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Keywords
Total quality management, ISO 9000 series, Quality assurance, Competitive strategy
Abstract
In the manufacturing industry, product quality has become a key factor in determining a firm's success or failure in the global marketplace. Advanced, highly reliable manufacturing methods have made it possible to achieve very high standards of product quality. As a result, more and more firms are making product quality a keystone of their competitive strategy. The success of many major Japanese companies is truly rooted in their long-term commitment to the improvement of quality. The improvement of production quality is a long-term commitment to continuous improvement in every aspect of the production process. Today's competitive market, in almost every category of products and services, is characterized by accelerating changes, innovation, and massive amounts of new information. Changing customer needs fuels much of the rapid evolution in markets. Most organizations that have been successful with their quality improvement effort have adopted an integrated approach commonly referred to as total quality management (TQM).
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Introduction
Total quality management (TQM) started in the USA in the early 1980s when Hewlett-Packard criticized US chip manufacturers for poor product quality when compared with their Japanese competitors. It is ironic that when W. Edward Deming first introduced TQM, the Japanese adopted the philosophy while the USA rejected its principles. During the ensuing years, the Japanese very successfully made progress with quality and production by adopting the TQM principles of Deming along with Josep M. Juran, Genichi Taguchi, and others. Yet even in 1995, ten years after Hewlett-Packard's abrupt introduction of TQM to the USA, domestic companies were still struggling with the theory and practical use of TQM. That is not to say TQM has not been successful. A survey conducted for a report made by the magazine Electronic Business in 1992 showed that no companies contacted had ended their TQM program, and 91 per cent of 70 companies using TQM had indicated that their quality had improved when compared with their competitors. It is too soon to accurately say how TQM has performed in the USA. The Japanese did not gain...