Improving Manufacturing Quality Using Total Quality Management (ME)

This dissertation explores the critical aspects of improving manufacturing quality through the implementation of Total Quality Management (TQM). The research delves into the significance of product quality, aiming to identify the root causes of poor quality management within manufacturing processes. The study reviews academic literature, highlighting equipment instability, human error, and substandard materials as key instigators of quality problems. The project uses a case study of Unite Precision Engineering, a Singapore-based company, to investigate the relationships between quality issues and various influencing factors. The research objectives include exploring the importance of quality management in machining manufacturing, identifying factors impacting product quality, and optimizing quality management strategies to minimize quality losses. The dissertation is structured to provide a comprehensive overview, starting with an introduction, literature review, methodology, data analysis using SPSS, findings, discussions, and conclusions. The goal is to provide insights into how organizations can enhance their manufacturing processes, reduce defects, and improve overall productivity through effective quality management practices. The study also identifies the impact of process variation on product quality and the importance of process control to maintain quality standards. The dissertation concludes with recommendations for Unite Precision Engineering based on the research findings.

Abstract
In today’s world, for the production of superior quality of product for catering to
their customer numerous organizations are seeking various new ways in order
to stay competitive and increase profitability. It is important to produce products,
which are of good quality, and it is also to be ensured that the delivery is on time
as the new technologies present and the demands in the markets of
manufacturing are always on the move.
In this dissertation, understanding the value of quality of products and
identifying the underlying cause is the prime objective of the research, by
reviewing academic literature on the causes for poor quality management, and
according to the study, the most common causes that instigate quality problems
are equipment stability, human error and substandard materials. As a result, in
order to find out the relationships between the qualities rejects, three
hypotheses were identified.

Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Research background
There are several uncertainties related to machining manufacturing business
like fluctuation of market due to ever changing demands of customer,
competitive rivalry, unnatural disasters which are unpredictable and accidents
which cannot be foreseen (Doz & Prahalad, C. K., 2013).
There are several operations and mechanisms, which demands thorough
surveillance relating to the line of production in order to provide superior quality
of output products, that involve business operations. Quality management plays
a very important role in achieving superior quality products in order to improve
the quality system of management.
It is of utmost importance to give attention to the quality where the organization
will possibly benefit from increased regularity, regulation, and dependability. The
products can go out of date in this industry very fast owing to changes in
technologies and demand in the market (Gupta, Smith, & Shalley, 2006).
The activities of collaboration which takes place between monitoring of the
processes performance and planning is termed as Quality Management
(Trkman, 2010).It is a technique of analysis that involves clear-cut outlook to
control a process.
Improvement of the process that aims to improve customer satisfaction is the
main purpose of quality management. The objective of quality management also
involves increase of profitability of an organization by amalgamation of different
facets, which includes skillfulness, paraphernalia, data, strategy and
composition (Jeston & Nelis, 2014).
However, there are many organizations, which lack strong quality management
structure. Increased variation of processes such as Instability of equipment,
miserable conditions of working environments, measurement error in
operations, incoming materials with defects and error from human are the
results of lack of quality management. This result in issues related to quality.

Thus, the author has decided to choose Unite Precision Engineering, which will
conduct an investigation regarding the relationships between quality issues that
are due to the lack of quality management and the significance of the variables.
1.2 Case Study: Unite Precision Engineering
Unite Precision Engineering is a Singapore based private company that
provides precision machine services. They have amassed 15 years of
experience and improved their skills in a variety of precision manufacturing
service that includes milling service and CNC turning with help of the machines
and technology of art.
The company brought many high precision machines from countries like
Germany and Japan. These machines enable them to manufacture complex
parts, which they are different from their rivals in the market as they
specializes on limited volume of production of high accuracy parts which are
served to the industries of semiconductor, aerospace and oil & gas .
They develop new challenging projects along with their customers because of
the strength of having a strong team. They work on complex parts with unique
processing along with their customers and ensure that the delivery is prompt.
In the author’s company, Unite Precision Engineering was one of the numerous
outsourcing vendors. For the last five years, the author has been associated
and worked for the company. Considering their performance in on-time delivery
and quality, they are monitored and measured. Unite has proved their
inconsistency in their quality deliverance, based on the collected historical data.
Thus, to conduct research in quality and management the author find it as an
opportunity to select Unite.
1.2 Objectives of research
The reports aims to bring forward the root causes that results in production of
poor quality products which are a result of insufficient and improper quality
management within the operation of manufacturing.
Operation variation were identified by Unite as the major rejection root cause,
that impacted manufacturing dropped out cause products delivery on time an
issue. In all kinds of industry that relates to manufacturing, variation is always

present as mentioned by number of scholars .There are two classifications of
the concept of variation ,they are controlled and uncontrolled (Hallerbach,
Bauer, & Reichert, 2010).The determination of the products stability is very
important irrespective of whether it is controlled or uncontrolled. In case of
controlled process ,it would be doing its operations normally in a stable and
expected manner with variations that can be controlled ceaselessly (Weidlich,
Mendling, & Weske, 2011).But if the variation in process or process average
changes that would suggest that the variations are taking place which are not in
controlled manner (Florac, Park, & Carleton, 1997). Equipment downtime,
defects and longer cycle time are the result of the process which are not
controlled, it leads to losses in production (Sarfaty, et al., 2002).Thus it has
been realized that uncontrolled variations affect their operations so the
manufacturers endeavors to get rid of all causes of uncontrolled variation. It is
important to interpret the gravity of quality management in manufacturing
industry. There are several writers who have determined and explored the
several variety related to processes which possesses major influence in the
quality of the products which are finally produced as the output in manufacturing
of machine in the context of the company that is selected are the main
objectives of this study.
The research objectives:
1) Exploring the importance of industry related to quality management in
machine manufacturing.
2) Identification of factors, that aids to the impact of influencing quality of
products.
3) Conducting a thorough research about how the company can make
optimized utilization of quality management that would result in minimization
of loss of quality.
Thus, by critically considering and studying the theories that supports the
academic theories on process variation and quality control the three
hypothesis has been identified.
The prime motive is to bring forward the relations, which interlink the issues
related to quality and also the variables, and comprehend and critically
analyze their connection with each other.
1.3 Structure of the report
The paper includes many chapters, which are in sequence. First, it gives a
brief introduction of the research objectives and its concepts, after that it is
followed by literature review, which is present in chapter 2. After critically
analyzing the preexisting academic theories and studies on papers related to

quality management the literature, review of this paper has been provided.
The root causes of how the variations in processes affect the quality of the
final products has been identified after analyzing the theoretical studies
related to this subjects of interest.
The methodologies have been provided in chapter 3, the contents of which
provide description regarding the research aims, design and methods. This
chapter also highlights the drawbacks and considers the issues related to
ethics in the research, which relates to the appraisement of the paper.
Questionnaires have also been provided which are the sources of data
collected, it used the SPSS statistical method incorporated with Cronbach’s
alpha reliability test mentioned in chapter 4. By using the quantitative
method scrutiny of the results has to be done by providing survey
questionnaires. It will be simpler and evident to identify whether the
hypothesis are supporting or not from the results and it will also be
determined from the Cronbatch’s alpha reliability test whether the variables
are consistent and reliable. The chapter following will provide the findings
and discussions that have been evaluated from the results from hypothesis
test and research methods in perspective of the research aims. a conclusion
would be provided after critical analysis of findings and discussions and it
will determine the positivity or adversity of the research objectives in the
chapter 6.

Chapter 2: Literature review
2.1 Introduction of quality management
Creation and following of policies and procedures in order to maintain defined needs
of the final products that are supposed to be met from a perspective of customer, is
included in Quality management. Customer satisfaction quality is one of the
perspectives of quality management, it includes meeting of expectations and
requirements of the customers and stakeholders, which leads to the creation of
products that satisfies the needs and is ideal for intended use. Secondly, planning to
design and building of products and process from the inception leads to prevention
of defects and quality escapes. Thirdly, to ensure the success of quality efforts both
the company culture and management responsibility needs to be in place, financial
resources needed for quality efforts needs to be supported by the organizational
management. Lastly, ongoing PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Act) cycle to ascertain the
success of quality management in an organization is responsible for quality
improvement and continuous improvement.
2.2 Quality challenges in manufacturing industry
The major challenge and drivers for quality improvement has always been the quality
issues. Due to globalization, increasing costs, the industry has been very competitive
and there is a dire need for advancement of technology. Reduction of lead time of
manufacturing ,lower defects that leads to the enhancement of overall operational
performance have been contributed by quality which is deemed as a strategic factor
(Dhafr, Ahmad, Burgess, & Canagassababa, 2006). Lean manufacturing, six sigma,
just-in-time manufacturing and many others concepts have been deployed by many
organizations, this methods and concepts aims to achieve equality improvements in

their products and services. Quality has been deemed as the performance indicator
by many organizations and realized that by producing superior quality products and
services, higher revenue and customer trust can be gained (Ghobadian, Speller, &
Jones, 1994). Thus for improving processes and operations quality control and
management are essential. Serious problems and issues related to quality in the
processes can arise if there is a lack of quality control, it would cause defects which
leads to debts (Bettayeb, Bassetto, Vialletelle, & Tollenaere, 2012).
According to Yusof and Aspinwall (2000), for the improvement of the quality of the
products and also the services provided for enhancing the performance of operations
of the entire business, it is necessary to follow extensive and methodized accession
of management. Past developed processes and equipments are usually focused in
quality management (Fotopoulos &Psomas, 2009). The main objective of quality
management is to get accomplish things maintain lower cost at the same time
greater productivity this would improve the market share and also improve
motivation of employee and bring about customer satisfaction, leading to gaining of
better reputation(Brah, Wong, & Rao, 2000).
The process control is utilized for emphasizing on the stoppage of the system, which
gives the opportunity to the employees to comply with the standards. For the
detection of the causes which results in the variations has been highlighted and
emphasized by it. For making sure that by using the input of the management the
output produced is same and persistent, process control is used, irrespective of the
number of times of its repetition (Fisher & Mark, 1995).
The potent change that takes place after inspecting the results of the operations is
determined by process control (Wang, Adamson, Holm, & Moore, 2012). There

should be some changes that are done to amend the situation .It is also meant to
set all the operations under control when the device made for monitoring of
processes identify a situation, which has gone out of control (Shardt, et al., 2012). It
is alos important to make sure that when in steady mode, the process is amenable
and functioning at a satisfying level in normal deviation , it also falls under the
purpose of process control (Åström & Wittenmark, 2013). Thus it can be said, that
process control is a device, which enables all the organization to work and perform
their operations following all the guidelines and criterion and brings about maximum
dividends and at the same time it ensures quality and dependency by establishment
of many defined borders (Wightman, 2013). The aims of process control is shifting
process of changes which are in environmental and economical way to obtain
positive fruition and enhancement of quality of products (Ge & Song, 2010).
Factors of analytics involved in techniques of manufacturing sector include process
controlling and monitoring (Stavropoulos, Chantzis, Doukas,
Papacharalampopoulos, & Chryssolouris, 2013). Intensification of yield and up
gradation of quality of products are the are the two issues which are faced in the
manufacturing sector operation (Ge & Song, 2010). Identification of irregularities in
process and investigation of the underlying reasons of the deformities for the
embellishment of operation process are the primary motive of control of process in
manufacturing and invigilation (Qin, 2012). In order to satisfy all the benefits of the
company that includes safety, yield and other many processes must function at a
constant state and conditions of equilibrium (Seborg, Mellichamp, Edgar, & Doyle III,
2010). Processes might not continuously remain stagnant under these conditions in
many real-life situations (Pudelko & Mendenhall, 2009) and as a result of these
changes many organization may incur a loss (Aytug, Lawley, McKay, Mohan, &

Uzsoy, 2005). Citing an instance, when the system is losing stability, in simple words
variables associated in a process changes from its limits in a span of time and the
process can stray from the demanded specification (Edgar, et al., 2000). If one of the
process encounters a failure it requires reworking considering that there are many
processes involved in manufacturing, it includes machining, heat treatment, or
plating. Longer lead-time, incurring of unnecessary costs and bad reputation are the
result of Process variations, when customers stop production line. It is expected by
customers that they will be receiving products with zero defect from the
manufacturer; therefore, it is necessary to continue to improve and enhance quality
initiatives and improvements.
2.2.1 Variable factors contributing to quality issues
The quality issues are contributed by several factors (Figure 2.1). There are several
factors which may lead to major debts due to the losses in production and rework for
manufacturer like improper maintenance of equipments and not providing required
resources for the maintenance of the equipments (Sinkkonen, Marttonen, Tynninen,
& Kärri, 2013). Glithches and issues realted to quality of products are the result of
poor maintenance of equipment (Muchiri & Pintelon, 2008). Production interruptions
and increase lead-time can be triggered by sudden equipment downtime will lead to
(Faria, Nunes, & Matos, 2010). Measurement errors can result from tools that are
obsolete and distractions (Kang, Kim, Lee, Doh, & Cho, 2011).
The other generalized factor resulting from changes in process that leads to quality
issues is raw material which are below standards .It is inevitable that it will lead to
production of products which are of inferior quality by using substandard raw
materials and there is a high chance of procurement of loss of yield (Brintrup,

Roberts, & Astle, 2008). Thus, for the purchase of superior quality raw materials from
reliable suppliers , monitoring and control procedures are required (Yu & Tsai, 2008).
The processes are run by themselves by the employees like engineers and
manufacturing specialists who always handle the equipment. However often it
has been noted that , mishandle of the equipment and wrong use methods in
the processes are done by them due to use of process which are inappropriate
(Liu & Hwang, 2009). According to Macher and Mowery (2009), structural
processes develops high competition whereby know-how skills and knowledge
are emanated. After gathering experience and developing familiarity working
approaches which are as per standard are built due to constant recurring of
tasks, which are, related (Argote, 2012). Process of knowledge articulation
defines what the companies provides information to their employess working
and enlist the proceedings when the task is being executed (Levinthal & March,
1993).
2.2.2 Equipment stability
In manufacturing, the stability of the tools is of utmost importance. It can lead to
major yield and production losses without equipment robustness and flexibility,
(Munga, Dauzère-Pérès, Vialletelle, & Yugma, 2011). According to Wireman
(1990) ,There were many factors that negatively impacted the overall
operational performance, it includes glitches in the partnership of practices of
maintenance and enhancement of quality improvement in the past. Reduction of
number of products and regularity of devices resulted in rapid curtailment of
abilities of manufacturing ,tools were hard to access owing to degradation of
quality of products and it lead to irregular performance of delivery (Ahuja &
Khamba, 2008). Manufacturers have to work hard for maintaining quality of
products and the same time curtail the cost of production so that it can maintain
competitions with the rivals in the market. It is noted that industrial changes and
construct process control structure are created from analyzing the knowledge
gained from control system in order to reduce time span and the quality of the
products (Qin, Cherry, Good, Wang, & Harrison, 2006).
Well structured and widened approaches that uses various devices and

methods for accomplishment of demanded operations and tools by collaborating
procedures of a organization to maintain already present plant and devices to a
elevated productive height are collectively called Total productive maintenance
(TPM) (Ng, Goh, & Eze, 2011). TPM has been proved to be useful to have a n
edge in competitive market and it has been used as tool to provide enhance
maintenance and it is being used by many manufacturers. (Harsej & Yusof,
2011). TPM promotes measures to improve and enhance performance in
manufacturing (Ahuja & Khamba, 2008).
Thus it is essential for companies to achieve higher Overall Equipment
Effectiveness (OEE) for the improvement of production and reduction of
equipment scheduled and unscheduled downtime (Makita, Hirai, & Kodama,
2003). Seiichi Nakajima (1988) developed OEE which is the best practice of
metrics to comprehend and calculate how the utilization of factors that are
contributing (Iannone & Nenni, 2013). The quality and performance
(Ngadiman, Hussin, & Abdul Majid, 2013) are the contributing factors are being
referred to. Exploitation of the equipment use is the primary objective of
practicing OEE (Introna, Giuiusa, & Cesarotti, 2013). It is expected that the
equipment will produce superior products and at good rate for the time limit if
at all it is possible. Scrutinizing and managing the performance or time loss of
equipment in semiconductor manufacturing industry is done by using OEE (Ng,
Goh, & Eze, 2011).
There can be stark increase in resource consumption if there are instabilities
present so it is necessary to measure those instabilities that takes place during
production (Dal, Tugwell, & Greatbanks, 2000). According to ,Seiichi Nakajima
(1988) there are primarily 6 losses \if tools are not maintained and controlled
that facilitates instabilities during the manufacturing process. First of all,
breakdown of equipment leads to both time loss and quantity loss because
due to it the output is reduced and due to the defects in the final products it
leads to quantity losses. Furthermore, adjustment time losses occur due to
equipment downtime and defective products. Idling losses arises when there is
a disruption. When there is a differences between proposed speed and actual
speed it results in the fourth loss, which refers to speed reduction losses that

incur. The fifth loss relates to losses of yield, and the sixth loss refers to losses
that are due to the quality defects and rework caused due to faulty equipment.
With further description it can be said , availability of equipment and time and
adjustment losses are related, while the efficiency of the equipment is
determined by idling and speed reduction losses. Quality of the product is
related to yield and rework losses (Seiichi, 1988).
Types of maintenance
Breakdown maintenance
Preventive maintenance
Corrective prevention
Maintenance prevention
Figure 2.2
Manufacturing industry commonly uses several types of maintenance (Figure
2.2) (Mad Lazim & Ramayah, 2010). Only when the equipment is down
Breakdown maintenance is indicated, then its repairing is initiated. Devices that
do not mastly influence the line of production and results in severe losses , this
maintenance method could work on (Rosqvist, Laakso, & Reunanen, 2009).
Procesees that involves daily monitoring for maintaining bthe halth and
extending the service life of the tools is known, as Preventive maintenance,
commonly known as PM, is (Aghezzaf & Najid, 2008). On the other hand,
occurrences of repair which are providing beyond requirement results in higher
chances of failures in maintenance,which could be denoted by the set
downtime intervals (Heng, Zhang, Tan, & Mathew, 2009). The most favorable
practice for equipment maintenance in semiconductor manufacturing is
predictive maintenance as it has evolved tremendously in recent years (Tan &
Raghavan, 2008). The prediction of the equipment’s service life based on data
evaluation is the primary focus of this method (Pampuri, Schirru, De Luca, & De
Nicola, 2011). Using a online monitoring system the degardation of tools can be
assessed and comprehended, it partners closely with preventive maintenance
to observe condition of tools, and then design a better-improved preventive
maintenance to design maintenance activities for the system (Liao, Pan, & Xi,

2010). Corrective maintenance is used in order for PM to be carried out
consistently to redesign and enhance the equipment and its mechanisms.
However, according to Tan and Raghavan (2008), unpredictable, high cost and
long-consuming downtimes relates to corrective maintenance resulting in low
availability and increased losses in production. Newly designed tools only uses
maintenance prevention by evaluating the weakness of the tools to prevent
failure and defects before officially assigning the tools into the production line
(Ahuja & Khamba, 2008).
To summarize, the manufacturing process can be affected negatively by impact
of equipment variation can and cause business failure. Hence, the most critical
factors in improving organizational business processes to assure good quality
product is equipment stability.
2.2.3 Human error resulting quality issues
Much human and machine collaboration is needed so machining manufacturing
is deemed as a complicated business. Thus, Mishandling substandard products
and equipment failures resulting from human errors can become appallingly
frequent trend in this industry. To create substantial improvement in operations
modern concepts and practices of quality management such as Lean and Six
Sigma are recognized (Näslund, 2008). However, for problems caused by
human error or negligence, these practices are unable to tackle serious quality
frequently. Poor quality of products also results due to human errors
(Woods ,2010). In today’s world, prevention of mistake is best solution for
human error from becoming failure . Unfortunately, the errors due to human
errors are generally not given importance by the manufacturers as they mainly
intends to earn more revenues and make more profits (Lee & Ruy, 2011).
Human error made by technicians and operators is a frequent activity in this
industry. Quality excursion, increased scrap events, and failure of meet
customer expectation are the result of these human errors (Eng, Sani, & Yu,
2006). The possibly cause of failure or difficulties for other users in later
processes are mistakes by operators during production or assembly that that
not only reduce the quality of the output but also waste more resources in
correcting them (Park, 2014). In addition, one of the contributing factors to

human error is engineers’ wrong judgments.
According to Reason (1990), a procession of intentional actions that is referred by
human error fail to accomplish its anticipated outcome mainly because the actions
did not go as expected or the strategy itself was not perfect. According to
Hollnagel (2004), error has three categories: an action which had been carried
out wrongly, error referring to obvious significances of inappropriate action, and
thirdly, error referring to the abstract triggered because of wrong action.
Production failures, equipment deterioration are the result of human error for past
few decades, and it causes major quality excursions (Chen-Wing & Davey, 1998).
Manufacturers started to give importance to various approaches for the prevention
of constraints resulting due to the human error in order to improve the safety and
operation. One of the factor that results in error by human are lack of proper
knowledge and training which are supposed to be provided by the manufacturers
to their operators and technicians.
Draper (Draper, 2000) reported that there are four classifications of human error:
slips, lapses, rule based and knowledge based mistakes. There are Slips which
are often referred to faulty conduct, there are also breaches which are due to
overseeing and memory losses. For the activity, mistakes, which are based on
guidelines, is not correct and the glitches, which are occurred when a new idea is
emerged, is referred by knowledge-based.
In majority of cases, human errors results in mishandling of equipment. In the
manufacturing industry the most common issue are the errors made by operators
and technicians (Nishi & Doering, 2000). Situation of losses in production,
degradation of quality ,reworks and inability to deliver products on time are
caused by Human error during production (Paz Barroso & Wilson, 1999).
For guiding the operators in operating equipment and application of proper
techniques during handling of the materials is of utmost importance (Gaboury,
Ottolini, Spanu, Chaix, & Philippon, 2013). If proper training is provided to the
operator it will lead to mishandle of products by them. Therefore, the instructions
specifically for operation should be indicated by SOP and it is considered as
appropriate method. The operators need to supervise properly and operate with

lot of skills , accurately pinpointing the irregular conditions and respond
appropriately. In addition to that, operators are fully aware on proper handling of
equipment and materials should be ensured by sufficient training. However,
human related issues can still happen even after lot of endeavor is given to
prevent this error as they are difficult to quantify and no proper remedy is there for
this problem (Eng, Sani, & Yu, 2006).
Additionally, Human error like stress, recurrence, exhaustion and environment can
be instigated by some other factors (Yeow, Ng, Tan, Chin, & Lim, 2014). When
there is a lot of work pressure the workers feel stressed and they are not able to
perform their work efficiently (Eng, Sani, & Yu, 2006). Ambiguity and distractions
can caused by stress, and even worse, it can divert their concentration and they
are are in a situation of panic (Wegner, 1988). When they are compelled to carry
out their tasks quicker, operators who does same task again and again can make
errors (Armstrong, Punnett, &Ketner , 1989). Fatigue is alos a factor that needs to
be considered which leads to errors by humans (Wang & Zhao, 2010) and it
leads to degradation of quality of products (Sarter & Amalberti, 2000).
Therefore, manufacturers make use of methods which are financially and time-in
feasible in order to curtail human errors . use of manual data is cutailed and
auitomatic readers are utilized in order to overcome human errors (Landzberg,
1993). Before giving input of the data into the system, all then station sof
procceeses uses employee ID for the purpoe of identification. This is for the
identification of who is responsible in case of there be any error made. In some
cases, further damage to the materials can be avoided if mistakes are detected
earlier and more training is provided to operator .It is necessary to implement
proper techniques and procedures for a well organized systems as data
compilation is not accessible all the time. To help the operators to reduce
mistakes a mistake proofing system called Poka-yoke system is used by
manufacturers that has been taken from Shigeo Shingo for reduction of products
with defects there is a mistake (Ismail, Ghani, Ab Rahman, Deros, & Haron,
2014).
Even after using various methods and technique it is not possible to eliminate
human errors completely, but measures can be taken so that this mistakes are

highlighted and does not lead to debts and fatigue.
2.2.4 Substandard materials
The manufacturers always looks to curtail their cost of production and also tries to
enhance the quality by using different new technologies in manufacturing (Wu,
2013). Careful creation of the quality of the product from the beginning to the end
is the only way to manage the risk of inferior quality. They are produced when the
products produced finally are not up to the mark and ,there is always a rework. If
there is less, rework and would reduce unnecessary costing and if the products
are of superior quality the costs are bound to reduce. During the production
process it is necessary to enhance quality of products and improve the
performance of operations this would increase the productivity (Chowdary, 2011).
In determining the final product, quality and improving performances raw materials
are likewise important (DeGarmo, Black, & Kohser, 2011); therefore
manufacturers tend to seek for materials with their reliable suppliers.
Reliable sources are responsible for purity and quality of raw materials (Dey,
Bhattacharya, & Ho, 2014). It is unlikely to produce standard products if
manufacturers use sub-standard materials (Sood, Das, & Pecht, 2011). Secodly,
the quality may deteriorate over a period of time so some raw materials require
appropriate storage conditions (Zhang &Hu , 2012). The quality may not be stable
for long without proper storage conditions.
However, there may be a circumstance when there is distraction sdfue to glitches
in products in line of production and the organizations miss out on checking the
quality of raw materials which are provided by the suppliers (Tse & Tan, 2011).
Through quality control defects can be eliminated or curtailed, and then the cost of
production will decrease because reduction of waste. Before inferior materials are
hitting production if incoming quality control is not properly conducted, it may
results in problems related to quality of the products and which triggers reworks
ultimately results in producing scraps (Kim & Gershwin, 2008). By rework it is
meant more cost and longer cycle time (van der Meulen, 2007), and by material
scrapped it is meant it will results in more debts and damages though doing
reworks are beneficial to cost. If raw material control is in place, all these losses
can be averted.

One of the critical factors to ensure delivery of superior quality products is good
quality raw material (Coyne, 1986). The quality of the final products can
absolutely be affected by the physical properties of raw materials (Linton &
Walsh, 2008). For example in different processes, chemicals are widely used. In a
critical process operation which involves heat treatment or plating, it leads to high
chances of having high defects in the final product or yield loss due to rework
conducted to rectify the issues if substandard raw materials were used. Therefore,
to ensure that right quality materials were received incoming inspection is very
important (Guan, Shui, & Chang, 2013). If the required specification does not
match, warehouse personnel must reject incoming materials. To check on the
chemical lifetime and expiry inventory check should be conducted regularly
because expiry chemical can leads to defects. The suppliers should be well aware
of the requirements and specifications required for the chemicals and it alos
requires regular monitoring by the chemist in order to maintain all the properties of
the chemicals.
2.2.5 Effectively quality management
According to ,Shi and Zhou (2009) ,in manufacturing in every stage it is
necessary to maintain yhe quality control as it has to go through many stagers in
order to reach the final output products . But due to the problems associated with
the various stages all through the process it is very tricky and difficult to collect
glitches in process. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to establish interfaces
between process errors with the aims of improving quality and minimize quality
loss, and the final product’s quality in the management system (Shi & Zhou,
2009). It is necessary to implement proper quality management in order to curtail
the losses in production considering the always changing technologies and
ambiguity related to products and the processes (Ahuja & Khamba, 2008). Many
of the manufacturers are compelled to make assessment of risks in order to
assure their customers about their potencies and their ability in production of
superior quality products (Bettayeb, Bassetto, Vialletelle, & Tollenaere, 2012).

Chapter 3: Methodology
3.1 Introduction
This chapter is aimed to determine and provide justification regarding various
research methods that were chosen for the aim of this study. The research is
provided with designed survey questionnaires that have been distributed to 100
employees of the company taken in the case study. Finally, to achieve a deep
understanding of quality management within the company the data collected will
be computed for analysis of the company.
3.2 Research purpose
In the introduction in chapter 1, the research problem of this dissertation was
expressed which is to identify the root causes that produce poor quality products
that occurs due to the improper or insufficient quality management within the
manufacturing operation. Setting of the path for carrying the explanatory plan to
allow people to understand the generic idea of the research is the purpose of the
research. Studying of a situation or a problem in order to explain the relationship
between the variables is the focus of this research (Saunder et al. 2009).
Determining of cause-and-effect relationship is the main concern of this research.
For development of precise theory that can be used to explain the phenomena
exploratory research is very important, it leads to the generalization from the
research.
From the conceptual framework, the contents in the survey questionnaire were
critically considered and designed (Figure 3.1), in order to carry out this research
and to investigate the following objectives which are related to quality
management within the company.
 Determination of quality management is a critical factor in the company.
 For the improvement of productivity and reduction of process variations
company believes that effective quality management is essential.
 Determination of the cause of quality issues and defects within the company,

which are due to process variation.
 Determination of equipment stability, which is directly related to product
quality and consistency, is very important .
 Determination of human error during the production processes that
contributes a variety of defects to the products is also an objective.
 Determination of substandard incoming materials which can cause irregular
processes and defects to the products is also deemed as an objective of this
research .
Conceptual Framework of Poor Quality Management Figure 3.1
Therefore, with various key statements survey questionnaire is carefully
designed that strongly correlates to the objectives mentioned above.
The hypothesis are three in number which determines that they are correlated
and are the primary contributing factors to quality management which are poor.
Relationships between:
Hypothesis 1: Quality of products and stability of equipment.
Hypothesis 2: Defects due to Human error to the outputs.
Hypothesis 3: Defects due to substandard materials to the outputs

3.3 Research approach
3.3.1 Inductive versus Deductive
There is vast difference between inductive and deductive approaches to
research. While deductive approach is aimed and testing theory, an inductive
approach is aimed to generate new theories, which emerge from the data. A
hypothesis is present in the beginning of the deductive approach , on the other
hand an inductive approach uses research questions in order to narrow the
scope of the study. The emphasis is generally on causality for for deductive
approaches, on the other hand for inductive approaches the objective is to focus
on exploring new phenomena or to look at previously researched phenomena
from other perspective. Qualitative research is conducted in case of Inductive
approaches , whilst quantitative research are deductive approaches are more
commonly associated with deductive approaches . (Saunder et al. 2009)
Based on the existing theory this research problem was formulated, with the
intention of building a more substantial knowledge around the framework,
therefore, for this case study a deductive approach has been chosen.
3.3.2 Qualitative versus Quantitative
Quantitative and qualitative are the 2 major research methods. Each method is
different considering the way by which the data is collected and analyzed. the
data collection techniques and data analysis procedure that generate or use
numerical data accounts the quantitative method of data collection . In contrast,
data collection techniques and analysis procedure that generate or use non-
numerical data accounts for the qualitative method (Saunders et al. 2009). For
the determination of which method is more appropriate, the research problems
and purposes are very important .
For quantitative study, the ability to develop proper hypotheses and testing them
with proper statistical technique are the vital skill needed for the researcher and
it involves interpretation of statistical information into descriptive information

(Blaikie, 2003). It is preferable to use a large sample and from the finding, it
should be possible to generalize. (Collis & Hussey, 2013).
In this study, with the use of surveys, questionnaires and statistics are more
reliability and representativeness quantitative method is more preferred over
qualitative method, in comparison to qualitative method. During examination of
the research problems, the quantitative research played an important role by
connecting the various factors to the hypotheses with quantified numerically
that reaches a deeper understanding for this deductive research.
On the other hand, the research strategy that mainly aims to focus on words
rather than quantitative value is known as qualitative research strategy
(Bryman, 2008) .It is also used a term that helps to comprehend the attitude and
psychology of people about their interpretation of the social world (Sandelowski,
2004). Thus, it may not fully prove the relationship between various factors and
the hypothesis it is not a suitable choice, to get an overview of the company as
a whole.
3.3.3 Primary data versus Secondary data.
The summation of initial data collected for the particular exploration purpose by
the researcher is known as primary research (Hox & Boeije, 2005). The
researcher has conducted primary data research by collecting primary data or
done secondary research from secondary from the works of other researchers,
which are then secondary source of data. A well organized questionnaires is
more reliable so primarily primary data has been collected and primary
approach has been conducted for this research (Easterby-Smith, Thorpe, &
Jackson, 2012) .It also plays a role in deciding whom to participate in the
research (Hox & Boeije, 2005). Several approaches such as questionnaires,
surveys and interviews can be undertaken for primary research. Primary data
collection technique widely used in academic research as primary data can be
used for both qualitative and quantitative researches (Punch, 2013). For
developing the research strategy papers and printing materials were used so it
took lot of time before presenting the questions to the respondents. (Ghauri &
Gronhaug, 2005). Lastly, people who are the respondents may give late replies
and may prefer not to respond.

Since there are difficulties and limitation in locating reliable data, secondary data
research is not ideal for this research .By secondary data it is referred to the
group of data that are collected from researches of other individuals (Wilson,
2014)., It is a challenge to determine the consistency of data because it is difficult
to figure out the source of the original data.
3.4 Data Collection Methods
Through questionnaire, data are collected to gain statistical information. For
collection of reliable data questionnaire can be very effective and it allows positive
analysis to be conducted (Roberts, 2010). Employees that are presently working in
the company are provided with the questionnaires. Through hard copies and
emails it was disseminated and circulated. According to Lewis, Thornhill and
Saunders (2007), the data will be more reliable if more respondents to take part in
the analysis which is a presumption. The total numbers of respondents were 100
and the questionnaires were distributed in every department of the organization.
The questionnaires were provided to all level of the department from mangers to
operators . There are three classification of hierarchy level: ground level, middle
management and top management. Lastly ,it can be concluded that in order to
gather different views it is of utmost importance to make sure that different types
of respondents are taking part in the research (Walliman, 2010).
Various calculations and data of figures were taken from the questionnaires which
were further analyzed and are included in the quantitative research (Sandelowski,
2000). Information that cannot be measured or quantified is referred by Qualitative
data (Silverman, 2010).
3.5 Sampling
Probability sampling will be used to conduct this research. With the use of
random sampling techniques, the participants of the survey were chosen on a
probability basis, to create a sample. The name list of all the 200 employees in
the company was obtained by the researcher and all the subjects were
assigned a number and then a random number generator was used to choose
random numbers with a sampling size consisting of 100 participants. Gathering
bof information is the main objective from the members of the whole interested
population, instead of the non-probability sampling, which can be highly biased

(Cooper and Schindler, 2008) as the result may show ambiguity and doesn’t
represent entire population (Saunders et al. 2009).
3.6 Survey
For a researcher who is interested in collecting the original date the survey is
usually the preferred research strategy to describe a population that is too large to
observe directly. For both descriptive and exploratory research this strategy is
mainly used . It is generally associated with deductive research approach. The
data are gathered by questionnaire and are typically quantitative .
It is expected that the questionnaire must be clear and concise which should
cover the research topic being studied and relate to the various factors linking
to the hypothesis. The comparison of two or more phenomena is done in a
research survey which is a structure of causal questions, and it determination
of existence of a relationship.
A group of respondents whose characteristics may be taken to reflect those of
the larger population is provided by Probability sampling , and it also gives
standardized questionnaires to provide data in the same form from all
respondents (Babbie, 2004). After the collection of data , it will be analyzed and
lastly conclusions are made.
3.7 Data analysis section
After critical analysis and completion of literature review Likert scale
questionnaire will be designed and conducted. For determination of how
strongly the respondents agree to a specific statement Likert scale
questionnaire was chosen in this report. The respondent’s attitude towards the
certain issue was also assessed by the designed statements. The
questionnaires will be distributed to 100 employees of the company who are
presently working. To determine what are the contributing factors to the quality
issues in the manufacturing operations quantitative data collected from the
questionnaires will be used. The questionnaire will then be analyzed and
authenticated which used SPSS methods that was taken from the Cronbach
alpha reliability coefficient. To seek comments and suggestions a design of
open ended question was provided.

For determination of the statements in this questionnaire, which are reliable and
consistent Cronbach’s alpha, was chosen in this research. Complete reliability
coefficient for these variables are provided by Cronbach’s alpha . For analysis
on the consistency reliability of the results, Cronbach’s Alpha was used. It is
realized that decent reliability of the variables in the measure is portrayed by the
high rate from Cronbach’s Alpha (Gliem & Gliem, 2003). All the variables are
divided into four groups that include effective process management, equipment
stability, human error and substandard materials by the researcher.
Data, which are collected from employees in the company, can be used to
generate hypotheses accurately based on the results of information collected
about different variables so the questionnaire was chosen for the research.
3.8 Ethical considerations
The research has been conducted without having any negative impact to any
individuals (Aguinis & Henle, 2002). According to Resnik (2010), in order to have
a thorough understanding of conduct the ethics are considered. In the Research
Ethics Guidebook (2015), importance to consider and justify clearly the questions
asked are highlighted, as they are necessary even though they can be insensitive.
Consents for their participation are given by the respondents who takes part in the
research and in another words; they are responsible for taking judicious decision
considering all the relevant information are provided (Cameron & Price, 2009).
According to Northumbria University, completion of appropriate confidentiality
report is essential, it will be allowed and it is required to be submitted together with
the research report if there is requirement for the confidentiality of data provided
by the participating organization. Therefore, University guidelines need to be
complied for conducting research within the chosen organization by the
researcher.
3.9 Research limitations
It is identified that there are some limitations even though all the factors were
critically considered and analyzed for the collection of data. Some of the
respondents were not able to express their opinions properly as a result there
were limited answers particularly in Likert scale questionnaires .Hence, they may

not respond to all the questions , which may lead to inconsistency. There may be
complaining from respondents that the questionnaires were too lengthy or too
brief. Conduction of this technique which involved distribution of questionnaire to
the respondents and also waiting for them to respond is also time-consuming too.
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