ETC: Quality Management and Organisational Excellence Report

This report delves into the quality management strategies applicable to Engineering Tooling Company (ETC), a manufacturing firm facing global competition and seeking to improve its brand image and achieve organizational excellence. The report explores the implementation of Total Quality Management (TQM), emphasizing customer focus, employee involvement, process-centered approaches, integrated systems, strategic planning, continuous improvement, fact-based decision-making, and effective communication. It also examines the application of Lean principles, including identifying value, value stream mapping, creating flow, establishing pull, and seeking perfection, to enhance quality control. Furthermore, the report discusses the Just-in-Time (JIT) approach for quality assurance, highlighting its benefits in reducing costs and ensuring the use of fresh, high-quality raw materials. The report provides recommendations for ETC to create a sustainable culture of quality and achieve its goals of organizational excellence and customer satisfaction.

Quality Management
for Organisational
Excellence

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................1
Total Quality Management (TQM).............................................................................................2
Lean principles for quality control..............................................................................................4
Just in Time approach for quality assurance...............................................................................5
Sustainability of the culture of quality in the organisation.........................................................6
Recommendations.......................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Organisational excellence is mainly associated with the continuous and ongoing efforts of
an organisation or company to establish and built an internal framework of efficient process and
standards together with an intent to engage and motivate employees for production and
delivering a product and services that meet and fulfil customers expectation and requirement
(Anil and Satish, 2019). The business environment in which an organisation operates and the
demand and expectation of customers are highly dynamic that has made it necessary for an
organization or firm to have proper quality management measures to remain competent and
successful in randomly chaining business market. The Engineering Tooling Company (ETC) is
founded by an young graduate engineer in the North East area of England during the time period
of early 1960's.
The ETC is mainly associated with manufacturing of engineering scribes, calipers, etc. in
its starting phase and than expanded its business operations which include creation of
micrometers together with a limited range of specialist items. Thus, it become essential for ETC
to emphasis more on high quality material and efficient skills of workforce to produce and
deliver an accurate and long lasting item. Beside this, ETC is also facing a high level of
competition from globalisation together with decline of engineering in North east England
therefore, signed a two year contract with North East Hospital Management Board to improve its
productivity through manufacturing these cutting edge products at a larger scale. In order to get
better recognition for its product at global level it become necessary for ETC to have proper
strategies for quality improvement. Thus, this report consists a description about various
improvement strategy that includes TQM, quality assurance and control measures in orders to
have better sustainable atmosphere and culture of quality in organisation.
MAIN BODY
Quality is basically a representative of certain level of success in fulfilling and meeting
the requirements of customers while creation of a product that implies best experience to
consumer and lead an organisation on top together with accomplishment of target of
organisational excellence (Isaksson, 2019). ETC is manufacturing organisation situated at North
East region of England. This organisation is facing a tough competition due to globalisation and
to get better recognition and brand image at global level it become necessary for ETC to project
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its operations and business process to customers, supplier and investors at a world class level
with proper vision, energy and conscience in order to achieve the target of organisational
excellence and continuous quality improvement (Kuo and Tsai, 2019). To introduce and have a
company-wide quality improvement strategy, ETC must have implication of TQM, quality
assurance and quality control measures to sustain the culture of quality in the organisation.
Total Quality Management (TQM)
TQM is basically a management approach that facilitates long term success of an
organisation through participation of all employees and associated parties to have an efficient
work culture, systems and process to ensure continuous improvement in quality of product to
meet the expectations of customers (WHAT IS TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT (TQM)?,
2020). Use of TQM approach by ETC organisation facilitates a customers oriented process and
ensure that all the allied work and efforts of ETC organisation are towards the common goal of
improving product quality through enhancing production process. The key principles of TQM
approach which should be followed and effectively implemented by ETC for achievement of
objective of company-wide quality improvement are as follows: Customer Focused- The quality of product is ultimately determined and checked by
customers which states the actual level of quality of a product. Thus, in order to have a
continuous improvement in quality the ETC must have a customers focused approach and
all the efforts should made to satisfy and meet the expectation of customers (Martin and
et. al., 2019). For that purpose, use of better integrated quality design process, efficient
technology, advance computer software together with timely employees training and
learning program can be made by ETC to deliver and manufacture a customer focused
product and services to achieve the target of improvement in quality. Total employee involvement- For achievement of target of company wide improvement it
is necessary to ensure involvement and participation of all employees so that their efforts
can be easily directed towards achievement of desired level of quality. For having the
total employees commitment and making them more effective and creative to have
manufacture and produce a quality product with accuracy ETC should provide a proper
workplace environment. To lead better employee commitment and empowerment use of
self managed work team can be made by ETC together with a high performance work
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system to achieve the target of continuous improvement through proper participation and
support of all employees. Process- centered- A process is basically related with series of steps and activities that
are made for procurement of raw material from a suppliers and includes converting and
transforming these raw material into a finished product that are finally delivered to
customers (McAdam, Miller and McSorley, 2019). To ensure the overall quality
improvement ETC require to properly define each and every steps and process to ensure
timely and proper completion of each task. A performance measure should also get
implemented by ETC to continuously monitor these processes and activities in order to
detect and correct unexpected variation in quality. Integrated System- An organisation have different functions and operations but these
functions and systems should be properly connected and integrated with each other to
achieve excellence and foster a good quality culture. ETC should make efforts to properly
integrate its system that should be parallel and align with quality policies, objective and
critical process to ensure better business performance and organisation excellence. Strategic and systematic approach- ETC should have effective planning and
management that includes formulation of plan properly integrated with quality as a core
competent to achieve the organizational mission and goals (Metaxas and Koulouriotis,
2019). Continual improvement- One of the crucial aspect of TQM is continual process
improvement that can be achieved by ETC through motivating its employees for
continuous analysis and evaluation of processes and quality in order to find a more
creative and unique way to become more competitive and effective in meeting
stakeholders and customers expectations and needs. Fact- based decision making- ETC organisations should continually collect and analysis
data and facts before any decision making to ensure an improved, efficient and accurate
decision making on the basis of prediction and learning from past experience which
enhance viability, quality and performance of an organisation.
 Communication- To ensure the proper flow of information about the during day to day
operations and to maintain the moral and efficiency of employees it is necessary for ETC
to have proper communication strategies, methods and timelines. Beside this, effective
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communication also make it easy foe ETC to direct and guide its employees for
achievement of target of company-wide improvement.
Lean principles for quality control
Lean is basically a quality control technique that is used by organisation to identify and
eliminate the flab i.e. dead weight carried process that dose not add any value and hamper overall
companies process (Metaxas, Chatzoglou and Koulouriotis, 2019). Use of lean principle by ETC
organisation facilitates a better way and technique that emphasis focus on customer satisfaction
and cost reduction through identifying and eliminating wasteful processes that result in poorer
quality to customers in terms of wastage of both time and material. The important principles of
Lean that facilitates effective quality control and lead to company-wide quality improvement in
ETC are as follows:
Illustration 1: PRINCIPLES OF LEAN, 2020.
(Source: PRINCIPLES OF LEAN, 2020.) Identify Value- The first phase of lean process or principles is to identify and evaluate
the actual needs and desires of customers. The ETC organisation must keep an eye on its
consumers to determine the all possible factors and features required in a product to meet
consumer expectations (Nasim, Sikander and Tian, X 2020). After identifying the
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customers needs and value, ETC should constantly review its product and services to
evaluate the flaws and gap so that efforts can be made for further quality improvement. Value stream Mapping- It is basically a process of looking into the current business
process to locate and identify the process that are not creating any value for customers.
ETC must look into its prevailing activity and process to eliminate the wasteful and
unnecessary process that facilitates reduction in amount of wastage of inventory and also
shorten the time required for manufacturing a product and lead to a faster delivery of
products for customers of ETC that yield higher level of satisfaction and overall
improvement in quality and operations of ETC. Creating Flow- To have better control over quality of processes and products it is
necessary for ETC to properly understand the current flow of activity to eliminate the
wasteful task (Parvin, 2019). Creating flow principle of Lean ensures an effective value
chain for ETC that is free from all interruption in production process and also facilitates a
coordination in all activities to have better control and improvement in overall quality of
organisation. Establish Pull- This principle of lean dictates that nothing should be created or
manufactured by ETC until the order is made by customers and before the needs and
demands of consumers are fully understood to have better control on manufacturing
process and also facilitates production of a quality and customised product as per the
demands and requirements of customers.
 Seek Perfection- This aspect of lean principal is related with identification of areas of
improvements where effective and meaningful change can be made by ETC to seek most
effective process that brings perfection and greatest value for customers (Rahmati,
2019). This principle of lean facilitates continuous improvement in ETC through
addressing root cause of quality problems and production waste.
Thus, use of lean principles and process by ETC facilitates better control over quality
through tighten the flow of activities and delivering a value product as per the customers needs to
ultimately reach the goal of perfection and organisational excellence.
Just in Time approach for quality assurance
The quality of a product is largely dependent on the raw material and inventory used for
its production thus, to have an assurance about the quality of product and other business process
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it become necessary for ETC to have an effective inventory supply approach. Just in Time is
basically a inventory strategy and method that suggested that a raw material and inventory
should be ordered and received when it is actually need and required for production. This method
of Inventory control is useful for ETC as it helps in reducing the cost as well as also assure the
better quality product through procurement and use of a fresh and quality stock of raw material
(Salim, Sundarakani and Lasrado, 2019). The use of Just in time approach ensure that the raw
material ordered and revived is not obsolete and meet the requirement and criteria of current
trends and expectations of customers. Beside this, Just in time approach of inventory
management keeps warehousing and other stock holding and storing expenses at minimum level
which enhance the profit margin of ETC to achieve its target of organisational excellence.
Just in time approach yield better level of flexibility as the order of inventory is made
after due analysis of current demand and needs of customers which is quite dynamic thus,
making order and procurement of inventory just before the time of production allows signifiant
amount of adaptability with respect to meet the changing customers needs. Further, JIT approach
also facilitates a better control and check over the quality of raw material to ensure improvement
in quality of product manufactured (Shafiq, Lasrado and Hafeez, 2019). To properly adopt and
implement the approach of JIT, ETC needs to have an effective supply chain network to ensure
the free and uninterrupted flow of raw material for the production process. Beside this, an
efficient coordination in employees together with a steady production process is also necessary
for ETC organisation to take and avail advantage of JIT approach for quality assurance and
company-wide improvement.
Sustainability of the culture of quality in the organisation
Culture of quality is mainly associated with an environment at workplace in which all the
employees properly follows the quality guidelines and also consistently focused towards
evaluation of new and better ways for continuous quality improvement (Creating a Culture of
Quality, 2020). Sustainability of the culture of quality in the organisation is mainly associated
with a business approach of creating and leading a long term value for all stakeholders of
company including its customers, employees and other associated parties to develop such
strategies that foster companies longevity. There are various good practises that can be adopted
by ETC to ensure Sustainability of the culture of quality in the organisation which are described
as below:
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Building business belief: ETC should aim at building and developing overall belief of
culture of quality through adopting mission and objective that are directed towards achievement
of overall and company-wide quality improvement (Steel, 2019). ETC should implement and
adopt such business strategies and polices that meet the requirements of all stakeholders without
leading any harm to environment and society.
Focus on excelling in an area and embracing change- To remain sustainable in an
dynamic environment the most important thing for any organisation is having continuous
changes and modification for adoption of some better and efficient ways and technology to get
excellence in production area (Sternad, Krenn and Schmid, 2019). The continuous change and
improvement also lead to a culture of quality in ETC through making all its employees and
workforce more efficient and focused towards better ways of performing a task in order to
achieve the level of excellence in quality of product.
Beside all these practises, ETC can achieve the sustainability of the culture of quality in
the organisation through implication of various quality management and improvement strategy
like TQM, just in time and Lean principles as they facilitates a better control and quality
assurance for achievement of targets of continuous and company-wide improvement in quality
of products and processes to counter and handle the competition at global level. It also facilitates
achievement of target of organisational excellence for ETC through reduction in wastage and
offering a higher quality product to consumers at relatively lower prices to yield maximum
satisfaction for them in order to maintain a sustainability of the culture of quality in the
organisation.
Recommendations
ETC is a manufacturing company which is located at North east region of England and
provides a range of engineering scribes, calipers and other micrometer and specialist item to its
customer. It is facing a high level of competition form the global level thus, intend to gain better
recognition and brand image at international level through achieving continuous quality
improvement in its products and process. Use of Key performance indicator (KPI) framework is
made to evaluate the current performance and efficiency of ETC organisation. Through
comparing actual performance of ETC with desired level of quality it has been evaluated that the
production plant and financial aspects of ETC are well equipped and strong together with a loyal
workforce and corporate leaders (Tenji and Foley, 2019). The only issue faced by ETC is
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associated with high level of competition and decrease in engineering graduates in North East
England. Therefore following recommendations are made for ETC to have a company-wide
quality improvement strategy to meet the objective of organisational excellence at global level:
 Use of TQM approach together with just in time strategy is recommended for ETC to
have a customer focused strategy to properly fulfil the needs and requirements of
customers. Implementation of JIT approach ensures use of better quality and a fresh raw
material for production and manufacturing of finished goods which assure long term
quality of product also reduce the wastage to have better profit margin to achieve the
target of organisational excellence.
 Use of lean practises together with adoption and implementation of lean principles is
also suggested for ETC to reach a level of perfection through proper control over process
and various activities that facilitates a company-wide quality improvement strategy in
the ETC. The defining and identifying value of customers together with mapping of
value stream allows better control and check over wasteful activity of ETC to achieve
the target of perfection and continuous improvement in business activity which
ultimately facilitates organisational excellence to meet the competition at global level.
 To handle the issues of decline in engineering graduates in North East region of England
it is recommanded for ETC company to provide proper training along with learning and
development programmes to enhance the competencies and skills of employees and
workforce. A skilled and well trained employees facilitates better quail product together
with enhanced productivity and more effective business process and operations to
achieve the ultimate goal of company-wide quality improvement together with
organisational excellence to cope up with and face competition at global level. A more
competent, talented and creative workforce lead to production of a better and more
unique product with great accuracy that will provide better recognition and brand image
to ETC at global level.
CONCLUSION
On the basis of above assignment it can be summarised that globalisation has enhanced
the issues of high level of competition for organisation thus, to counter this challenge continuous
and overall improvement in quality has became necessary for an organisation. Use of various
improvement strategies like TQM, just in time, lean principles, etc. are made by company to
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ensure company wide quality improvement and to counter the dynamic demands of customers.
TQM approach put emphasis on customer focused approach and factual decision making which
lead to improvement in quality of product as it meet the expectations and requirements of
customers. JIT approach is mainly associated with flow of inventory and ensure use of better
quality raw material for assurance of quality of end product. At last, it can be concluded that use
of lean practises lead to better quality control through having a continuous check and tightening
the flow of activity to remove and eliminate the wasteful task which ensure offering of quality
product.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Anil, A. P. and Satish, K. P., 2019. Enhancing customer satisfaction through total quality
management practices–an empirical examination. Total Quality Management &
Business Excellence. 30(13-14), pp.1528-1548.
Isaksson, R., 2019. A proposed preliminary maturity grid for assessing sustainability reporting
based on quality management principles. The TQM Journal.
Kuo, T. and Tsai, G.Y., 2019. The effects of employee perceived organisational culture on
performance: the moderating effects of management maturity. Total Quality
Management & Business Excellence. 30(3-4). pp.267-283.
Martin, J., and et. al., 2019. Towards a quality management competence framework: exploring
needed competencies in quality management. Total Quality Management & Business
Excellence, pp.1-20.
McAdam, R., Miller, K. and McSorley, C., 2019. Towards a contingency theory perspective of
quality management in enabling strategic alignment. International Journal of
Production Economics. 207. pp.195-209.
Metaxas, I. N. and Koulouriotis, D. E., 2019. Business excellence measurement: a literature
analysis (1990–2016). Total Quality Management & Business Excellence. 30(11-12).
pp.1189-1218.
Metaxas, I. N., Chatzoglou, P. D. and Koulouriotis, D. E., 2019. Proposing a new modus
operandi for sustainable business excellence: the case of Greek hospitality industry.
Total Quality Management & Business Excellence. 30(5-6). pp.499-524.
Nasim, K., Sikander, A. and Tian, X., 2020. Twenty years of research on total quality
management in Higher Education: A systematic literature review. Higher Education
Quarterly. 74(1). pp.75-97.
Parvin, A., 2019. Leadership and management in quality assurance: insights from the context of
Khulna University, Bangladesh. Higher Education. 77(4). pp.739-756.
Rahmati, M., 2019. Marketing team excellence as a function entrepreneurial orientation, learning
orientation and knowledge sharing: an empirical research in SMEs. International
Journal of Business Excellence. 18(4). pp.488-507.
Salim, T. A., Sundarakani, B. and Lasrado, F., 2019. The relationship between TQM practices
and organisational innovation outcomes. The TQM Journal.
Shafiq, M., Lasrado, F. and Hafeez, K., 2019. The effect of TQM on organisational
performance: empirical evidence from the textile sector of a developing country using
SEM. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence. 30(1-2). pp.31-52.
Steel, R., 2019. Quality Management in Radiotherapy. Practical Radiotherapy: Physics and
Equipment, p.241.
Sternad, D., Krenn, M. and Schmid, S., 2019. Business excellence for SMEs: motives, obstacles,
and size-related adaptations. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence. 30(1-
2). pp.151-168.
Tenji, T. and Foley, A., 2019. Testing the readiness of an organisational culture profile to a
TQM implementation. The TQM Journal.
Online:
Creating a Culture of Quality. 2020. [Online] Available
through:<https://hbr.org/2014/04/creating-a-culture-of-quality>.
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WHAT IS TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT (TQM)?. 2020. [Online] Available
through:<https://asq.org/quality-resources/total-quality-management>.
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