Quality Management in Atlas Consulting: A Case Study

This report explores the role of quality management in the operations of Atlas Consulting, a fitout company in Dubai. It examines the company's products, services, quality objectives, and management practices, and provides recommendations for improvement.

United Arab Emirates Company
Quality Report
Abstract
This report has been made to understand the role of quality management in the operations of an
organization. The report takes the case of a fitout company called Atlas consulting that operates in
Dubai and have years of experience in executing construction and related projects in the country.
The report explores the products, services, quality objectives, quality management practices, service
maintenance, and other important areas of work. The report would reveal how effectively company
is able to maintain the quality of its products and services. The company services and products are
also assessed from the perspective of quality best practices identified by quality management
models formulated by Deming and Juran. These assessments have revealed some weaknesses in the
company that may not be affecting it currently but can have negative impacts in future., thus,
certain recommendations have been made for the improvement of quality management practices in
the company at the end of this report.
Contents
Abstract.................................................................................................................................................1
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................1
Background............................................................................................................................................1
Quality Management.............................................................................................................................2
Quality Objectives..............................................................................................................................3
Effectiveness......................................................................................................................................3
Product Presentation.........................................................................................................................4
Reliability...........................................................................................................................................4
Cost basis...........................................................................................................................................4
Service Providers...............................................................................................................................4
Customer Appeal...............................................................................................................................5
Service reliability...............................................................................................................................5
Product Fee basis...............................................................................................................................5
Results...................................................................................................................................................5
Discussion..............................................................................................................................................6
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................6
Recommendations.................................................................................................................................6
References.............................................................................................................................................7

Introduction
This project explores how companies use quality management practices to sustain quality in their
products and services. Quality management can be understood from different perspectives using a
number of different models that define quality. These standards or practices have been identified by
some pronounced scholars like Deming, Juran, Feignbaum, Crosby, Ishikawa, and Taguchi. These
theories have been applied to the case of Atlas consulting which is a fitout services company. The
objective is to understand how quality management plays a significant role in operations of the
company and the impacts it creates on the customers of an organization.
Background
Atlas contracting is a fitout company from UAE which is involved in construction, designing,
contracting and trading work. It also runs a furniture factory as one of its divisions and provides
services to food and beverage organizations, retail, residential, entertainment, and beauty
industries. In operation of any organization, quality plays a significant role. If the quality is not
maintained well then it can results into many bad consequences. As per Cost of Poor quality model,
faults and errors in quality can cause internal and external failures. Also, the company unable to
maintain quality could bring additional costs to the company incurred in rework, downtime, recalls,
penalties, returns, complaints and loss of company good will. There can be other costs too such as
prevention costs to ensure that the customer is not dissatisfied and appraisal costs to ensure that
products meet the desired requirements of quality through audits and inspections (SAEO, 2015).
As per Taguchi, loss is faced when a company deviates from its quality measures which makes it
important for an organization to ensure good quality of its products and services so that such costs
can be avoided. This report explores the case of an organization that is into turnkey projects and
explores how the company takes care of the quality requirements of its products and services to
maintain reliability and effectiveness.
Quality Management
As per Deming, 94% of the quality issues are faced due to problems in management and thus, he
defined 14 points for management to follow while maintaining quality of their products and services.
These include –
 Creation of a purpose for improvement in products and services quality
 Adoption of new philosophies as per the modern work needs
 Building of quality from the beginning rather than depending on the quality inspection
process to ensure quality of products
 The contracts should not be awarded to workers or contractors only on the basis of the
lowest price but technical and functional capacities should also be among the judging
parameters.
 A system should be established that continues to improve based on the feedbacks received
from reviews of the processes, products and services as well as reduce quality of production
and maintenance
 The employees of the company must be provided with sufficient training on the job
 To allow workers to work effectively, the company should ensure that they do not fear
anything but are motivated to work better
 The company should have leaders to provide motivation and help workforce achieve higher
levels of productivity (Futrell, 2002)

 Adversarial relationships can be created using slogans, exhortations and targets set for the
workforce
 Any quotas in the organization must be eliminated and the leader must follow substitute
leadership model
 Any barriers to the pride of workmanship in the workforce must be eliminated
 The company should run programs for educating workforce and enabling continuous
improvement through learning
 Every one should be put to work to ensure work transformation for the benefit of the
company and their customers.
As per Juran Trilogy, there are three areas of quality management. These include processes of
planning, controlling and improvement of quality. He has given 10 steps that can help in improving
quality at work (BIS, 2010). These include:
 Building awareness in people for the need of improvement
 Creation of goals for improvement
 Organizing procedures and activities to meet goals
 Providing training to the staff for improvement
 Projects must be aimed at solving problems
 Project progress must be reported
 People who deliver good performance must be recognized
 The results of project activities must be communicated sufficiently to target audience as
needed
 The score of the project must be kept track of
 A company should have processes to maintain momentum into the systems of the company
When assessing products in terms of quality, a number of questions can be asked to test its
effectiveness, presentation, reliability, and cost. These include if the job is well done by the product,
if it looks good to a customer, is it trouble free , and if it is reasonably priced. Similar questions can
be asked to assess services of an organization on the basis of effectiveness, presentation, reliability,
and cost. These include if services able to give what they are suppose to provide, if they are
appealing to customers, if they are delivered on time, and if the fee charged is reasonable. Based on
these parameters the products and services of the consulting organization can be reviewed.
Quality of product can be determined by industry standards but defining the quality of a service is
rather a subjective parameter which includes tangibles like facilities and location, convenience such
as services, reliability such as trust and availability, time involved in waiting, scheduling , and
processing, assurance of system by control, courtesy through friendliness of the staff when serving
customers, and responsiveness involving flexibility. There are also some metrics available that can be
used for assessing the quality of the services of an organization. These include input quality metrics
applied to supplies, applications, and raw materials, process quality metrics applied to procedures,
operations, standards, and resources, and quality outputs including products, services and
relationships. The parameters that could be recorded to assess these qualities can include cost, time,
complaints, rejections, deliveries, and reliability.
Quality Objectives
Quality objectives of the company projects are:
 Ensuring that quality plan is well established and implemented

 The workforce employed on project are sufficiently qualified and skilled at their work
 Team would follow open communication during project execution to ensure that processes
are systematic and transparent
 Construction site or project should be reviewed regularly to ensure that any mistakes are
identified and corrective actions are taken (Gibbison, 2009)
Effectiveness
The products of the company include wood joinery, AC ducts, Engineering products, and design
services. Production facilities at the company use modern machinery that ensures that the product
process is cost effective and have a friendly work environment. To ensure that the products under
wood joinery are effective, the company uses an experienced team of workforce including
engineers, designers, and managers who work in coordination to ensure that best quality of wooden
products are produced. AC ducts service all the air distribution needs of customers.
The services of the company involve fabrication of different types of ducts and individualized
services that are not possible to provide for large companies. Skilled machinist provide best quality
ducting work to ensure that product is effective. Engineering department of the organization
provides designs for major components of a building project including electrical system, HVAC,
firefighting, and plumbing. All these sections are coordinated and involve active participation of work
force. The design department produces designs for projects that include different perspectives and
presentations.
When assessing products in terms of the effectiveness of the product, the product sold by a
company can be tested in terms of its capability to have the job done as desired. As the company
uses quality standards and latest technologies for development of tis product, it can be said that the
products are able to serve the needs of the customers as desired from the functional point of view
and thus, are effective as products which is a positive note for the quality assessment of the product.
Product Presentation
Products are delivered to large restaurants, café, villas, offices, retail outlets, boutiques, clubs, and
beauty salons keeping considerations for aesthetics and functional needs of the projects. Some big
and luxurious projects of the company are Tike restaurant, La Postreria restaurant, and Villa P54 in
Dubai. The company has executed many such large projects that are presented well. The company
promotes its products not individually but as solutions or components of such large establishments
making them look like value providers.
Product presentation is all about exploring if the product looks good to a customer. As the company
has some large projects and organizations to its credit, it has set a base for its business which is used
for presenting the product in good ways. If only the product was presented well and looked good to
these customers, the company would be getting such large projects to its kitty. Thus, it can be said
that the company is able to maintain a good appeal for its products and thus, they are attractive to
their customers.
Reliability
Products sold by the company are produced using high quality standards and skilled workforce.
Thus, the products are reliable in their functions and quality parameters. Reliability is about
assessing the product is trouble free for its customers. In the case of the Atlas company, the

products follow standard quality guidelines and are installed in the sites of customers through
experienced workforce such that customer does not need to worry about the problems of the
installation or other quality needs. The company customers can completely depend on Atlas
consulting till the complete project is constructed with all facilities installed. Also, the company has
gained reputation for the quality of its products that are reliable in its functions and are among the
best in the market which is why the company has gained a large market share in Dubai. Thus, it can
be said that the company products are reliable in terms of quality.
Cost basis
The cost of the product is determined on the basis of the cost incurred in production, managing
operations through workforce and the costs incurred in the procurement of the supplies for
production as well as the cost incurred in the distribution and marketing of the products. The cost
forms the basis for determination of the final pricing of its products which is done upon adding
markup to the cost elements.
The product is considered god in terms of cost in the quality measurements if it is reasonably priced.
As the company is only using the markup pricing above the costs, the costs can be said to be
justifiable for the customers and thus, company standard fair in terms of cost as the parameter for
quality judgement.
Service Providers
The company services include installation, construction, designing, contracting and trading work. All
these services are provided by the dedicated and skilled workforce hired by the company. The
company does not just sell products but serves as a service provider who helps companies asses
requirements, design products and services, as well as deliver them through implementation or
installation of the produced units.
There is also a need to assess the services of an organization on the basis of effectiveness,
presentation, reliability, and cost to determine if the services of the company stand high in the
measure of quality. This would include understanding if the services are able to provide what they
are intended for, if they are delivered on time, and if they are charged at a reasonable fee. Based on
these parameters the services of Atlas consulting can be reviewed.
Customer Appeal
The products of the company are able to appeal to large organizations that have luxurious real
estate projects such as Villas, malls, retail outlets, restaurants and so on. The customers of the
company include food and beverage organizations, retail, residential, entertainment, and beauty
companies. The company has participated in major construction and designing projects like villas,
clubs, restaurants, retail stores, gym, office, beauty salon, coffee shops, public places, pantry, health
and food units. The company is able to appeal to a large number of companies all in the real estate
space that have multiple industries. Every company or store needs a space for establishment and
Atlas company provides all the needed services for site establishments.
Some of its renowned customers include Zaroob restaurant at Jumeriah tower, Sanwichy restaurant
in Business Bay, and multiple projects for Dynamic Hospitality. The company provided huge set of
capabilities, products, and services to these companies including flooring, ceiling, elevation, wood

works, doors, aluminium, metal, fire alarms, plumbing, fighting, fire suppression, furniture and
authority approvals (Gibling, 2013).
Service reliability
The service provided by the company are reliable as they follow the standards of quality such as
quality management, quality assurance, and quality control on projects. Quality essentials are
followed by departments involved in planning, documentation, operational activities, production,
and inspection. Procurement department of the company follow specific plans that define
specifications for the materials used for production. If the material is subpar or not asp per
specifications, the procurement department returns its to suppliers. All the procured materials are
inspected by a Quality control Inspector and only after he approved the materials are they stocked
into the warehouse of the company (AMA, 2018).
Product Fee basis
Besides the company incurred costs and the markup added to the products delivered by the
company, the company also charges a fee for providing its designing, consulting and project
management services to its customers on the basis of the expertise, level of complexities, and
human resource involved at work. For instance, in a restaurant unit, the company provides civil
work, MEP work, and wooden work for which the company would have designing, construction, and
commissioning services that would have some fee attached (LEVELSET, 2019).
Results
The results of the assessment of the quality of the products and services of the company show that
the company is able to maintain its quality in most of the parameters as its products and services
stand at good levels on effectiveness, reliability, customer appeal and cost (PMI, 2018).
Discussion
The quality assurance and control processes used by the company can also be assessed in terms of
the Deming and Juran models to understand if they are using the essential processes to manage
quality of the products and services of the company. The company processes have been assessed
from the perspective of these models and it was found that some of the recommended practices in
these models have not been followed by the company. These include use of improvement programs
to continually keep assessing and updating quality management practices for the long term benefit
of the organization and its customers. Also, no measurements have been taken to keep reducing the
project costs. Although the company practice supportive leadership such that the workforce of the
company is motivated to work and do not fear management as well as are provided training needed
to do their jobs well, sufficient support has not been provided to run educational programs for
managers for continuous improvement of their performance in terms of project management
(Hendrickson, 2008).
Conclusion
The project report was prepared to assess a company in terms of its quality management practices.
The quality measurement models were used and an assessment was conducted for the products and
services of the company in terms of their effectiveness, appeal, reliability and cost effectiveness for
customers. It was found that in most of these parameters, the company faired well but when
assessed from the perspective of quality best practice models, it was found that some of the
recommended practices for quality management have not been followed by the company such as
provision of training to works on management, use formal methodology for project management,

and practice of improvement of the products and services in terms of quality. Based on these
assessments, certain recommendations can be made for the management quality in the company
which is done in the next section.
Recommendations
Based on the analysis of the company made in this report, certain recommendations can be made
for the company to keep improving its quality of products and services. These are:
 The company can have processes established for improvement of the quality of its products
and services. While company has processes set for quality assurance and quality control, it
does not have specific programs running for targeting improvement as suggested by Juran
model and this gap can be filled by the company
 Although company has set procedures for everything, they do not have any formalized
methodology used for project management. Thus, it is recommended that the company
follows a methodology which is widely used int eh industry such as PMBOK method9logy for
management of its projects (PMI, 2013).
 The company has programs for training people on the job but there can also be programs
added for educating them on project management and other personal development
capacities. This would enhance the productivity of the workforce not just in terms of
technical capabilities but also the management capabilities which would have a positive
impact on the quality of services of the organization.
References
AMA, 2018. Pipeline Construction Inspection Practices, s.l.: American Gas Association.
BIS, 2010. GUIDELINES FOR MANAGING PROJECTS: How to organise, plan and control projects, s.l.:
BIS.
Futrell, R. T., 2002. Quality Software Project Management, s.l.: Pearson Education India.
Gibbison, D., 2009. How can teambuilding make professional teams in the construction industry
more efficient?, s.l.: University of Pretoria.
Gibling, C., 2013. Construction Process and Post-Construction Impacts of the Palm Jumeirah in Dubai,
United Arab Emirates, s.l.: Memorial University.
Hendrickson, C., 2008. Project Management for Construction, s.l.: Carnedge Mellon University.
LEVELSET, 2019. Common Construction Project Delivery Methods: A Breakdown, s.l.: LEVELSET.
Markgraf, B., 2018. Project Management Techniques in Planning & Controlling Construction Projects,
s.l.: AZ Central.
PMI, 2013. A Guide to Project Management Body of Knowledge, s.l.: PMI.
PMI, 2018. Future of Project Management – 3 Emerging Trends. [Online]
Available at: http://www.projectmanagement.ie/blog/future-of-project-management-3-emerging-
trends
[Accessed 9 February 2019].
SAEO, 2015. Cost Estimating Manual for Projects , s.l.: SAEO.