Quality Management And Awards Of Distinction

Fitness for Purpose

Fitness for Purpose

Quality is a feature of business that ensures how much does the product or service offered by the company meets the demands of the customers. Fitness for purpose refers to the standards accepted by all or fixed by some regulating body that determines the quality of the product. ABC clothing company which produces clothing for the age group of 0 to 12 years has to meet the needs of the customers by ensuring the best quality of the products. The standard determinants must be met to attain a competitive edge in the market (Brown, 2013). The products that are delivered by the ABC Company are the best in the market. There is a particular department in the organization that is engaged in checking the quality of the product.

Compliance

ABC garments must ensure to maintain a high standard in the market. The operation manager must make sure that the company follows all the rules regarding the maintenance of safety. International standards, human rights must also be maintained to avoid unnecessary problems in the workspace (Karimi et al. 2014). Compliance of these rules makes sure that the company enjoys a competitive edge in the market. As mentioned earlier the quality control department of the organization checks the quality of the organization strictly. The company thus ensures that all the rules are followed to ensure a proper quality.

Value

ABC garments do not compromise with its quality which is the main value of the organization. The main aim of ABC garments is to create the best quality products in the market and make sure that they comply with all the standards of the market. Creating a superior value helps the organization to outclass all its other competitors in the market and maintain a superior competitive advantage (Zhu, Cordeiro & Sarkis, 2013). 

Costs

The Budget Proposal prepared by the Operations manager discussed clearly about the costs that will be involved during the Quality Management (Lo et al. 2013). A proposal to integrate Cost of Quality was given in the meeting. The different costs involved in costs of quality are;

• Prevention Cost- This type of cost is incurred by the organization to prevent any kind of loss. These kinds of costs cover any loss of design, production and maintenance of the management system. Prevention costs
• External Failure Costs- ABC garments must have a separate fund to incur external costs that arise from the customer’s point of view. It involves different repairs, warranty claims, return of defective items and many more.
• Internal Failure Costs- Internal Failure costs is yet another kind of costs that are considered by the company to bear the defects that occur just after the production of the garments and just before the delivery of the products to the customers.
• Appraisal Costs- ABC garments incur these costs to check on the quality of the products and services of the organization. These include checking the quality of the clothes or rating by external agencies.

The different expenses have been estimated and fixed by ABC company.

Customer Benefits

The one and only target of ABC garments must be ensuring a satisfaction of its customers. The biggest challenge in any kind of business is to attract customers (Heras-Saizarbitoria & Boiral, 2015). There are a number of selected benefits that ABC garments can achieve;

1. Reputation
2. Repeat sales
3. Quality maintenance
4. Creating references
5. Increase profit margin
6. Employee morale booster
7. Competitive Advantage
8. Creating Niche
9. Reference
10. Increase in Sales

Productivity

Productivity can be defined as the instrument for measuring the efficiency of the organization. The efficiency is measured in terms of the production and the cost incurred by the organization (Annarelli & Nonino, 2016). The operations manager of ABC garment limited must take special care to supervise the machinery, equipments and other things involved in production which affects productivity (Oakland, 2014). The maintenance of the productivity in turn helps to maintain the quality of the product delivered. Disruptions in productivity thus affect the performance of the organization. The mentioned company has derived time sheets to measure productivity and ensure transparency.

Compliance

Data and information is collected in a variety of different ways by ABC garments. Collection of information is one of the most important steps that helps the company to succeed in the market. The primary area from where data is gathered is from the customers itself. A feedback form is provided to the customers by the mentioned company. The customers are told to drop back the feedback form after using the garments. Analyzing the feedback from the customers the company can easily have an idea about the satisfactory levels of the customers. The information is also collected from different social media sites. The company interacts with the customers in these sites where the customers are free to express their feelings on the products manufactured by ABC garments limited. The information that is collected by the company is utilized in different ways. As mentioned earlier the feedback forms are analyzed and accordingly the quality is being improved. There have been complains regarding a batch of clothes delivered by the company. After collecting the information the company has summoned the head of the production department and tried to solve the problems. The information collected from the secondary sources has helped the company to get the knowledge of the strategies that are adapted by their competitors in the market.

Discussion on how it helps ABC garments succeed.

ABC garments utilize the information to gain an advantage over other players in the market offering the same range of clothes. The feedback forms and grievances in social media are analyzed thoroughly and proper actions are taken based on the complaints or recommendations.

As mentioned earlier every production companies like the one mentioned here must maintain some standard quality as fixed by a regulating authority to set standards for a better product. ISO 9000 is one of the most important standards that were started in the year 1979 by the British Standards Institute Technical Committee 176. ISO 9000 (Oakland & Morris, 2013). More than 100 nations accepted the regulation in the year 2000. The importance of ISO 9000 is as follows;

• Marketability- An ISO 9000 sets a benchmark for the product quality it increases the marketing of the company. Tagging the product with ISO 9000 ensures the quality of the product.
• Reduced Operational Expenses- ISO 9000 helps to reduce the operational costs of the company. The standard mark helps to improve the efficiency of the organization by saving time and money.
• Better Management Control- ABC garments find it easy to assess the quality of the products and make sure that the products meet the quality standards.
• Customer Service- The standard guideline helps to achieve a improved customer service. The garments produced by the companies are able to meet all the necessary specifications of the standard benchmark and thus it helps the organization to attract more and more customers.

Explain how ISO 9000 is associated with TQM?

Total Quality Management is one of the principles that ensure all the workers and staffs of a particular organization are pledged and determined to maintain high set of standards as accepted and implemented by the organization to improve its operational efficiency (Breja et al. 2016). On the other hand ISO 9000 ensures a standard guideline for the product quality. There are many similarities between both the terms;

• Both TQM and ISO 9000 focus on the customers which is the primary and the most important part of the company.
• Both the quality benchmarks integrate a scientific approach to solve the different kinds of problems.
• TQM and product improvement are both long term process that helps to improve the quality of the product.
• The benchmark standards help to improve the quality of education and provide proper training for maintaining quality.

4.2 Identify the driving force of TQM and explain the importance of the key elements of TQM approach to ABC garments.

Some of the key elements of Total Quality Management implemented in ABC garments are;

• Trust- The product quality has helped the company to build an effective trust between the company and its customers as it caters to the needs and meets the expectations. Building trust helps the company to garner profit.
• Teamwork of the employees- A joint effort from the group of employees helps the company to achieve the highest margins to earn a competitive advantage in the market.
• Leadership- The management must be wise in their decision to select a compatible leader in the form of the operations manager who will ensure the best possible mode of operation for the company.
• Communication- Presence of communication between the different production departments or the packaging departments as well as effective communication between the management and the stakeholders ensures transparency and helps the company to improve its performance.
• Ethics- ABC Garments has ensured that their employees and their business aims follow strict ethics. Following ethics helps the organization to earn reputation in the market.

Q5.1 Give a comparison of Baldridge Award and ISO certification and explain which strategy is needed to apply at first?

Baldrige Award is just an award to recognize the quality management of the organization. On the other hand ISO 9000 is a standard that determines the quality of the organization. The former is engaged to respect the works of the organization and the latter is a benchmark for ensuring quality (Taticchi et al. 2015).

Value

Baldrige Award

The Baldrige Award is presented by the American President every year to different organization that performs the best in the market in terms of efficiency and quality. It is presented in six different categories namely, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Small Business, Education, Service Providing Organizations and NGO. The Criterions for the award are,

• Leadership quality
• Strategy
• Workforce
• Operations
• Analysis
• Customers
• Results

The baldrige criteria for excellence are;

• Leadership- The efficient way in which the management of the organization leads the organization.
• Strategy- The best strategy that are implemented by the organizations to achieve the goals.
• Workforce- The particular quality of the workforce or the employees of the organization and the ways by which it trains and implements all the policies of the organization.
• Operations- The ways in which the business entity designs, implements and modifies its plans and policies
• Results- Results is the key element that determines the success and the sustainability of the organization. The results are determined based on the customer satisfaction, human resource performance, management performance and all the other factors that form the key element in running the business.
• Customers- The ways in which the organization manages to build a trust and confidence of the customers.

European Quality Award

Another award based on quality is European Quality Award. It is presented by the European Foundation for Quality Management every year to different organizations. The medal that is awarded is made up of precious metals. The criterion for the award is;

• Modern management system
• Efficient Production and Management
• Competitive advantage of the company in the market
• Customer feedback
• Quality control measures

Deming Prize

The mentioned prize is a global award given to different organizations based on the Total Quality Management of the organization. It is the oldest among all the awards presented in the world. The award was established in 1951 to honor W. Edwards Deming Who was the pioneer of Japan’s statistical quality control. The award was meant only for Japanese companies but now it has made itself global and awards different companies based on quality control.

The seven basic tools for managing the quality of the organization are;

• Cause and Effect Diagram- Cause and Effect diagram is the quality tool that is engaged to mark out the possible causes that are related to the effect or the problems that arise out of such an effect.
• Check Sheet- Check sheet is an organized and systematic form of collection of information. It has a lot of uses and has applications in a lot of field.
• Control Chart- The control chart is a graphical representation of the change in a particular process used in quality management.
• Pareto Chart- The most important factors or elements of the Quality Management are represented by a bar graph which is termed as the Pareto Chart.
• Histogram- Histogram is quite surely the most extensively used graphical representation that shows the duration of the occurrence of different values in a set.
• Scatter Diagram- Quantitative data based diagrams or graphs used in Quality Management.
• Stratification/ Flow Chart- The method that is involved in segregating the sources from where the information has been derived to glance at the patterns of the information selected.

Draw the Tool

The most important factors or elements of the Quality Management are represented by a bar graph which is termed as the Pareto Chart.

 

Figure 1- Pareto Chart

Source- (Seuring & Gold, 2013)

Explain why is it Applicable

The Pareto chart is a tool that is used for the improvement of quality. ABC garments have used this tool to assess the quality of the products that has been delayed due to a variety of reasons. The line manager uses this tool to know the existing problems in the quality of the products

Draw the Tool

Cause and Effect diagram is the quality tool that is engaged to mark out the possible causes that are related to the effect or the problems that arise out of such an effect.

 

Figure 2- Cause and Effect Diagram

Source- (Taticchi et al. 2015) 

Figure 2 shows the fishbone model and is a visualization tool to categorize the potential problems and the root causes of these problems. The cause and effect diagram is the most appropriate diagram that will help the supervisor to analyze the diameter of the jeans button over a time period and whether it matches the quality.

Check Item/Defect	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5	Total
Missing part Number	2	3	1	4	6	16
Damaged Packaging	2	4		7	5	18
Part Damage/Scratch	2				1	3
Part damage/Dent	4			2		6
						43

 Figure 6- Check Sheet

Source- (Annarelli & Nonino, 2016)

Check Sheet is perhaps the best tool to keep an eye on the different problems that arise in a batch of products. In this particular case the operations manager has to go through the check sheet to ensure the substandard quality of the products of a batch and prepare a report. 

 

Figure 4- Scatter Diagram

Source- (Seuring & Gold, 2013) 

The operations manager takes the help of the scatter diagram to analyze the different types of customer complaints reported in a stipulated time period from the different branches. The management fears that too much customer complaints will damage the reputation of the organization.

Costs

 

Figure 3 – Quality Control Flowchart

Source- (Van Dooren, Bouckaert & Halligan, 2015) 

Quality Control Flowchart is used to determine the trend of the daily volume of calls that is received by the office. The calls that come in the company are flooded with the different quality control checkups. Thus the production manager has decided to depict the daily calls using the flowchart. 

 

Figure 6- Histogram

Source- (Salagean et al. 2013)

The CEO of ABC garments has to know every single step of the production made in the company. He therefore decides to analyze the histogram chart to get a better understanding of the manufacture. 

 

Figure 7- Control Chart

Source- (Krajewski, Ritzman & Malhotra, 2013)

The process that needs to identify and classify them as value added or non value added are determined by the control chart prepared by the organization.

The Performance management in ABC Garments Ltd. is done by the operational managers and employees who coordinate their work and plan and monitor the different strategies to help in the growth of the organization (Salagean et al. 2013). Performance Management helps to enhance the quality of the employees and ultimately leads to the success of the organization. A proper organizational structure helps to motivate the employees and thus their performance improves.

Designing and controlling the process of production and again designing it while the manufacturing process is termed as the operational management of the company. The better the operations of the management the better is the performance of the organization.

The mentioned company has been able to meet some strategic objectives by the help of a proper performance management;

• Boosting Morale
• Improving Productivity
• Setting Futuristic goalsImplementing Budgeting Tools 

Operation is the act of performing or referring the case of ABC garments it is the state of being active in the market.

Performing well helps to ensure a better operation. The company can hold on its market share and even increase its share by a good performance from its employees. Performance management thus ensures organizational efficiency (Taticchi et al. 2015).

Financial Management is a key factor of Quality Management. Finance serves one of the most important factors in maintaining the quality of the products and services offered by the company or the organization. Financial strength of the organization helps it to improve upon its quality drastically.

Both the terms performance and financial management are related to each other. Better performance of the organization helps the company to improve its financial resources. The company can also use a better performance management to prepare a proper and improved budget. Organizations are thus involved in focusing more on their performance as they know that improving performance would automatically increase the quality of the goods and services delivered by the company.

Physical Resources of the company are the assets of the company or the tangible assets that are used by the company to carry on its activities (Fullerton, Kennedy & Widener, 2014). The physical resources of the company are precious assets as they determine the success of the company.

Physical Resources are the tangible resource of the organizations that are needed for day to day running of the organization. The Human resource department has to perform to its expectations and also beyond the expectations to make sure that the physical resources are used properly and in an efficient manner. The performance of the organization is best only when a sufficient as well as the proper form of physical assets is present within the company. 

Customer Benefits

Five Measurement tools of Performance Management are;

• All-round Feedback- A proper feedback system helps the organization to perform their tasks properly. Interactions with customers. Chat in social media are some of the system that helps to gather an all round feedback.
• Objective based Management- Long term and medium term goals are fixed by the managers to meet the aims of the company.
• Self- assessment- This particular business tool helps the employees of the organization to analyze whether they meet the exact requirements as proposed by the company. The chance to improve their performance helps the company to achieve positive results in the market.
• Quantitative Evaluation- A quantitative evaluation of the company is performed to get the idea of the performance of the business entity.
• Qualitative Evaluation- Performance management helps to deduce the qualitative aspects of the organization and improves the performance of the company.

b.1 Standard Time

Standard Time is the time taken to manufacture and deliver the proper quality clothing produced by ABC Garments Company to the customers (Taticchi et al. 2015).

b.2 Costs

The manufacturing costs, advertisement costs, promotion costs and all other external costs involved in the total making of the products are termed as Costs.

b.3 Quality

The mentioned company must ensure that the quality of the garments is maintained so that the customers can build a trust in the company.

b.4 Productivity

The mentioned Garment Company must ensure that the productivity levels of the company meet the specifications which will help the company to maintain its competitive advantage (Jankal, 2014).

Non Human resources of a company are the physical resources and the assets that are owned by the organization (Taticchi et al. 2015). The non human resources help the organization to provide service to the customers. Absence of such proper resources leads to the failure of the organization. New Zealand is an isolated country from the rest of the world and thus is short of Human Resources. The companies of the country are thus more focused on assembling Non Human resources to carry on their activities (Van Dooren, Bouckaert & Halligan, 2015).

Feedback control system is a business tool that analyzes the performance of an organization and helps the organization to take necessary actions to keep a stronghold of the market (Krajewski, Ritzman & Malhotra, 2013).

Discuss the Importance of Feedback Control

Feedback Control holds immense importance to manage and control the business organization. It helps to analyze the reactions of the customers my measuring the performance of the organization in a given time period. ABC garments take proper actions on this basis and makes necessary changes to keep the stronghold of the market. Thus feedback control is a tool to measure the satisfaction levels of the people or the customers who use the product (Seuring & Gold, 2013).

Some steps of feedback control are;

• Objectives and Standards establishment- A proper planning ensures the control of the performance objectives and plans of the organization. Input as well as output standards are set.
• Performance Measurement- This step involves calculation of the actual performance of the company. The operations manager ensures this calculation.
• Comparison of results with objectives and standards- This is one of the most complex steps in the process of feedback control as it involves the deduction of whether the measurement indicates a similarity with the standards.
• Necessary Action- If there is some disparities in the results of the performance measurement the company has to take steps to improve it as because it directly affects the quality of its products.

Corrective Action is also referred as preventive action. It is the steps taken to ensure that no undesirable problems arise. The measures help the organization to get rid os such undesirable harassments (De Waal, 2013).

Discuss the Importance of Corrective Action.

ABC garments limited benefits immensely from CAPA as because CAPA is one of the important actions that must be taken by the organization to meet any emergency situation;

1. Tasks are assigned to each and every employee in the organization according to their skills and experience. The company can assess the information of every employee by going through the data sheets and make sure that every employee is performing according to the standards set by the organization.
2. Emergency situations are easily dealt with because a strategic action plan is already created before the start of operations in the company.
3. The process of action can be easily verified by the company as the plan present in the strategy helps to do so.
4. Integrated Reporting is another important importance of the following organization. The company receives and processes data from different sources which makes it easier for them to predict any danger and act accordingly.

Action Plan
Purpose- To help in the overall growth of the organization Materials- Different qualitative and quantitative assessment tools
Goal- To ensure a safe and sound future for the organization
Activity 1.  Task Assignment 2. Integrated Reporting	Purpose To provide the correct tasks to the correct person To avoid chances of danger	Responsible Person HR manager Operations Manager	Timeframe 1Month 6 Months	Budget $500 $200

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