53 Assessment of TQM Practices in Automobile Industry: An Empirical Investigation Assessment of TQM Practices in Automobile Industry: An Empirical Investigation Jagdeep Singh*, Harwinder Singh** and Surjit Kumar Gandhi*** © 2018 IUP. All Rights Reserved. * Assistant Professor, Department of Industrial and Production Engineering, Dr. B R Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar 144011, Punjab, India; and is the corresponding author. E-mail: jagdhoor605@yahoo.com ** Professor, Mechanical Engineering Department, Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Ludhiana 141006, Punjab, India. E-mail: harwin75@rediffmail.com *** Research Scholar, Department of Industrial and Production Engineering, Dr. B R Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar 144011, Punjab, India. E-mail: skgandhi21@gmail.com Total Quality Management (TQM) is a way to continuously improve performance at every level of operation, in every functional area of an organization, using all the available capital resources. This study is an attempt to identify the critical factors for TQM implementation through survey-based research carried out in Indian automobile industry. A questionnaire was prepared to measure the effectiveness of five TQM practices, viz., top management support, leadership, customer focus, Statistical Process Control (SPC), and benchmarking. Extents of various TQM aspects are investigated from data collected from 29 respondents, and the relationships between different TQM practices are investigated using them. Some findings are consistent with the established TQM norms, and some provide an understanding of the neglected domains of TQM in automobile sector. It is also observed that some specific TQM approaches have found their wide dissemination in a particular segment of industry. Introduction It is a known fact that concept of quality has been around for a very long time, but the stress on the word quality in every aspect of life, i.e., in business, service or social life, has increased in the last few decades. Quality has awakened all the nations, industries and organizations around the world. The word ‘quality’ means different things to different people. The ranges of meanings include that quality is excellence, value, conformance to specifications, conformance to requirements, fitness for use, customer satisfaction, meeting and exceeding customers’ expectations and minimizing the loss imparted to society. Successful companies over the years have not fundamentally