2.4.4 Quality Management ⚙️ Flashcards
What is quality?
Subjective - features of a product that allows customer needs to be satisfied
What do we consider with quality ?
Physical appearance
Repairs
Image of rep
What is quality control ?
A method that uses quality inspectors to find faults checking
that the final products are good enough standard and capable of what they are intended to do
What are the objectives of quality control ?
Satisfies customer needs
Worked under conditions it may face
Can be repaired easily and be produced cost effectively
What is quality assurance ?
A system where the product is checked at each stage of the production process
What is a positive for quality assurance
Poor quality products can be prevented before final production - aims to improve design
and development
Takes consumers views - markers research
What are quality circles ?
A group of workers meet regularly to solve problems and discuss work issues - allows representation amongst workers building motivation
What is Total quality management ?
A managerial approach that focuses on quality and aims to improve the effectiveness at every stage
What are the positives and negatives of
TQM?
Positives
No paying for inspectors
Empowers employees
Quality in all aspects of the business improves efficiency
A culture of constant improvement exists within the business
Negatives -
All workers must be committed and receive significant continued training
Careful monitoring and control is require
takes time to introduce staff to it
Staff may be resistant
Cost more to train staff
What happens within T Q M?
Each department and worker are responsible for the quality they produce
What are the 8 features of TQM?
- Quality chains ⛓- supplier satisfies the customer
- if worker fails to make product at a high quality -chain of satisfaction is broken - Company policy , accountability and empowerment- only be improvements if their is a company wide quality policy
Employees have to be accountable and supervisors have to be empowered to make their own decisions
- Control - over the quality and factors that may effect it 👩💻 eg . Suppliers - workers have no control over faulty equipment - need regular audits
- Monitoring the progress - to help find possible improvements
Eg . statistics process control - Reduce variability within quality or lead time or working times - Team work - range of skills
Moral improved
More ideas being shared
More problems can be tackled - Consumer views - increases responsiveness
- Zero defect - gain good rep
- Quality circles - a steering committee must be set up to oversee whole quality circle program
Manager is ideally The chair
manager shows commitment to the principle of quality circles
Team leaders trained
at least one person has to accountable for the program on the committee
Using TQM- just focus on customer needs a relationship with suppliers
achieve quality in all aspects of business not just product or service
analyse the processes and remove waste and inefficiencies
improve team approach
Are some issues surrounding TQM?
Training and development costs for new system
It will only work if there is commitment from entire business 👩💼
great deal of documents regular audit will be needed
stress placed on process not product
What are the three features of Kaizen?
Continuous  improvement - kaizen helps to add small increments of improvements allowing changes to be consistent with the productivity.
compared to the western method where does productivity and a sudden rise
Waste elimination such as muda in Japan- Can add costs without adding value to theproducts
1. wasted when workers are waiting around before task start time
- Time wasted my workers are trying to retrieve tools and move unnecessarily
- Unregular use machines only once a month for special order
- excessive demands which may need to working overtime leading to a tired workforce
Implementing continuous improvement - difficult to look for continuous improvement all the time try to solve this problem by introducing PDCA
(plan do check action cycle 🚲)
plan - businesses must identify by improvements
needed data gathered to develop a plan
do - once plans finalised must be carried out to the workers and production line
check- check whether there’s been an improvement task carried out by inspectors
action - plan a successful it must be introduced in all parts of the business
What is the competitive advantage from quality management?

Unit costs are likely to be low if a business takes a preventative approach through the use of quality assurance or TQM
Low costs may allow a business to reduce its selling price to better compete with or undercut its rivals
Increased finance may be available to fund marketing activity to improve brand recognition and attract new customers
High levels of quality can be used in promotional activity and provide a unique selling point for businesses in competitive markets
Successfully developing a USP for quality can ease expansion into new markets as a result of the positive reputation it creates
What is statistical process control?
The collection of data about the performance of a particular process 
