TQM (Total Quality Management) - A Starter Thread

Kevin Mader

One of THE Original Covers!
Staff member
Admin
#11
Don,

Lloyd S. Nelson...Deming...is there a connections there? But probably not with the Jedi Knight. I believe Deming probably didn't have too much time to read sci-fi novels (busy writing books and papers'n' such) and I heard he watched TV only once (to watch Man walk on the Moon) so he probably did see Star Wars on HBO. All the same, that quote is quite appropriate too.

Thanks for the good words and the leads on the books. Being a book-worm to some degree, I like good book referrals.

Cultural change. A topic in itself. What I would give to have the magic wand on that! It isn't that I am impatient, it just would make the work easier and more enjoyable. Watching and organization trying to adopt an ISO culture was like putting baby shoes on elephant feet! Tough work at first.

What I have found to be a great asset in cultural change, from a middle management perspective, was to hold informal meetings with associates to discuss cultural issues (smaller groups). This environment placed associates on even ground and made it easier to ask "dumb" questions. I had more success here than with a larger audience (more conservative questioning for fear of asking the "dumb" question). I believe it will be easier to develop and ISO environment than it will be for a TQM environment. The basics of ISO can be pushed from the middle, TQM must come from the top. It will be interesting to me to read the first suggested reading to see how the author accomplishes this.

I am fortunate to a large degree that most of senior management here is not a problem in this area. But I still have a hold out or two to still convince. Once they're aboard...well, we'll see.

Back to the group.
 
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Marc

Hunkered Down for the Duration with a Mask on...
Staff member
Admin
#12
When I talk to management about cultural change I use the following:

Take a car. Replace steering wheel with foot pedals (airplane) for steering. Provide another foot pedal for shifting. Provide lever for braking (hand lever), another lever for clutch and a last for acceleration (gas).

How long will it take until you are comfortable driving the vehicle?

[This message has been edited by Marc Smith (edited 11-17-98).]
 
D

Don Winton

#14
Myron Tribus published a good paper on culture change called "Changing the Corporate Culture-Some Rules and Tools." It can be found at http://deming.ces.clemson.edu/pub/den/deming_tribus.htm.

Regards,
Don
 
M

MJ Oleksik

#15
Good afternoon gentlemen (?--pardon me if I assume too much). Just came across the web site doing some research. Seems that I have been tasked with ISO900(2)implementation, and have been looking for some "war stories" or other useful information. I'm relatively new to the Quality profession, and, even though I've taken our company through D1-9000 (ever heard of it?) certification, I can't say that I'm very impressed with the results. TQM is a concept that has been attempted in the past, but unfortunately, the "powers that be" abandoned the idea as soon as they saw there were no short term results. I can't say I completely blame them, as I don't believe that the people put in charge of implementing the system either completely understood the concept, or believed in it. I myself am not an educated person, however I do "get" the concept of quality and continuous improvement, and am a firm believer, however limited my exposure has been.

Basically, what I'm looking for is 1)advice on how to get "buy in" from all levels and 2)some good recommendations for reference materials (I'm particularly interested in ways that organizations have "married" systems).

A little bit of background:
We are a small (120 employee) aerospace manufacturing facility. Just moved in to a new facility, so growth is a must. Our customers (aerospace and DOD)are pushing ISO9000, and I have less than a year to comply.
 

Kevin Mader

One of THE Original Covers!
Staff member
Admin
#16
MJ,

Glad you found the Cove. You have come to the right spot for answers and debate. Sorry I don't have time tonight to give you much of either, but rather some direction. The other thread in this forum "Is TQM Dead?" has some good information you might want to run through.

Education is a collection of knowldge and understanding. If you've got that, then you're educated!

ISO9002 in a year, should be plenty of time.

More tomorrow. Back to the group...
 
D

Don Winton

#17
Welcome MJ,

South of Merritt Island must be comfortable this time of year. Lived in Central Florida for 12 years, but do not miss it since moving back here.

War stories? Hang around. There are (is?) plenty here.

I believe the implementation of ISO 900x (or whatever) should be combined with TQM concepts for maximum benefit, but getting those “powers that be” to buy in is most difficult indeed. I posted a parable (Who’s on Trial) somewhere in this forum as a reminder for those types, but I do not recall where. Look around. Remember that ISO 900x (or whatever) are standards, not models.

“Not an educated person:” Knowledge without wisdom is worse than ignorance alone. School learning is not the better of those available, IMHO.

Gentlemen?: I am certain I do not fall into that category, but others may be more qualified than I to judge that.

Ask away your questions. I am sure all participants herein will be glad to answer.

All for now, and I look forward to your input.

Regards,
Don
 

Kevin Mader

One of THE Original Covers!
Staff member
Admin
#18
MJ,

I feel the best way to get buy in on any topic is by selling its importance. The stronger the topic, generally better buy in. ISO and especially TQM in the Quality World are strong topics. So why the tough buy in? Probably has a lot to do with not fully understanding the topic. Your job is to sell, sell, sell the topic. When that doesn't work you should sell, sell, sell again. When that doesn't work, it probably won't. Someone in this group mentioned the "magic wand" (I believe it was Marc). If we had it, we would sure share it. I would look through the management group to see who your potential cheerleaders are, the people who will help you spread the news so to speak. These allies can make the sell much easier and serves both as a place to start and a place to build. There will be tough times ahead, not to worry. Always someone in the group to fall back on to get you over a hurdle.

Recommendations on reading materials to marry concepts: TQM with ISO? Wasn't sure what you were looking for exactly. My answer regardless would be the same. Read as much as you can on different topics (from several authors) and visit the Cove often. Many resources out there, most of which speak to specifics, but the blend of material types and different author presentation will give you good perspective. Marrying topics generally comes for me when I read bunches of material and recognize the connections between topics. I never know when it will hit, but the light bulb comes on. I recently purchased a book on System Re-engineering. Basically a blend of Kaizen and ISO. I have read each topic individually, married them on my own as this recent book does. Don't know if I will learn much from this read, but who knows. Also, when you have good command of the topic, people will recognize this which will help you on your finding good "buy in".

Resources: (books from) Deming, Juran, Feigenbaum on Quality Concepts and Management (Several other authors and topics not mentioned), (Internet, Cove) information, Q & A, ISO Standards including the support documents.

Lots to read, read, read. Then lots to do, do, do. Good Luck!!

Back to the group for more resources (favorites) and the like...
 
S

Steven Sulkin

#19
I would agree with Kevin about finding your cheerleaders. Group-please help me out here if I am off-base.

You need to be careful not to get a half-baked order to move forward. There's nothing less desireable than finding yourself 6 months down the road with no support. Get support of the executive staff. Give them a plan, and if you find that they are not giving up the resources put it back in their hands.

Show them the money. It is my personal opinion that some sections offer obvious benefit with little up front investment. I am thinking about managment review and auditing. The companies I have worked with/for have all been weak here and the benefits are enormous. Hey a good topic for discussion!!!

This goes for auditing too. Auditors are very helpful for pulling together your first project plan, not to mention the fact that they are a very powerful improvement tool.
Get a group of auditors together, get them trained, and do a gap analysis to get you started. You can develop a list of action items and project plan from here. There are some good posts here about using auditors for improvement.

Dont do this for the certificate. Again, this is my opinion, but ISO can hurt as well as help a company. If you dont have a good audit-corrective action system you will have nothing but a real expensive beaurocracy on your hands. Again-my opinion. Get your money's worth and make sure you are happy with the outcome.

When you start a section, check out the cove. We might have some thoughts that will save you some heartache.

Back to the group....
 
M

MJ Oleksik

#20
Thanks for the input, guys.

On the subject of reading materials--I've done some hunting and I've come up with some materials that seem to hit what I'm looking for. I'd like to throw out a few titles and authors and get your opinions. I'm not familiar enough with all of the quality guru's out there, and I don't have a lot of time to waste reading something that's not going to help...here we go---

1. "TQM Trilogy" (Using ISO9000 and the Deming and Baldridge (?) award concepts)
Authors are Francis Mahoney, Carl Thor.

I'm hoping this will give me some ideas on marrying concepts (or at least make the light bulb flicker)


2. "Beyond the BS5750-ISO9000 Certificate-A Bureacracy Buster's Guide to Quality Assurance"
Author: Richard Davis

This particular title interests me because, being a small shop, and a "job shop", I do not want to create a system that will tie our hands completely. One of the things that I need to do is allow us as much flexibility as possible. My target is to allow product to flow through the system as quickly as possible while maintaining strict quality standards. Changes and problems occur frequently due to the nature of our work, and I don't want situations where product is held up unnecessarily.

3. Full Circle Corrective Action
Author: Thomas Cappels

I have repeatedly heard and read about the importance of a robust corrective action system. Ours tends to address the problem without guaranteeing a permanent solution (or at least a road to one)most of the time. I don't think we have a bad system, but I'm going to have my hands full getting full cooperation, especially inter-deparmental CAR's. Maybe this title will offer some insight.

Some authors I'd like to know if any of the group has any opinions on:

Philip Crosby (I know, he's a (the?) guru, but will his concepts work in my shop).

Greg Hutchins
Miles Weaver
Robert Craig


I look forward to hearing everyone's input. I'll be doing more research, so expect more questions.

I have already written our manual. It's been approved to an ISO9000 equivalent(?) system, specifically Boeing's D1-9000A, so the qroundwork is laid. We were audited and approved by Boeing in November of '97. It just needs a little fine tuning, and, like I said originally, I'm not real thrilled with the type of system that it turned out to be. There seems to be a lot of effort put into doing things (documentation, especially) that actually contributes little, if any, to the actual quality of the part produced. I once spent a week at a customer's facility across the country just amending documentation shipped with product to make their QA people happy. The interesting thing is, their people here, as well as government reps, bought off the documentation before here. Needless to say, after a week "dotting I's and crossing T's" I left with a bad taste in my mouth, as we did nothing that affected the quality of the part. This is the type of thing I really want to stay away from, as it only adds cost to the product without improving it.

Anyway, I've rambled on long enough--back to you guys....

------------------
Mike
 
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