Total Quality Management Tool Used By Ford Motors: A Case Study

Aim and Objective

Ford Motors Company popularly known as Ford is an American multinational automobile company. The company was originated by Henry Ford in the year 1903; the organization is headquartered in Michigan. The company is known for selling automobiles and commercial vehicles under the brand name of Ford and selling luxury cars under the brand name of Lincoln. The large scale manufacturing company supplies its products worldwide and has a diversified business; also it is known as world’s fifth largest organization selling automobiles. Apart from that, the services which the organization provide is leasing and service, and automotive financing (Ford 2017).

The aim of this task is to provide analyze Total Quality Management tool which Ford Motors used in their business process. The organization used benchmarking and six sigma tool in their operations to gain competitive advantage in the target market. Further details about the task are discussed below:

Total quality management explains the managerial approach which identifies the long-term success of the organization by the way of customer satisfaction. In the process of TQM, all the members of the organization come together with a motive to improve the process, product and service and the culture provided by the organization (Dale 2015). Further, there are eight primary elements which form the whole process of total quality management in an organization, these elements are discussed below:

• Customer centric: the customer is ultimately the kingpin of the market; all the activities happening in the internal process of the organization are implemented in accordance to the customers only.
• Total employee involvement: this approach needs the involvement of all the employees present in the organization. High-performance work can only be implemented when all the employees continuously contribute to the business operations (Sallis 2014).
• Process-centered: the fundamental part of TQM is process thinking. The management aims to solve the issues through innovation and monitoring the growth.
• Integrated system: as discussed above that it involves whole employee engagement, so shall be said that the process is an integrated system.
• Strategic and systematic approach: the tools of the management implement strategic approach and implementation plan in the organization for the purpose of success.
• Continual improvement: the major thrust behind implement this process is to improve the management of the organization in global context (Goetsch, and Davis 2014).
• Fact-based decision: making: in order to analyze the growth of the organization, the process initiates performance measurements on the basis of which decision-making process implemented.  
• Communication: it is aspect which plays the key role in implementing all the activities in the management (Yazdani, et. al., 2016).

The purpose of this report is to provide a brief overview regarding the TQM tool used by the organization Ford in order to initiate competence in the organization, further details about the ask are discussed below:

Looking at the attributes of the organization, it was analyzed that the benchmarking tool of the total quality management which supports the management activities and helps the company in winning the competition in the international market. Benchmarking tool helps the organization in identifying, sorting, and displaying possible outcomes of a specific problem. The process identifies and applies best demonstrated practices in the sales process of operation. Under this process the manager compares the value of their product with the other product present in the market and on the basis of those internal and external operations the business drives their activities as well (Sabet, Adams, and Yazdani 2016). The organization needs to find the activities which the superior business is preforming and understand them and apply them to the business as well. 

Robert Camp developed the benchmarking approach in twelve stages which defined the process of how the organization Ford used this approach in their business operations. Aim of the Ford to apply such strategies in their business process is to cut the cost and add equipment to connect cars to the internet. And also, improve the fuel economy and safety of customers in the organization. Further the implementation of benchmarking in Ford is discussed below:

• Planning: under the process of planning the organization identified the broad business process and tasks which are to be benchmarked by the organization. Ford identified the areas where the organization needs to implement adequate changes. As per the objective of the organization, they wanted to cut the cost and maximize the satisfaction level of customers of the organization. Thus, the organization planned their process of benchmarking accordingly. Further the plan also included the key process indicator on the basis of which the organization shall monitor the performance (Oakland 2014).
• Analysis: in this process of analysis Ford identified the areas which require the attention of the organization. In this process the organization gathered the information from the suppliers present in the target market and identified the areas which are distressing the interest of consumer from the product. They initiated their focus on Fiesta and Focus to benchmark and redesign.
• Action: in this process the organization communicated the result with the stakeholders of the organization. And on the basis of that result they developed an improvement plan which would analyze the changes and act accordingly. As per the plan defined, the management monitored the progress and reviewed the necessary details accordingly.
• Review: under this process review of performance was initiated and bottlenecks were rectified according to the continued plan. Further the organization analyzed the process which the similar renowned firms are implementing and used them in their business process so as to eliminate the problems and archive the objectives (Mehta, Verma, and Seth 2014).

TQM

The Ford motors used the total quality six sigma techniques with an aim to become fully fledged consumer product, not just a company selling automobile products. Also, the management of the organization aimed to enhance the quality of its products and increase the level of satisfaction of customers as well. They named this approach as consumer-driven six sigma as their main focus through this approach was to aim the customer support towards their product in the competitive market. Furthermore, Ford was regarded as world first company which implemented the six sigma plan in their business process. The major problem faced by the organization was that the company faced more than 20,000 opportunities for the defects which were present in the manufacturing process of cars. For this purpose, the management initiated the six sigma plan so also control these problem caused in the internal process of the company (Pyzdek, and Keller 2014).

In this plan, the managers aimed to reduce the single defect per year on every 14.8 vehicles and they also succeeded in their plan. And this success also satisfied the target of the organization to increase the level of satisfaction of customers. Under this process the organization implemented the DMAIC model in the following ways:

• Define: under this approach the organization defined the project stakeholder using the SIPOC analysis (supplier, inputs, process, outputs, and customers). This process led to creation of three groups that are internal, external and mixed group which involved both internal and external customers.
• Measure: the organization introduced various measurements on the basis of which analysis was implemented. The questions are listed below.
• Daily basecoat consumption.
• Paint film thickness check.
• Consumption per automated painter.
• First-time through rate versus consumption
• Damage problems (Dale 2015).
• Analyze: under this analysis the six sigma team of the organization conducted the 5 why analysis and initiated tests and trials on potential root cause. The results measured that from above aspects only one feature showed significant increase while other remained same. Thus, in this way the analysis of the above mentioned facts was made in ford.
• Improve: in the next aspect of improve, tools like value streaming, cause and effect diagram, statistical data etc. were used to rectify the deviations caused in the plan and  fulfill the desired plan. The robot issues were rectified by using the benchmarking techniques in the manufacturing process (Oakland 2014).
• Control: according to the new plan, new monitoring controls and standards were implemented in the organization so as to retain the growth in the organization. Control process was implemented so as to maintain quality management in the organization.

Talking about Ford’s success in through the total quality techniques it shall be noted that with the use of techniques like six sigma, the organization eliminated the major problem affecting the innovative growth of the organization. Ford also managed to reduce the emission of waste up to $ 2. 19 billion in year. With the use of lean six sigma techniques such as data driven, problem-solving process approach etc. solution was recommended by the employees to reduce the emission of raw material waste in the manufacturing process of the organization. Also, the methodologies which the company decided for the purpose of improving the quality and eliminating waste impacted the operations of ford positively (Furterer 2016).

Furthermore talking in monetary term also it shall be noted that organization gains more and more customers in a year after the initiation of this process. Also, due to reduction in wastage less material was occupied by the organization resulting to increase in profit margin. Afterwards, the company aimed to maintain the improvement process initiated in the organization which became the habit of Ford. This habit of the organization helped them to initiate sustainability in long run. Also the most important aspect due to which the quality management tools and techniques were used that is customer satisfaction was also achieved and increased with an optimum speed. The deep rooted problems were analyzed by the management and the team worked on them to eliminate it from the process (6sigma 2017).

This fact cannot be ignored that with the process of initiation of six sigma in Ford, the organization had to adopt many new changes in their management practice. But it shall also be understood that the success of the tool and techniques were dependent on the internal process of the organization. Thus the organization efficiently dealt with the change in the organization. Further, the organization used the change management strategies to apply such changes in the organization. The organization implemented the change in the following ways:

• Make change familiar: the managers circulated the employees with the change present in the organization. They initiated top to bottom communication for the purpose of spreading the change which they want to implement and by what means and why.
• Afterwards, initiated bottom-up approach of communication to seek opinion of employee for the changes. The employees provided brainstorming ideas to implement such change effectively in the organization (Goman 2017).
• Lastly, the managers trained the employees with the total quality management tools and techniques. This helped the employees to easily adopt the change and implement them with adequate strategies in the organization. They engaged them in the change process which helped the employee to become a part of the team and work in favor f the organization.

Tool used by Ford

The below-mentioned aspects were positively affected by the activities of TQM in the company.

• Cost reduction: earlier the prices of the products were not affordable by all groups of people present in the target market, but with the implementation of TQM plan, the organization was no longer using resources which were not mandatory for the production. This process resulted to decrease in the prices of products in the market (Sadikoglu, and Olcay 2014).
• Improving quality: the quality of the products placed in the market was improved as the management analyzed the obstacles hindering the growth and eliminated them with adequate solution. Although ford is always known for delivering adequate quality in products and services in the organization. But with the aim of achieving perfection, employees of ford created astonishing products which helped them to gain competitive advantage in the market (Lasrado, and Lasrado 2017).
• Increase in customer satisfaction: lack of customer satisfaction was a critical issue in the organization, so this process aimed to meet the demand of customers present in the environment. The tools of total quality management analyzed the taste of customers present in the market and their expectations from the product. The organization altered their product accordingly to generate greater satisfaction of customers. As the quality increases the satisfaction level of customers automatically increased (Fonseca 2015).
• Lowering environmental impact: the tools helped the organization to reduce the emission of hazardous gases which can adversely affect the health of environment. Considering this fact the organization reduced the emission of waste in the organization they also manufactured electronic cars which worked through electric energy and emitted less carbon.
• Employee engagement: the process of total quality management helped the organization to become a part of the activities of the business operation. This process increased the process of communication in the organization. As the tools of TQM involved co-operation and co-ordination of all the employees in the organization, due to which they learned the habit of teamwork which helped the organization in its sustainable development (Mitra 2016).
• Training: as all the employees were not aware of the tools and techniques of total quality management due to which the senior delegates trained the employees so that the process can be initiated efficiently. Thus, the company Ford earned the benefit of developing the skills of employees by training them with the process of six sigma, cause and effect etc.  
• Global Competitive Edge: as discussed above, with the help of this technique implementation, Ford reduced the prices of their product in the target market and also decreases the waste products through manufacturing process. Thus, it shall be noted that with the attainment of such attributes in the organizational culture, the company easily gained the competitive edge in the target market (Attafar, Shahin, and Kheradmandnia 2016).

Conclusion and Recommendation 

Thus, in the limelight of above mentioned events the fact that shall be noted is that with the use of total quality management techniques in the company Ford, they were able to eliminate their inefficiencies and converted them into producing output for the organization. Also, Ford reduced the prices of their product in the market and increased the level of satisfaction of employees by improving the quality of their products (Shi and Zhou 2009). Thus, it shall be considered that with the help of benchmarking tool and six sigma techniques of total quality management, Ford gained competitive advantage in their target market. Further, the recommendations to the organization are discussed below:

• It shall be recommended to ford that they shall aim to continue the total quality techniques implemented in the management of the company. It shall become a habit of the company to initiate activities in such a way that it provides competence to the company (Jaeger, and Adair 2016).
• As the employees of the company are fully invested in the activities of the company, so the management in return shall also provide them benefits so that they are motived and interest in the activities of Ford.
• With the aim of creating sustainability, Ford shall create a benchmark for the carbon emission in the organization. The employees shall be restricted to work under that it only.
• Lastly, it is recommended to the management of Ford Motors that as the company is called for initiating innovative development in the organization, so they shall develop strategies to monitor the innovation in the organization. As innovation can negatively affect the growth of the company thus, they shall develop measures to prevent deviations in their plan.

References

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