- Internal quality
Matching the improvement of the internal mechanism of the company, the purpose of internal quality is to implement ways to best describe the organization, identify and mitigate failures. The beneficiaries of the internal quality are the management and the staff of the company. Internal quality generally passes through a stage of identification and formalization of internal processes achieved through a participatory approach. (Beckford 2002)
Quality management practices could be similar to risk management because we use both of them the beginning of the project and till the end and both aim at preventing and avoiding rather than measuring and fixing poor quality reports.
- Quality Characteristics
3.1.Customer focused organization
Customer satisfaction is the foundation of any system of quality management, listening and understanding their needs, present and future is essential to meet their requirements and expectations.
The customer focus is reflected in the establishment of a genuine process of communication with them, a prospective analysis of their needs, a regular assessment of their level of satisfaction and treatment of their claims. (Fairfield-Sonn 2001)
3.2. Leadership
In any system of quality management, management must clearly define its strategic, direction and create conditions for the staff to become fully involved.
Therefore it must lead by example and his real commitment, setting motivating goals and create shared values. (Endres 2000)
3.3. Employee’s involvement
the staff are the heart of a business and therefore one of the main links to any system of quality management.
His involvement is essential for a company to grow. It is important to explain to everyone his role and importance, empower them. (Avery 1997)
3.4. The process approach
Any system of quality management requires a process approach. This consists, to determine the business processes, their interactions and monitoring criteria. On this basis it will be possible to control each process, analyze their performance, to make proposals for improvement and implement in order to contribute to the strategic objectives of the company.
3.5. The Quality Management System approach
Understand and manage the company as a system of interrelated processes for a given objective improves its effectiveness and efficiency. This principle helps to clarify the operation of the company, update and delete duplicated operations.
3.6. Mutually beneficial supplier relationships
A company and its suppliers are interdependent and mutually beneficial relationship will increase their capacity to create value. For this it is necessary to understand the interests of stakeholders, clearly defining their obligations and to regularly assess their performance.
3.7. Continual Improvement
Continuous improvement of quality system management is to increase internal performance and customer satisfaction. This includes:
-analyze results to identify areas for improvement,
-setting objectives,
-research and implementation of improvement actions,
-evaluation of results,
-formalizing changes.
This dynamic research is continuous. The feedback from clients, audit and review of the system of quality management are also used to identify improvement opportunities.
The continual improvement must be a permanent objective of the company
the principle of continual improvement is often represented by a cycle of action, named PDCA cycle (Plan, Do, Check, Act).
3.8. Factual approach to decision making
Decide is to take a risk. Every manager knows it well!
The right decisions must be based on reliable information. This information should be available and in a form allowing their analysis and understanding. In many cases, the establishment of indicators and relevant dashboards can meet this need and facilitates decision-making. (Nersesian 2000)
- How is Quality Management Achieved
- Quality Plan (Q.P)
In order to achieve an efficient way to meet the beneficiary's requirement, we should schedule all the tasks that need to be done and put them in a plan because this plan will provide the customers with confidence of how we will produce solutions that will meet the beneficiary's needs. (Julian North 1998)
- Definition of Quality Plan:
Defines how the end result should be, identify where the defects arises, and choose the appropriate methods of prevention.
- Q.P compromises of three main parts:
- Quality Target
- Quality Assurance
- Quality Control
- Quality Target
It defines how the results should be at the end of the process. It also describes what needs to be examined; Quality Assurance lists the in depended reviews needed; and Quality Control lists the internal reviews needed.
By using these techniques, we can create a comprehensive Q.M.P.
- Quality Assurance (Q.A)
Is the guarantee of maintaining a certain quality level, depending on objectives, It comes together as a reference document formalizing the methods used for this purpose; it has to reassure the customer about the quality of performance of the company.
There are certain regulations that warranties that the product/service is appropriate for the intended purpose, and errors are eliminated. (Jäger 1997)
- Quality Control (Q.C)
It is a systematic routine of technical activities to measure and control the quality as it is being developed and provided. It uses approved standardized procedure for estimating uncertainty, emission calculations, achieving information, measurements and reporting.
It is aimed to:
- Provide consistence check on data integrity, correctness & completeness.
- Identifies and addresses the commissions and errors.
- Document and record all Q.C activities.
5. Cost of Quality
We use the Cost of Quality "COQ" as a measure to estimate the waste or loss of certain defined process (eg, machine, production line, factory, service, company, etc.).
Distinguishing the power and universal applicability of Cost of Quality "COQ", PQA has developed numerous proprietary Cost of Quality "COQ" systems to make certain the efficiency of Cost of Quality "COQ" implementations.
The Cost of Quality "COQ" dimension can follow changes over time for one particular process, or be used as a benchmark for comparison of two or more different processes (eg. two machines, different production lines, sister plants, two competitor companies, etc.).
Usually, Cost of Quality "COQ" is measured in currency (eg. $), requiring all losses and wastes to be transformed to their liquidated cost equivalent (ie. man-hrs lost or spent are converted to $ by multiplying by the hourly rate, $/hr). (Hung Q. Nguyen and Rob Pirozzi 2006)
- Why is Cost of Quality "COQ" Important?
Cost of Quality "COQ" is used to recognize the most optimistic for a process, and observe that process' progress in the direction of its most optimistic.
Most optimistic is the best likely outcome from all possible operating modes, mixture, and variation of the current process. (Cost Of Quality COQ 1998)
- There are three types of cost in producing a quality service/product.
- Preventions Cost.
- Appraisal Cost.
- Failure Cost.
- Prevention Costs
It is the cost of all the activities that prevent the production of a low quality service or product.
Examples in the Tourism area, Prevention cost are the costs of:
- New tour review
- Quality Planning
- Discussion and meeting with other work members
- Sending a well experienced and knowledge tourist guide
- Providing the tourist with documents and reviews about the area (such as pictures and films)
- Appraisal Costs
It is the cost related with ensuring that the service/product is of the quality expected by the beneficiary before it is being delivered.
These include the costs of:
- Sending an agent before the tourist arrives.
- Inspection of the tool and equipments such as the buses, trucks, checking the hotel quality, etc.
- Cost of making necessary changes to improve the quality provided.
- Failure Costs
When the expected outcomes of a service/product are not met, the product/service is considered to be a failure. There are two types of failures cost
- Internal Failure.
- External Failure.
- Internal Failure Costs
It's when the failure happens before the product/service is provided to the customer.
Examples are the costs of:
- Failure evaluation
- Identification of alternative solutions
- Inspection of the chosen alternative solution
- Report analysis.
- External Failure Costs
It's the cost of failure after the product/service is provided to the beneficiary.
Examples are the costs of:
- Claim for remedy
- Cost of reputation
- Cost of having fewer options and making costly decisions to fix the situation
- Cost of losing customers.
7. Conclusion
The benefits of Quality Management
I guess by the end of this research, we would have understood the benefits of quality management. The benefits are unlimited and include:
- Increase Profit, and lower cost.
- Increase Satisfaction to the beneficiary.
- Improve work efficiency and reliability.
- Develop a well reputation.
- Provide the service/product in a shorter period of time.
- Find and eliminate critical defects
Refrences
Avery, Christine. The Quality Management Sourcebook: An International Guide to Materials and Resources. London: Routledge, 1997.
Beckford, John. Quality. London: Routledge, 2002.
Cost Of Quality COQ. London, January 1998.
Endres, Al. Implementing Juran's Road Map for Quality Leadership: Benchmarks and Results. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2000.
Fairfield-Sonn, James W. Corporate Culture and the Quality Organization. Westport CT.: Quorum Books, 2001.
Hung Q. Nguyen and Rob Pirozzi, LogiGear Corporation. Understanding Quality Cost. November 2006. http://www.logigear.com/newsletter-2006/298-understanding-quality-cost.html (accessed February 10, 2011).
Jäger, W. “ACCREDITATION AND QUALITY ASSURANCE.” Quality, 1997.
Julian North, Robert A. Blackburn and James Curran. The Quality Business. London and New York: Routledge, 1998.
Madu, Christian N. Management of New Technologies for Global Competitiveness. Westport, CT.: Quorum Books, 1993.
Nersesian, Roy L. Trends and Tools for Operations Management: An Updated Guide for Executives and Managers. Westport, CT. : Quorum Books, 2000.
