To prepare for this essay please read the required articles that is attached
I need an essay in the following subject:
Read the case study in the attached files then answer the following questions:
1.Comment on how process performance at D2D was reviewed and improved?
2.Could this approach be applied to process management in your company or another you know well?
3.Explain with examples.
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TQM W6 RPLYS
Quality of products that a company produces in terms of quantity, price, and delivery
time is very important to the customer. A determined organization in maintaining its competitive
position in terms of quality products should ensure that it integrates all levels of management in
it organization in quality management to achieve total quality management at all levels. Most
companies nowadays are using total quality management to gain competitive advantage over
competitors, this is because, and they have realized that quality can only be achieved if all
operations of the organization were involved. An organization is expected to improve quality and
performance in all its aspects to to exceed customer expectations.
To achieve total quality management the organization is expected to have a culture
which ensures continuous improvement in quality of products and services to its customers. In
total quality management, customers define what quality is, the top management has the total
responsibility to improve quality of the organizations products, increased quality comes from a
continuous analysis and improvement of the work processes and quality improvement is a
continuous activity which is carried out throughout the organization. Total quality management
enables an organization to enjoy good profits from its sales, recognitions from other
organizations, and increased customer loyalty and market share (Murray, 2015, para 2).
In D2D process performance was reviewed and improved in the following ways. D2D
trained all its employees on quality whereby it defined process as the mechanism in which
materials provided by suppliers are changed into outputs provided to customers. Each process
had a performance measure and a target to meet, this was to ensure that the D2D could evaluate
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how its processes were fairing and making the necessary changes. Manager and teams were
formed so as to review how D2D process were fairing on daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and
annual cycles.
The company knew that customers are important to its success. Therefore, it provided
them with score cards, and other surveys to get their views on their products and suggestions
about what the company should do to create their loyalty and gain more customers. This is
because the company knew if they do not deliver products that meet customer requirements in
terms of cost, quality or service they would lose them to competitors. To identify the need to
review process management methods and reevaluate top level a self-assessment was carried out
against the business. The most critical processes were identified by senior management and was
supported by the reviews carried out in the particular cycles. The company had targets,
benchmarks, measurements and process performance for all processes.
To improve on their process performance the company, it ensured that each person
assigned to a particular process was qualified and was aware of his her responsibilities in the
process. Also all processes were developed and performance measures of the process agreed
between customers and suppliers. To assess how the process was performing the company used,
business and customer satisfaction performance measures to set requirements for each process.
By reviewing these measures process owners were able to identify new bench marks, new targets
and this made available information about new competition and benchmarks in the market.
Measures for particular manufacturing processes included; chemical concentration in solutions,
test yields and failures from thermal screening and configuration. To measure supply process the
company considered factors such as delivery time, right deliveries according to customer
specification, informing customers before delivery was made, and introduction of new products
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in the cycle. Benchmarks were also carried out for non-manufacturing processes, such as human
resource management, finance, and document distribution.
In 1981, the company registered allied quality assurance procedure and ISO 9002 in
- In every six months the British standards institution audited the companies system. This
auditing enabled the company to be able to measure its effectiveness of their own process and
also enable them to measure the performance of their own auditing system. To review process
performance and targets improvement, people made improvements to processes and any errors
reported by customers were managed for analysis and improvement.
Quality team leaders and their members were trained about Pareto diagrams, force field
analysis, paired comparisons and Ishikawa root cause analysis. This was to enable tea leaders
and their members to be able to know how to measure quality and be able to assess how their
processes were fairing. Corrective teams were also trained on the methods to use so as to make
the total quality management initiative a success. Customers were also informed on what to
expect from the company through biannual customer survey, scorecards, and visits to the factory,
delivery phone calls, and customer reply cards among many others.
The company set out performance targets which were based on customer requirements,
appropriate world class standards, machine and equipment capability, and previous performance.
This enabled the company to be able to have a direction by being able to evaluate their
performance. The company was also able to get accurate information about their performance,
what improvements to make in their processes to achieve their goals. To deal with challenging
targets the company compared with competitors in major business streams to obtain details on
the achieved performance and the expected requirement of customers. D2D recognized the fact
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that teamwork is very important in achieving every success that the company needed in its total
quality management issue therefore it employed teamwork in its operations. Companies such as
dell used total quality management in its process so as to improve on its customer satisfaction.
Tesco supermarket in UK has used total quality management in its operations and it has been
able to improve on its services and customer satisfaction too. It has also enabled the company to
achieve excellence in all its business operations through total quality management (Bowersox, &
Cooper, 2010, p. 30)
D2D’s approach could be applied to my company this is because the process shows how
a company can use the available resources in the organization to gain competitive advantage.
D2D approach promotes team work, team work is important to the success of any organization
because if a company’s workforce is divided probability of delivering what is expected is very
low (Cummings, & Worley, 2009, p. 263). In addition, it shows how groups in an organization
can help in achieving an organizations goal. Groups make work easier because of the availability
of different ideas and work is done on time. If applied in my organization this approach will also
make us improve on our customer relationship with one another because it promotes a lot of
interactions between the organization and its customers.
In addition, this approach will enable my organization gain a competitive advantage over
competitors and be able to maintain for a long time (American Society for Quality, 2015, para2).
In addition, it will also enable us to be able to identify those processes which are not performing
well and improve on them. Finally, this approach will make our organization’s reputation be the
best all over the world hence gaining more and more customers. It is therefore very important for
every organization to apply total quality management in its organizations process to be able to
gain a competitive advantage over competitors. In addition, when producing a product it is very
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important for an organization to ensure that they meet customer needs in terms of price, quality,
and delivery (Coyle, & Coyle, 2009, p. 53).
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Reference
American Society for Quality. (2015).Total Quality Management Benefits.
