TQM Improvement...
Information & Training. | TQM. Total Quality Management.
TQM Improvement is an approach to business that aims to optimize the performance of an organization via continued on-going improvement in the competitiveness and performance of the organization’s products, processes, services, systems, environment and people.
How do organizations achieve the objectives of Total Quality Management?
Via setting goals and objectives in the strategic plan of the organization, via developing a clear understanding of the needs and requirements of the internal and external customer, via an obsession with quality, a factual approach to decision making and analysis, taking a consistent long term approach, encouraging team work, continual process improvement, education and training of the workforce, by developing a single vision and unity of purpose within the organization towards its mission, vision and goals, and promoting employee involvement and empowerment.Organizations will never fully optimize the above, as TQM is a continuous process, there can always be further improvement. Key to successfully implementing TQM is planning. Plans can be strategic (say 5 – 10 years forward looking), tactical (say 2 – 5 years) and operational (from the present to looking forward this year and next).
In the TQM planning process, the organization will define how it plans to progress TQM and what it considers to be the measures of success.

Continuous improvement utilizing Analytical Techniques.
Brainstorming
5 why’s analysis
Process Flow Diagrams/Flowcharts/Process Mapping
Check sheets /Check Lists
Run charts
Histograms
Scatter Diagrams/Scatter Plot
Cause and Effect/Fishbone/Ishikawa Diagrams
Identifying sources & causes of variation
Control/Shewart Charts/DPU Charts
Cpk and Ppk Analysis
Pareto Analysis
Bottleneck Analysis
Benchmarking
FMEA
FTA
HAZOP
PDCA/DMAIC/DMADV
SIPOC
Etc. Etc.
Information & Training presentation >>>
In developing plans to progress TQM within the organization, there will be a need to ensure an ability exists within the organization to effectively apply a range of analytical tools and techniques.
Some of the widely applied TQM tools and techniques are:
The above TQM tools can provide comprehensive methodologies to establishing fact based approaches to continual improvement.
In addition, when implementing TQM, it is beneficial to have an understanding of Process Mapping and Cycle Time Analysis. Process Mapping tends to force a clear understanding on the current process and by requiring any new process to be defined, also helps identify any gaps, inconsistencies, points of confusion within a planned process. Cycle time analysis helps identify the current situation, helps place a focus on where excessive lead times may exist and can be applied as a clear measure for determining the success of any improvement plans.
When talking about TQM, we always need to keep the customer foremost in our minds. This is both the internal and external customer. Organizations will need to clearly identify their customers and may need to categorize customers, depending on the products or services they are offering. Some end customers may be cost conscious, some delivery conscious, some may want environmental promotion to be inherent in the product offering. The organization as part of the TQM journey, will need to have established excellent processes for listening to, understanding and responding to their customers. This may involve developing tools based on customer focus groups, face to face meetings, email conversations, advisory panels, questionnaires, social media interfaces, …..
As stated above, Total Quality Management is a journey. There are a range of tools and techniques, which an organization can apply to progress this journey. There is nothing in the TQM tools and techniques outlined above, which cannot be applied outside of a formal TQM strategy, in fact, many of the TQM tools listed above are applied on a daily basis in organizations worldwide as part of their continuous improvement programs.

Quality Improvement Techniques
Information & Training. | Total Quality Management Tools and Techniques …
- Continuous improvement utilizing Analytical Techniques.
- Brainstorming
- 5 why’s analysis
- Process Flow Diagrams/Flowcharts/Process Mapping
- Check sheets /Check Lists
- Run charts
- Histograms
- Scatter Diagrams/Scatter Plot
- Cause and Effect/Fishbone/Ishikawa Diagrams
- Identifying sources & causes of variation
- Control/Shewart Charts/DPU Charts
- Cpk and Ppk Analysis
- Pareto Analysis
- Bottleneck Analysis
- Benchmarking
- FMEA
- FTA
- HAZOP
- PDCA/DMAIC/DMADV
- SIPOC
- Etc. Etc.
- Information & Training presentation >>>