Computers ind. Engng Vol. 19, Nos 1-4, pp. 11 I-116, 1990 0360-8352/90 $3.00 + 0.00 Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved Copyright © 1990 Pergamon Press plc TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT: AN APPROACH & A CASE STUDY Nael A. Aly CIS and Production Management Department California State University, Stanislaus Turlock, California 95380 Venetta J. Maytubby & Ahmad K. Elshennawy Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida 32816 ABSTRACT For the last decade, American companies have been playing catch-up in the area of quality and productivity. Japanese companies and other foreign competitors have moved into markets that were once dominated by American companies, by producing higher quality products. The problem to date in the U.S. has obviously not been the lack of resources or documentation on quality and improvement programs, but the misdirection of these programs and the lack of total management commitment. Total Quality Management (TQM) is seen as an effective method that will accomplish the task of higher quality levels, and increased productivity. The purpose of Total Quality Management is to implement a process that is long term and continuous, in which all of management participates in establishing continuous improvement initiatives throughout the organization, beginning with their own function in the organization. TQM integrates the fundamental techniques and principles of Quality Function Deployment, Taguchi Methods, Statistical Process Control, Just-In-Time, and existing management tools into a structured approach. The primary objective of this approach is to incorporate quality and integrity into all functions at all levels of the organization. This paper examines the TQM process, philosophy, concepts, attributes and how it can be used to develop a "quality-based" culture. The paper also examines the introduction and implementation of the TQM process at an electronic's manufacturer. INTRODUCTION In the last 20 years, American companies have seen their market shares slide as foreign competitors have provided customers with higher quality products at reduced or equivalent prices. This has caused American companies to change the structure and culture of their present organizations. "The successful firm of the 1990's will be: flatter, populated by autonomous units, oriented towards product differentiation, quality-conscious, servlce-conscious, more responsive, much faster at innovation, and a user of highly flexible people [Peters 87]." Total Quality Management is seen as one of the best tools that American companies can use to regain the competitive edge. The basic philosophy of TQM is not a new idea, but rather stems from W. Edwards Deming in the 1950's. Deming introduced statistical methods, making an attempt to instruct American engineers on continuous improvement through statistical thinking and employee involvement. This approach was received by the Japanese wholeheartedly. By 1965, Japanese organizations had their entire organizations involved in continuously improving the manufacturing process. In the last decade, American executives have attempted many systems to improve the manufacturing process. All the programs had good intentions, but many lacked total management commitment. Total Quality Management is seen as a long-term commitment to continuous process improvement by the top management. 111