Re: TQC x TQM

[FVoehl@aol.com]

In a message dated 7/31/99 1:39:05 PM, josorio@acominas.com.br writes:

<< TQC:  Quality the japanese way
TQM:  Quality the american way

Is that correct?  If so, why?  What´s the core difference?
Could we said that Dr. Deming is the "father"  of both ways? >>

These are excellent questions that, while difficult to answer in a concise 
manner, go to the heart of our work on the DEN.  First of all, Deming was not 
the father of both ways.  The term Total Quality Control (TQC) was coined by 
Armand Feigenbaum to signify the following quality activities:  In every 
organization, effective quality must be a total, company-wide effort that is 
aimed at the avoidance of problems through the planning and engineering of 
products, processes, and methods AND the identification and correction of 
problems that inevitably arise, resulting in continuous improvement of 
quality performance.  To accomplish these goals, manufacturing and service 
organizations require strong leadership, technical skills for problem 
identification, and problem-solving methodologies for improvement of quality. 

In the 1970s, the Japanese adopted Feigenbaum's ideas, added them to pieces 
of the Deming and Juran philosophies, and renamed the cobbled-together 
version Company-wide Quality Control (CWQC).  Their version of CWQC had the 
following five characteristics according to JUSE and other experts:
1- Quality emphasis extends through market analysis and design, along with 
customer service, rather than just the production stages.  In other words, 
through every work group and process.
2- Quality is the responsibility of the individual and the work group, not 
some other group of inspectors or a quality department.
3- There are two types of quality characteristics as viewed by the customer:  
those that satisfy and those that motivate.  Only the latter are strongly 
related to repeat sales and a quality image.
4- The next department in the production process is the customer of the piece 
or information.

According to Juran, the key factors in Japan's success were that upper 
management took personal responsibility, all levels of employees underwent 
training in managing for quality, and quality improvement was undertaken at a 
continuing, rapid pace.

The term TQM, or Total Quality Management, became more popular in the USA 
during the 1980s and has spread to Europe and other parts of the world.  Both 
Deming and Juran, along with JUSE and Crosby, had a lot to do with its spread 
in this country, although Deming never liked the term TQM.  The following 
principles are central:

1- Business success can only be achieved by understanding and fulfilling the 
needs and wants of the customers.
2- Leadership in quality is the responsibility of Senior Management.
3- SPC, or speaking with facts, is the basis for problem solving and 
continuous improvement.
4- All functions at all levels must focus on continuous improvement of their 
processes in order to achieve corporate objectives.
5- Problem solving and process improvement are best performed by 
multi-functional workteams.
6- Continuous learning, training, and education are the responsibility of 
everyone.
7- A shared Purpose, Vision, and Values are central to success.

TQM implies that quality is not solely control, or a technical issue, but 
must be addressed from  the perspective of strategic management.  Thus, 
strategic planning is involved involving the long range determination of 
business policy, and usually includes:  (a) product and market planning (b) 
Financial planning and (c) facility  and equipment planning.  Each of these 
strategic planning areas has a bearing on quality and quality is arguably the 
most important issue in strategic planning. 

This subject is an important one and deserves a much broader treatment than 
the one I have given here.  I hope this helps answer some of the questions 
raised.

Frank Voehl (FVoehl@aol.com) 
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