Total Quality Management (TQM)

Total Quality Management (TQM)

Total Quality Management (TQM) was first pioneered by W. Edwards Deming. The basic idea is that if enough time and effort is expended on training and supplier relations, there is no need for final inspection since there is inspection at the source or quality at the source.

Traditional methods of quality control involve sampling or inspecting a proportion of your completed product for faults before it leaves the factory. This can be time consuming and expensive as the inspected items are often damaged or destroyed in the process.

By investing in training of your workers, quality systems, and supplier relations to improve your raw materials you are likely to build fewer faulty products.

Like any management technique though, you need to carefully evaluate how TQM concepts fit with your long term strategy. Depending on the needs of your markets it may be more effective to rely on higher inspection rates to keep the external defect rate at an acceptable level rather than investing heavily in quality.