Реферат: Total Quality Mangement Essay Research Paper Total

The first step for any business is clearly to define its ultimate objective by expressing values of what is meant to be achieved. Mission statements should be comprised of

· Why the organisation exists

· What business the organisation should be involved in

· What unique or distinctive competence the organisation should concentrate on

· How the organisation will conduct its business.

4) Focus on customer requirements

Focussing on customer requirements is extremely important especially when you are losing your market share. Knowing exactly what the customer wants in terms of specification, availability, reliability and maintainability requires much market research and communication between the company and its customers. In most situations customers have a choice, they need not place future orders with a supplier who does not perform as they expect. The customer will not jeopardise their own business interest out of loyalty to a supplier whose products and service fail to perform properly.

As can be seen Fresher plc’s products and service do not conform to their customer requirements. There are several major factors that Freshers will have to look at here. These include the payment system as it was described as being always chaotic, the availability of the product, especially in the summer months, and the products containers. By keeping the existing returnable bottles Fresher are shooting themselves in the foot because of the changing requirements of the market and potential new customers such as the large hypermarkets- “They keep harping on about us not having cans of drink to sell”. However before Fresher begin to try to gain potential new customers they should focus on the requirements of their existing customers. I make this statement as it is implied that there are always short orders and late deliveries and the shopkeepers give the new drivers “a right run around”. This implies that there is much time wastage and irate confrontation between the drivers and the shop keepers which is not a sign of Total Quality-”It takes a while before you know how to knock them back, learn to give as good as you get”.

There are various methods which can be introduced to Fresher plc to display to customers that the organisation is committed to quality. External recognition by a third- party is often a meaningful motivator for organisations quality initiatives. ISO 9000 and BS5750 are these various standards which many organisations believe to be a starting point to Total Quality Management. Third party certification is seen to be a good marketing tool.

Fresher plc must understand what is expected of them from the market. A method of improvement and standardisation for these needs is a process called Benchmarking. This is quite simply a practice of measuring and comparing key aspects of Fresher’s business practices with those of other organisations to establish measures of relative performance. Aspects to be compared include :

· Costs and prices

· Methods

· Features

· Service levels

· Practices

· Processes

· Customer satisfaction

Measurement of the Cost of Quality

The costs of quality go beyond just measuring defects on the production line. A traditional approach broadly categorises quality costs as :

Prevention costs

These are associated with the design, implementation and maintenance of the total quality management system. It includes costs of action taken to investigate, prevent or reduce defects and failures in processes or products and services. These are efforts to prevent mistakes happening in the first place like planning, training and assurance.

Appraisal costs

These are the non-added value costs associated with checking, examining or inspecting processes and products. These are efforts by the company to discover mistakes after they have occurred.

Failure costs

The costs of actions taken to correct defects and failures in products and services which do not meet customer requirements. These are efforts to correct problems that have occurred internally and externally, before and after transfer of ownership to the customer. Internal failure costs include expenditure on scrap, rework and other errors occurring in the business. External failure costs include expenditure on complaints repair and servicing, warranty claims, returns, liability claims and other problems arising after the customer has received the product. By reducing all types of costs Freshers can strive to have a more improved Total Quality throughout its organisation.

In conclusion it is clear that there are many steps for Total Quality Management to take place within any organisation. However, for Fresher plc its important for the management to understand that TQM is not just a programme, with a start and finish point, but a process of never- ending improvement. According to John Oakland there are three basic principles to this continuous improvement : focusing on the customer, understanding the process and seeing that all employees are committed to quality. Fresher plc should begin with management change and a corporate vision implemented through a mission statement. Commitment, Teamwork and good communication will aid the improvement of operating processes within the business which will hopefully lead to the business earning back their customer base.