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Total Quality: The Identity Crisis
Total
Quality took a lot of flack during the 1990’s. First hailed as the solution to
all quality problems, it fell into disfavor when organizations did not get
immediate results. Total Quality also had a bit of an identity crisis. Although
most companies called their TQ effort TQM (Total Quality Management), different
companies called it different things. (See ‘Alphabet Soup’ quiz below.) In
addition to having lots of different names for it, many organizations defined it
differently or failed to define it at all.
Quality
Innovations’ definition of Total Quality is: An
organizational effort, led by senior management, where employees at all levels
of the company are involved in using a fact-based approach to continuously
improve work processes with the goal of consistently meeting the expectations of
their customers. Whew! That's a long definition. But our experience has shown us that each element is critical to success.
How QI Can Help
Quality Innovations can provide the training and consulting services to ensure that you get results from your TQ effort. The services that QI offers include:
QI's Approach
Quality Innovations’ approach to TQ combines training and application. Too often employees attend training sessions and learn new skills, but soon forget them because they do not use these new skills soon after the training. Quality Innovations believes in just-in-time training—the training is scheduled to occur as the specific skills are needed. For example, employees attend Process Improvement Team Training only after they have been assigned a process to improve. In this way, skills are used immediately following the training, assuring a transfer of skills from the classroom to the workplace.
Alphabet
Soup
Can
you identify the acronyms associated with Total Quality? TQM QI TQL CI PIT MBNQA ZD SPC 6s DMAIC
Answers: TQM: Total Quality Management; QI: Quality Improvement; TQL: Total Quality Leadership; CI: Continuous Improvement; PIT: Process Improvement Team; MBNQA: Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award; ZD: Zero Defects; SPC: Statistical Process Control; 6s: Six Sigma; DMAIC: Define, Measure, Analyze, Control, Improve (The Six Sigma Improvement Model)
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Quality Innovations, Inc. Consulting, training and auditing services specializing in ISO 9000, Total Quality and Quality Assurance implementation, maintenance and improvement.
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