Total Quality
Management
ABC Furniture Manufacture
Melissa Ruk
School of Business, Liberty University
BUSI616: Total Quality Management
Dr. Dickerson
October 13, 2023
Author Note:
Melissa Ruk
I have no known conflict of interest to disclose.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Melissa Ruk.
Email: maruk@liberty.edu
Hello, I am Melissa Ruk, and this presentation will be on total quality management or TQM.
We will look at an overview of TQM, a case study conducted on ABC Furniture, and how the
company can improve its position by implementing TQM.
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Total Quality Management (TQM)
Customer-
Focused
Total
Employee
Involvement
Process-
Centered
Integrated
System
Strategic And
Systematic
Approach
Continual
Improvement
Fact-Based
Decision-
Making
Communication
•What is TQM
•Modern business management theory
•Has become an essential and prevalent philosophy in various industries
and organizations worldwide
•Focuses on improving customer satisfaction through continually
improving an organization's people, processes, products, services, and
environments to exceed customer expectations while increasing quality
•Continual process of detecting and reducing or eliminating errors in
manufacturing
•ongoing process of detecting and reducing or eliminating errors
•Aims to
•streamline supply chain management
•improves the customer experience
•ensures that employees are up to speed with training
•hold all parties involved in the production process accountable for
the overall quality of the final product or service
•The eight principles of total quality management
•customer-focused
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•total employee involvement
•process-centered
•integrated system
•Malcolm Baldrige
•ISO 9000 Standards
•strategic and systematic approach
•continual improvement
•fact-based decision-making
•communication
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Quality Philosophy
W. Edwards Deming
One of the Founding Fathers of Total Quality Management
Deming Cycle / Deming Wheel
Model for continuous quality improvement
Fourteen Points
Concepts to follow when implementing TQM
Seven Deadly Diseases
Items that hinder an organization’s ability to implement
TQM
Philip B. Crosby
Quality Vaccine
Contributed to TQM theories
Quality Vaccine
Medicine for organizations to prevent poor quality
Fourteen Steps to Quality Improvement
14 steps to ensure the successful implementation
•W. Edwards Deming
•American business theorist, composer, economist, industrial engineer,
management consultant, statistician, and writer.
•Unique ability to conceptualize the big picture of an organization and
how quality could impact the organization
•According to Deming
•Companies dedicated to quality improvement would inevitably
lower costs
•When focusing ONLY on cost reduction, quality will be reduced,
and cost will increase
•Process can help understand the performance of a product or
service in the marketplace.
•Created
•Deming Cycle
•Model for continuous quality improvement
•Based on the scientific method of proposing a change in
a process, implementing the change, measuring the
results, and taking appropriate action.
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•Use the logical steps of plan, do, check, and act to
understand and further improve a process
•Fourteen Points
•Create a constant purpose for improvement
•Plan for quality in the long term
•Foundational concepts for an organization to follow when
implementing total quality management to increase its
quality and productivity
•Examples of the fourteen points are
•Create a constant purpose for improvement
•Adopt the new philosophy.
•Stop depending on inspections.
•Use a single supplier for any one item.
•Improve constantly and forever.
•Use training on the job.
•Implement leadership.
•Eliminate fear.
•Break down barriers between departments.
•Get rid of unclear slogans.
•Eliminate management by objectives.
•Remove barriers to pride of workmanship.
•Implement education and self-improvement.
•Make "transformation" everyone's job.
•Seven Deadly Diseases
•items can hinder an organization from adopting a total
quality management system.
•Examples
•Lack of constancy of purpose
•Emphasis on short-term profits
•Evaluation of performance, merit rating, or annual
review
•Mobility of top management
•Running a company on visible figures alone
•Excessive medical costs
•Excessive costs of liability, swelled by lawyers who
work on contingency fees
•Philip B. Crosby
•American businessman
•Contributed to management theory and quality management practices
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•Developed definition of quality being conformance, advocated zero-
defect management and promoted the idea of prevention
•According to him
•Looking at good, bad, high, and low quality are worthless
notions
•Quality will happen when organizations conform to
requirements because products that do not conform to
management’s requirements
•Quality Vaccine
•set of guidelines that managers can use to prevent poor quality
•Ingredients
•Determination: Understand the necessity of quality for a
company to survive and thrive.
•Education: Ensure all employees know their personal
responsibilities regarding quality improvement.
•Implementation: Communicate logically and openly to
facilitate the application of good quality practices.
•Crosby’s Fourteen Steps to Quality Improvement
•14 steps to ensure the successful implementation
•A list of items management should follow to improve quality
within an organization
•Some Points are
•Get Management Commitment
•Create a Quality Improvement Team
•Measure Current Quality
•Estimate Costs
•Develop Quality Awareness
•Take Corrective Action
•Create a Zero Defects Committee
•Conduct Supervisor Training
•Roll Out Zero Defects Day
•Set Goals.
•Search for Errors.
•Recognize Achievements.
•Schedule Regular Meetings.
•Do It Over Again.
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ABC Furniture
ABC Furniture
Small family-owned furniture
manufacture
Sells custom furniture and artwork
Reason for Study
Double shipping orders
Wasteful use
Packing Resources / Products
Employee Time
Lost Revenue
Problem Statement
Issues with sending art prints
through the USPS
Packaging shortcoming
•ABC Furniture
•Small family-owned furniture manufacturer
•30+ years in business
•Specialize in bench-made, customizable furniture for nursery and
children’s spaces
•Problem Statement
•After working at ABC Furniture for ten years = extensive knowledge of the
company's processes and where breakdowns have occurred
•TQM can be significantly beneficial as its principles can be applied to
various problem areas within the company
•Packaging Issues of artwork
•Art prints sent through USPS constantly are damaged
•Reason for Study
•Understand the waste created by the constant damages
•Waste of packaging resources
•Waste of products
•Lost revenue
•Demonstrate to company managers the effectiveness of TQM through a
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“smaller” issues
•Through implementing TQM methods, needs to uncover a new way to ship
orders that will decrease damages
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Quality Tools:
PDCA
Plan-do-check-adjust cycle (PDCA)
Continuous loop
Simple & Effective
Cycle of Identifying Opportunities
Can be Used in any Industry
Limited Resources Needed
No Complex Data Calculation
ABC Furniture
Plan - Artwork orders are damaged
in shipping. Develop a new way to
pack the items
Do - Implement the new process
Check – Analyze the data collected
Act – Decide the outcome
Diagram From: https://xebrio.com/pdca-cycle/
•Plan-do-check-adjust cycle (PDCA)
•Continuous loop of planning, doing, checking, and acting
•Simple and effective method for solving problems and achieving change
•Establishes a cycle of identifying opportunities for improvement
•Sets up a process for changes to be made
•Allows management to analyze the results and understand if
improvements have been generated
•If not - repeat for continual improvement to take place
•Four steps
•Plan
•Identifying existing problems, defining what needs to be
improved, and setting realistic goals
•Do
•Implement its plan and collect data to measure the
results
•Check
•Analyze the results to understand whether the plan
succeeded or if it needs to generate new issues
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•Act
•act or adjust stage
•Make decisions based on what was learned in the study
•If the proposed plan did not work, the cycle would reoccur
•If the suggested plan worked, it should be incorporated
into the organization on a broader scale
•Easily be implemented in small organizations or organizations with limited
resources
•No complex data calculation
•ABC Furniture
•larger prints that are 16”x20” constantly have issues arriving to the client
bent or torn by the shipper
•PLAN
•Easily be able to identify this as an existing problem
•Monthly 10-15 orders need to be reshipped to the client, and
shipping claims need to be filed
•Wastes company resources
•The current thin, oversized cardboard envelope does not offer
enough protection to safely transport
•New way of packing
•Use a 16”x20”x1” cardboard box that can be cut down in a
specific way to create a flat-packed box for the print
•Eliminate the excess room
•Thicker-walled material that would be harder for the
shippers to bend
•DO
•Implement the new packing methods
•Purchase new packing materials
•Run test of new packing for one month
•Conduct training to ensure the staff members understand the new
procedures
•Remove the old packaging materials to remove any temptation
•Data collected
•How many orders are shipped out
•Cost to ship each package
•How many arrived damaged, and how many replacements
needed to be sent
•CHECK
•Costs on the old packaging cost versus the new packaging - $2.80 v
$2.12
•Analyze data collected
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•ACT
•Decide whether the new packing method is a beneficial process
improvement
•If it is, it should be implemented, and all staff members should be
trained on the new process
•If additional improvements can be made, the PDCA process should
be started again until a beneficial process improvement is
developed and implemented
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Statistical Process Control
Check Sheet
Easily collect data when observed
Simple mark to record occurrence
Collect real-time data
ABC Furniture
Easy process to follow
Demonstrate TQM process that the
company can continue to use
Little costs to implement
Can expand to be used for other
issues, such as quality issues or
shipping damage with large furniture
items
Diagram From: https://hernowo1.wordpress.com/seven-basic-tools-of-quality/the-check-sheet/
•Check Sheet
•Easily collect data when observed
•Collected repeatedly by the same person or at the same location
•Collecting data on the frequency or patterns of events, problems, defects, defect
location, defect causes, or similar issues
•Collecting data from a production process
•How to
•Decide what event or problem will be observed
•Decide when data will be collected and for how long
•Design the form
•Recorded simply by making check marks or X’
•ABC Furniture
•Can easily be implemented with staff that has not had to do such a process
before
•Can easily show if the new process is working
•Can easily understand if resources are being saved
•No resources will be used to implement
•Can show that it
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Conclusion / Biblical
Integration
Tool to focus on
Continuous Improvement
Customer Satisfaction
Employee Involvement
Can generate
Increased Customer Satisfaction
Improved Customer Loyalty
Better Reputation in the Marketplace
“–Let us test and examine our ways, and
return to the LORD!” Lamentations 3:40 ESV
God asks us to reexamine ourselves
Reflect on actions to help make better
decision
Mirrors the principles of PDCA and TQM a
•Conclusion
•TQM management approach focusing on continuous improvement,
customer satisfaction, and employee involvement
•Understanding and implementing principles of TQM businesses can create
a culture of quality that is focused on meeting customer needs and
exceeding customer expectations
•Can lead to increased customer satisfaction, improved customer loyalty,
and a better reputation in the marketplace
•Bible
•God asks His followers to step back and reexamine themselves
•Even those with the best intentions can fall into sinful ways
•God does not punish us for our sinful ways but asking us to self-reflect on
our actions and make better life choices
•Same applies to an organization when implementing the PDCA cycle check
stage
•Most companies have good intentions
•Most want to generate the maximum value for the customer and
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the company
•But procedures can be overlooked because it is the way it has been
•Organization need to understand the value of continuously
reexamining its policies and procedures to uncover shortcomings
•Process allows for new procedures and growth
•Lean on God message and periodically reexamine procedures to
ensure they are establishing productivity and generating value
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