Total quality management facts for kids

Total Quality Management (TQM) is a way of running a company to make sure its products and services are always the best they can be. It means everyone in the company, from the top bosses to every employee, works together to make things better all the time.

The word "Total" means that every part of the company helps. This includes not just the people who make things, but also sales, marketing, accounting, and design. "Management" means that leaders must actively support quality. They do this by providing money, training, and setting goals.

TQM was very popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Later, other methods like ISO 9000, Lean manufacturing, and Six Sigma became more common.

Why Total Quality Management Started

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, countries like the United States and those in Western Europe faced economic challenges. Japan was making many high-quality products at lower costs. This made it hard for other countries to compete. For example, the United Kingdom started buying more finished goods from other countries than it sold.

People in the United States also started asking why Japan was so good at making things. A TV show called If Japan Can... Why Can't We? highlighted this issue. Companies began looking at older methods of quality control. They wanted to learn how Japan used these methods so well. This is when TQM became important.

The exact start of the term "Total Quality Management" isn't fully clear. It was likely inspired by books like Total Quality Control by Armand V. Feigenbaum. It might have been first used in the United Kingdom in 1983. Or it could have started in the United States by the Naval Air Systems Command in 1985.

How TQM Grew in the United States

In 1984, the United States Navy asked some researchers to study how to improve their work. They suggested using the ideas of W. Edwards Deming, a famous quality expert. The Navy then named this effort "Total Quality Management" in 1985.

From the Navy, TQM spread to other parts of the US government. This led to some important changes:

• The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award was created in 1987. This award recognizes companies that are excellent at quality.
• The Federal Quality Institute was started in 1988.
• Many parts of the government and military, like the United States Department of Defense and the United States Army, began using TQM.

Private companies also started using TQM. They wanted to compete better with Japanese companies. They also needed to use TQM to get contracts from the US government. This is because TQM asks suppliers, not just employees, to improve their processes.

What Total Quality Management Is About

There isn't one exact definition of TQM. However, looking at the US Navy's early efforts helps us understand it.

Here are some main ideas from the Navy's TQM program in the 1980s:

• Customers Define Quality: What customers want and need is how quality is measured.
• Leaders Are Responsible: Top managers are directly in charge of making quality better.
• Improve Work Processes: Quality gets better by carefully looking at and improving how work is done.
• Always Improving: Making things better is a continuous effort. Everyone in the company helps with this.

The Navy used several tools and techniques for TQM:

• The PDCA cycle: This is a way to solve problems and make improvements. It stands for Plan, Do, Check, Act.
• Teams for specific problems: Groups of people from different departments worked together to fix immediate issues. These were like quality circles.
• Long-term improvement teams: Other teams worked on making processes better over a longer time.
• Active management: Leaders actively participated through special committees.
• Using quality tools: They used tools like the Seven Basic Tools of Quality to study problems.

Important Definitions of TQM

Many groups have tried to define TQM. Here are a few examples:

US Department of Defense (1988)

The Department of Defense said TQM is a plan to always improve how things are done. It combines basic management ideas with special tools. The goal is to make all processes better. This helps meet goals like cost, quality, and mission needs. Making users happier is the main goal.

International Organization for Standardization (1994)

The ISO defined TQM as a management approach focused on quality. It involves everyone in the company. The goal is long-term success by making customers happy. It also aims to benefit all employees and society.

The American Society for Quality

This group says TQM is a management approach for long-term success. It focuses on making customers happy. All employees in a company work together to improve processes, products, services, and the work environment.

Baldrige Excellence Framework

In the United States, the Baldrige Award recognizes top-performing organizations. These organizations are judged on seven areas:

• Leadership
• Strategy (plans)
• Customers
• Measurement, analysis, and knowledge management (how they use data)
• Workforce (employees)
• Operations (how they work)
• Results (what they achieve)

For example, judges might ask:

• How do you find out if your customers are happier with you than with your competitors?
• How do you gather and use information to track daily work?
• How do you manage your employees to keep things running smoothly?

Joseph M. Juran, another quality expert, thought these Baldrige Award rules were the best way to describe TQM.

What Happened to Total Quality Management

Interest in TQM as a topic of study was highest around 1993.

The Federal Quality Institute, which helped spread TQM in the government, closed in 1995. This was part of an effort to make the government smaller.

TQM, as a general way to manage quality, was mostly replaced by the ISO 9000 standards in the 1990s. These standards have formal ways to get certified. Companies also started focusing on Six Sigma (after Jack Welch's success) and lean manufacturing (after Toyota's success). Even though these new methods became popular, they share many ideas and tools with TQM.

TQM's ideas still live on in many national quality awards around the world today.

See also

In Spanish: Gestión de la calidad total para niños

• Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI)
• Lean manufacturing
• List of national quality awards
• Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award
• Outline of management
• People Capability Maturity Model
• Zero Defects