TQM Gurus

Last week, again I had a chance to meet the same group of young energetic MBA students of EIILM, Kolkata. We discussed on the contributions of different eminent personalities who have enriched TQM concepts. Let me share the details of the discussions here:

Quality Gurus
To fully understand the TQM movement, we need to look at the philosophies of notable individuals who have shaped the evolution of TQM. Their philosophies and teachings have contributed to our knowledge and understanding of quality today.
Their individual contributions are summarized below.
Walter. A. Shewhart
– Contributed to understanding of process variability.
– Developed concept of statistical control charts.
- Conceptualized the revolutionary Plan- Do – Check – Act Method
Father of Control Chart (SQC)
The Control Chart, also known as the Shewhart chart or process-behavior chart, in statistical process control is a tool used to determine whether a manufacturing or business process is in a state of statistical control or not. This is key to effective process control and improvement and part of the Seven Basic QC Tools. (1924)
Inspection to Process Control (Quality Control)
Influenced W Edwards Deming
Famous Book: "Economic Control of Quality of Manufactured Product." - 1931

Before we discuss further, let me take you back to an incidence in USA…..
Ford Motor Company was simultaneously manufacturing a car model with transmissions made in Japan and the United States. Soon after the car model was on the market, Ford customers were requesting the model with Japanese transmission over the USA-made transmission, and they were willing to wait for the Japanese model.
As both transmissions were made to the same specifications, Ford engineers could not understand the customer preference for the model with Japanese transmission. It delivered smoother performance with a lower defect rate.
Finally, Ford engineers decided to take apart the two different transmissions.
The American-made car parts were all within specified tolerance levels. On the other hand, the Japanese car parts had much closer tolerances than the USA-made parts
e.g. if a part was supposed to be 100 mm long, plus or minus 0.2 mm - then the Japanese parts were within 0.01mm consistently
This made the Japanese cars run more smoothly and customers experienced fewer problems.
Dear readers, let me introduce two more pathfinders who helped Japan to excel in their journey towards industrial reconstruction after World War II – W Edwards Deming and Joseph M Juran

W. Edwards Deming
an American statistician, professor, author, lecturer, and consultant.
Deming made a significant contribution to Japan's later-renown-for innovative high-quality products and its economic power.
Simplified and Popularized PDCA
14 Points of Management
Famous Quote: "The problem is at the top; management is the problem."
Father of TQM
Famous Book: Out of Crisis
Deming’s 14 Points
1) Create constancy of purpose and continual improvement – long term planning must replace short term reaction
2) Adopt the new (Japanese) philosophy – by management and workers alike.
3) Do not depend on (quality) inspection – build quality into the product and process
4) Choose quality suppliers over low cost suppliers – to minimise variation in raw materials and supply.
5) Improve constantly – to reduce variation in all aspects e.g. planning, production, and service.
6) Training on the job – for workers and management, to reduce variation in how job is done.
7) Leadership not supervision – to get people to do a better job, not just meet targets.

8) Eliminate fear – encourage two-way communication, encourage employees to work in the organisation’s interest.
9) Break down internal barriers – department’s in an organisation are “internal customers” to each other and must work together.
10) Eliminate slogans (exhortations) – processes make mistakes not people. Management harassment of workers will create bad relations if no effort made to improve processes.
11) Eliminate numerical targets – management by objectives (targets) encourages low quality.
12) Remove barriers to worker satisfaction – including annual appraisals
13) Encourage self improvement and education for all
14) Everyone is responsible for continual improvement in quality and productivity – particularly top management

Joseph M Juran
Born in Romania, 1904
first to incorporate the human aspect of quality management which is referred to as Total Quality Management.
Famous Book:
-Quality Control Handbook
The Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers invited Dr. Juran to Japan, to teach them the principles of quality management as they rebuilt their economy- Along with W. Edwards Deming.
Juran’s Quality Trilogy
Quality Planning
Identify who are the customers.
Determine the needs of those customers.
Translate those needs into our language.
Develop a product that can respond to those needs.
Optimise the product features so as to meet our needs and customer needs.
Quality Improvement
Develop a process which is able to produce the product.
Optimise the process.
Quality Control
Prove that the process can produce the product under operating conditions with minimal inspection.
Transfer the process to Operations.

A. V. Feigenbaum
Born in 1922
Laid the foundations of modern Quality Control
He devised the concept of Total Quality Control, later known as Total Quality Management (TQM).
Famous book Total Quality Control, first published in 1951 under the title Quality Control: Principles, Practice, and Administration
Feigenbaum is recognized as an innovator in the area of quality cost management.
Costs of Prevention, Appraisal, and Internal and External Failure.

Philip B Crosby

1926 - 2001

Four Absolutes of Quality:

1. The definition of Quality Is Conformance to Requirements , Not As Goodness

2. The System For Causing Quality Is Preventive , Not Appraisal.

3. The Performance Standard Must Be Zero Defect , Not "That’s Close Enough“

4. The Measurement Of Quality Is The Price Of Nonconformance, Not Indexes.

Famous Book: Quality is FreePopularised the term – Cost of poor Quality

Famous Quote: "Do It Right First Time" - DRIFT

Kaoru Ishikawa
Ishikawa contributed the term "Seven Tools of Quality."
These tools are: (1) histograms, (2) cause and effect diagrams, (3) check sheets, (4) Pareto diagrams, (5) graphs, (6) control charts, and (7) scatter diagrams.
Although he did not develop any of these tools, he put them into wide use because they were simple. He believed that 90% of all problems can be solved by the use of simple tools.
A simple tool that Ishikawa developed and put into wide use in Japan is the Quality Circle. This was developed because he believed that "QC begins with the interaction of people."
Quality circles eventually led to the development of team concepts around the world.
ncause and effect diagram (also called the "Ishikawa" or "fishbone" diagram)
CWQC
Ishikawa also believed in the concept of Company Wide Quality Control (CWQC). He felt that CWQC would be used world wide and would improve all countries quality and economy. The basic conditions for successful CWQC are as follows:
All employees should clearly understand the aim of the company in order to introduce and promote CWQC.
The features of CWQC of the whole company, of departments, and of branches should be clarified. People should have confidence in these features.
The effective PDCA (plan-do-check-act) cycle should rotate in the whole company, in branches, in plants, and in workshops for at lease three to five years. Statistical quality and process analyses should be adequately carried out, and upstream control should be developed and effectively used.
The company should have the capability of establishing a long term plan of CWQC and of carrying it out systematically.
The walls between departments-or sectionalism-should be broken down, and cross functional management should be effectively carried out.
Everyone should act with confidence, believing that his or her work will bear fruit.
In addition, the following indices should be used to signify successful CWQC:
Development of new product progresses on schedule.
The percent defective, including rework, is lower than 5 percent one week after the start of mass production.
The product sells very well without customer complaints.

Genichi Taguchi
Born : 1924
The philosophy of off-line quality control
-System design;
-Parameter design; and
-Tolerance design
Innovations in the design of experiments (DoE)
Taguchi revolutionized the manufacturing process in Japan through cost savings
Taguchi Loss Function
Taguchi defines Quality as “the loss imparted by the product to society from the time the product is shipped.”
LOSS = Cost to operate, Failure to function, maintenance and repair cost, customer satisfaction, poor design.
Product to be produced “being within specification”

We will continue this topic of TQM in future and I sincerely extend my thanks to the youth for their keen interest and I trust that they will play a vital role in nation building when they will start serving the industries.
Happy Learning.