not new, and just keep getting better.

Kaizen is a Japanese word that basically just means continuous improvement. It means,” Constant, continuous change(Henry, A., 2014, par 1-2).” It is a philosophy that can be used anywhere. And the pros of it will be seen in the graph.

Six Sigma is a five step process, that is designed to improve quality and productivity. It was started in Japan to overdue American factories in production. It is a “ disciplined, statistical based, data driven, and continuous improvement methodology(Lean Manufacturing, 2018, par 1).”

Now that they are all defined, the graph will do the rest. Due to the constraint of the page, each tactic will be broken down into a shorter word. Establishing customer expectations will now be (ECE), Designing quality will be (DQ), Designing Metrics will be (DM), Mistake proofing will be (MP), Kaizen will be (K) and Six Sigman will be (SS).

Values Risks

ECE A lot of customer input. If this process fails, the business fails.

DQ Performance, durability,perceptions If this process fails, bad parts go out and business is lost.

DM Attainable, realistic. If the goals are not attainable, then no progress will happen.

MP Elimination, Replacement, facilitation There are always risks with new inventions or methods, but if this one fails, then a new one will come of it.

K Standardise, measure,compare,innovate The risk is that it may be to laxed, and not enough produciton will happen.

SS Define,measure,analyse,improve,control No creativity, leaves out human component.

Values Risks

ECEA lot of customer input. If this process fails, the business fails.

DQPerformance, durability,perceptionsIf this process fails, bad parts go out and business is lost.

DMAttainable, realistic. If the goals are not attainable, then no progress will happen.

MPElimination, Replacement, facilitationThere are always risks with new inventions or methods, but if this one fails, then a new one will come of it.

KStandardise, measure,compare,innovateThe risk is that it may be to laxed, and not enough produciton will happen.

SSDefine,measure,analyse,improve,controlNo creativity, leaves out human component.

Values Risks

ECE A lot of customer input. If this process fails, the business fails.

DQ Performance, durability,perceptions If this process fails, bad parts go out and business is lost.

DM Attainable, realistic. If the goals are not attainable, then no progress will happen.

MP Elimination, Replacement, facilitation There are always risks with new inventions or methods, but if this one fails, then a new one will come of it.

K Standardise, measure,compare,innovate The risk is that it may be to laxed, and not enough produciton will happen.

SS Define,measure,analyse,improve,control No creativity, leaves out human component.

Values Risks

ECEA lot of customer input. If this process fails, the business fails.

DQPerformance, durability,perceptionsIf this process fails, bad parts go out and business is lost.

DMAttainable, realistic. If the goals are not attainable, then no progress will happen.

MPElimination, Replacement, facilitationThere are always risks with new inventions or methods, but if this one fails, then a new one will come of it.

KStandardise, measure,compare,innovateThe risk is that it may be to laxed, and not enough produciton will happen.

SSDefine,measure,analyse,improve,controlNo creativity, leaves out human component.

Quality Tactics and the Logistics and Supply Chain Functions

This section is about quality tactics and logistics and supply chain functions. First, each one will be defined, then which of these tools or functions work well internally. Lastly, which of these tactics or tools works well externally, such as with vendors. Quality tactics will be the one started with.

Quality tactics are ways in which quality work is done. It is the ways a business keeps up its profits, as well as cutting losses, while still presenting quality or good products.

Some good tactics are, “having a complete plan and specifications…if one don’t provide…costing. Time, money, and quality(Sedan, 2013, par 8).” Another good tactic is, “strong field operations…good people to work with you(Sedan, 2013, par 9).” And one more just for good measure, “a quality delivery system… a good system requires metrics to track process(Sedan, 2013, par 12).” As one can see, tactics are important for any company, and just as important, if not more so for American Licorice Company. The next section will be on logistics and supply chain functions.

Logistics is the process or mission of getting raw products in, and finished products, out. It is the whole process from the idea, to the actual completion of the job. It is the ideology of the process of a successful business. And a supply chain is a group of buildings or businesses that work together and coordinate to get one thing from one place to another place in a timely manner. Now that both have been defined, one must understand that, although not interchangeable, they do have the same job. As such, the concentration in this section will be in logistic functions. Some logistic functions are, “order processing, inventory control, warehousing, transportation, material handling, logistical packaging, and information(7 Major Functions, 2017, par 2-25),” Each one is really a predecessor to the next one, for instance one has to be able to bid and get materials in to make a profit. After one has product, one must keep track of it, and store it. Once some orders are received the raw materials must be made into a final product and delivered somewhere. And so the process continues over and over again. If one plans right, they can always have a profit and be successful. The final section is on what tools or functions work well internally and externally.

In order to fully understand this, some of the tools of quality management will be used. One of the tools is six sigma, it is, “business management strategy for improving the operational performance of a business by eliminating variability and waste…(Black, 2010, par 3).” This tool is perfect for internally improving the business. It focuses on production, quality, and saving money through cutting costs, and getting the right materials for the job. Now there are many templates out there that are specific to what business one is in. Another is the total quality management, it is, “a set of practices put in place …that are geared to ensure consistently meeting customer needs and wants(Black, 2010, par 6).” This is great for customers, and vendors. It is a format that is designed to make customers and vendors want to come back for more. With a higher customer base, the vendors will come and want to do business with said entity. Another tool is a equipment maintenance log. This “produces Small changes such as improved documentation can significantly affect quality(Black,2010, par 9).” This helps the company internally keep better track of inventory and equipment. It helps by saving money, and knowing when to order and what to order to get a job done. But as any businessman or woman knows, if it helps internally, it will help externally. A well organized and successful business that keeps what they have going on effective and efficient, will be more able to adhere to the customers wants and needs.

References

Anderson, L (2003) Management and Accounting. (WEB)

Retrieved from: http://maaw.info/ArticleSummaries/ArtSumAndersonSedatole98.htm

Black, T. (2010) 10 Quality Management Tools. (WEB)

Retrieved from: https://www.inc.com/guides/2010/09/10-quality-management- tools.html

Bradley, E, PhD, Roumanis, S, R.N, Radford, M., M.D. FACC, etc, (2005) The Roles of

Senior Management in Quality Improvement Efforts: What Are the Key Components?

Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/10894651_The_Roles_of_Senior_Management_in_Quality_Improvement_Efforts_What_Are_the_Key_Components

Hammer, M. (2017) Aligning Quality Objectives of the QMS with the Strategic Direction

Company. (Blog)

Retrieved from: https://advisera.com/9001academy/blog/2017/03/07/aligning-quality-

objectives-of-the-qms-with-the-strategic-direction-of-the-company/