what is total quality management tqm 
total quality management tqm is the continual process of detecting and reducing or eliminating errors in manufacturing it streamlines supply chain management improves the customer experience and ensures that employees are up to speed with training total quality management aims to hold all parties involved in the production process accountable for the overall quality of the final product or service katie kerpel investopediaunderstanding total quality management tqm total quality management is a structured approach to overall organizational management the focus of the process is to improve the quality of an organization s outputs including goods and services through the continual improvement of internal practices the standards set as part of the tqm approach can reflect both internal priorities and any industry standards currently in place industry standards can be defined at multiple levels and may include adherence to various laws and regulations governing the operation of a particular business industry standards can also include the production of items to an understood norm even if the norm is not backed by official regulations acceptance sampling might be used to check the progress toward the tqm goal example of tqmperhaps the most famous example of tqm is toyota s implementation of the kanban system a kanban is a physical signal that creates a chain reaction resulting in a specific action toyota used this idea to implement its just in time jit inventory process 1the company decided to keep just enough inventory on hand to fill customer orders as they were generated to make its assembly line more efficient all parts of toyota s assembly line are therefore assigned a physical card that has an associated inventory number the card is removed and moved up the supply chain right before a part is installed in a car effectively requesting another of the same part this allows the company to keep its inventory lean and not overstock unnecessary assets effective quality management resulted in better automobiles that could be produced at an affordable price history of tqmtqm s history often dates back to the early 1900s when walter a shewhart introduced modern quality control shewhart produced a landmark piece of industrial work titled economic control of quality of manufactured product in 1931 this exposition is considered one of the founding and basic principles of manufacturing quality control 2further developments in shewhart s work introduced new standards in quality management decades later joseph m juran published a book called what is total quality control the japanese way in 1954 the work was based on juran s experience of being invited to japan by japanese scientists and engineers juran later co authored quality planning and analysis another bestseller in tqm 3another prominent figure in tqm history is w edwards deming posted in japan after world war ii deming became involved with the union of japanese scientists and engineers juse his career work included several tqm frameworks deming s 14 points deming s seven deadly diseases of management and the deming wheel 4primary principles of tqmtqm is considered a customer focused process that focuses on consistently improving business operations management it strives to ensure that all associated employees work toward the common goals of improving product or service quality as well as improving the procedures that are in place for production several guiding principles define tqm under tqm your customers define whether your products are high quality customer input is highly valued because it allows a company to better understand the needs and requirements in the manufacturing process customer surveys may reveal insufficient durability of goods this input is then fed back into tqm systems to implement better raw material sourcing manufacturing processes and quality control procedures employees must buy into the processes and system if tqm is going to be successful this includes clearly communicating across departments and leaders what goals expectations needs and constraints are in place a company adopting tqm principles must be willing to train employees and give them sufficient resources to complete tasks successfully and on time tqm also strives to reduce attrition and maintain knowledgeable workers a company should gradually evolve and strive for incremental small improvements as it learns more about its customers processes and competition this concept of continuous improvement helps a company adapt to changing market expectations it allows for greater adaptability to different products markets customers or regions continuous improvement also drives and widens the competitive advantage that a company has built over related companies tqm s systematic approach relies heavily on process flowcharts tqm diagrams visual action plans and documented workflows every member engaged in the process must be aware and educated on their part of the process to ensure proper steps are taken at the right time of production these processes are then continually analyzed to better understand deficiencies in the process a company s processes and procedures should be a direct reflection of the organization s vision mission and long term plan tqm calls for a system approach to decision making that requires that a company dedicate itself to integrating quality as its core component and making the appropriate financial investments to make that happen the systematic approach of tqm only works if feedback and input are given to evaluate how the process flow is moving management must continually rely on production turnover efficiency and employee metrics to correlate the anticipated outcomes with the actual results tqm relies heavily on documentation and planning and only by utilizing and analyzing data can management understand if those plans are being met one way to utilize data is to integrate systems tqm strategies believe systems should talk to each other conveying useful information across departments and making smart decisions 