UM TAGUM COLLEGE

MABINI STREET, TAGUM CITY 8100

In Partial Fulfilment
of the
Requirements
in

HR 411
(Total Quality Management)

REFLECTIVE ESSAYS
On the book of
TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT
By: Subburaj Ramasamy

Submitted By:
Joseph G. Castro

Submitted To:
Prof. Junaris R. Bestil MM

May 25, 2015

REFLECTIVE ESSAY ON
Chapter 1 TQM Evolution 1 of 2

I was amazed when I have heard the acronym TQM that stands

for Total Quality Management, especially when I have learned that it was

adapted from Japanese-style management approach to quality improvement.

I can’t imagine before that Japan has surpasses its expertise with regards to

quality compare to the huge, rich, and powerful nations like US, Russia,

Germany, China, and mostly of the European countries. But of course, the

pride of Americans quality guru Edwards W. Deming who even though not as

successful in his own nation before, perhaps help Japan to be the number

one in quality globally and makes him famous when it was already been

established in Japan.

One of my favourite topics was the different dimensions of

quality, where I have learned how to react with the other people regarding my

own standards, how to examine closely different types of products especially

on quality through their functionality, reliability, usability, maintainability,

efficiency, and some points in portability. I can now differentiate the different

types of services I would like to set on my own standards especially with

regards to delivery, timeliness, aesthetics of products and services. I also

have an idea why there are products which was especially made for the

purpose of regulatory requirements, requirements of the society such as Halal

foods, and of course products that should be in conformance with the stated

and implied requirements.

REFLECTIVE ESSAY ON
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Chapter 1 TQM Evolution 2 of 2

I also have learned about the distinctions between QC from QA,

were the QC or Quality Control are operational techniques and activities. QC

performs what the QA or Quality Assurance planned and implemented within

the quality system.

I have also instilled in my mind that it is very important to note

that quality gurus have great contributions in our quality management

nowadays, like Dr. Shewhart with his PDCA, SQC, and AQL; Deming with his

modified PDCA to PDSA cycle; Juran’s “fitness for use”, 14 points for top

management, trilogy, and optimum quality cost; Crosby for his Four Absolutes

of Quality; Feigenbaum’s cycle time reduction methodology; and Ishikawa’s

cause and effect diagram. These, significantly give me an intangible lectures

to use soon in my field of expertise. I can now contribute to the organization

that I belong the ideas and knowledge in quality management, quality

improvement, and in some cases I may contribute to the organization

establish their strategic plans and goals through the knowledge I have

acquired from these quality gurus.

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 REFLECTIVE ESSAY ON
Chapter 2 Quality Cost 1 of 2

As all I’ve known, TQM evolved to satisfy the customer’s

expectations, thus, every organization must see to it that it provides products

and services the best quality. Organization exist because their purpose is to

have a return of investment whether direct or indirect investment.

So, in this chapter I have learned that through putting quality on

cost to be cost-effective, an organization must have a Total Quality

Management because TQM aims at gradual reduction of wasteful expenditure

and to the extent of eliminating these unnecessary costs.

The quality cost have three important types; Preventive Cost,

Appraisal Cost, and Failure Cost. Among the three types, I have learned that

it is better to prevent than cure, hence preventive cost should be in the

highest level among the three types. Appraisal cost must only be a

supplementary for the preventive cost, because we cannot really ensure that

there are no defects during the process, transportation handling and upon

receiving the supplies needed, so there are inspection to be done. There are

also Failure cost with two types internal and external failure cost; internal

failure cost are those materials rejected, scraps, and overtime due to

defective products, while external cost are cost due to failure of the products

after they have been delivered and returned by customers. When customers

return a product, it is expected that there is a loss of loyalty and confidence by

the customer to your products, we also call it hidden cost.

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 REFLECTIVE ESSAY ON
Chapter 2 Quality Cost 2 of 2

By knowing all these, we may be able to find out solutions in

eliminating these, not drastically but gradually until we totally eliminate them.

I also have familiarized the kinds of cost under the three types

as to how we compute the total cost of quality in general, and how to

determine which cost should be eliminated and what cost should be

perpetuated. Even if it is only cost a centavo, it will really constitute lost when

it is consolidated in a period of time. So, it is better to prevent it earlier rather

than waiting it to be more complicated and worst.

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 REFLECTIVE ESSAY ON
Chapter 3 Leadership

In this chapter, I have known that in every problem encounter in

an organization 85 percent of these are due to faulty system of the

management and the remaining 15 percent are a result of the behaviour of

the employees. Which means a management should ensure the alignment of

their business strategy to their standard operating procedures that an

employee should follow. The management should always lead to quality

planning, quality improvement, proper communication within the organization,

teamwork, adapting new philosophies, methodologies, strategies of TQM so

as to achieve the desired goals and objectives.

I also have found out in this chapter that it is better to do it right

in the first time, because “first impressions last”, since a practice of doing it

right at the very beginning will lead to always right ‘till the end. It will become

a customary to every employee if the management is proactive, understands

the process, listen to suggestions, and lead in the quality improvements.

I also have learned that we should care for small things whether

it is for good or for worst. If we accumulate small thing, it will becomes a great

achievement if it is for good, and it will become a worst problem if we let the

small problems left behind.

And also we should not rely solely on the past because change

is constant in our life. The past can be different from today. What we should

hold from the past is the learning that we get out from it.

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 REFLECTIVE ESSAY ON
Chapter 4 TQM Implementation

In this chapter, I have learned that an organization will not

succeed on TQM implementation if without the support of the top

management. The management has the control over their employees. The

management is the one who plans and control over the broader aspect of the

organization. As what being discussed in this chapter, that corporate strategic

planning has a great role in realizing the vision and mission of the

organization. The main reason to stay in business is the customer thus, needs

to be delighted and pacified that makes the organization stable in the long-

run.

Not only management should do the improvement process but it

should involve employees or the Process Action Team (PAT) to apply PDSA

for improvement. The management should also learn to recognize and

appreciate every small achievement and good performance of each employee

to motivate them to work hard, be committed, consistent, and persistent to

their goals and objectives.Through these, a management may build credibility

not only outside of the organization but also within the organization.

Small improvements at a time will yield big success, thus an

effort of one when consolidated is teamwork that also gains fulfilment of goals

and objectives of an organization.

No matter how difficult a problem is, when there is unity it can

always be solved.

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 REFLECTIVE ESSAY ON
Chapter 8 Continuous Process Improvement

This is very interesting chapter because I have learned about

the Japanese term Kaizen which means gradual, orderly, and continuous

improvement. Through Kaizen we may be able to eliminate waste, strain, and

discrepancy in our workplace to work effectively and efficiently. On the

contrary, there is also called Kaizen Blitz that emphasizes on improvements

drastically and dramatically in just a week. This Kaizen Blitz is simply

applicable for creating a better production line. In other words, it is a small and

simple project that can create a better improvement in just a matter of a short

period of time.

In this chapter also discussed the five S. The 5S is the name of

a workplace organization method that uses a list of five Japanese words; Seiri

(sort), Seiton (Straighten), Seiso (Scrub), Seiketsu (systematize), Shitsuke

(standardize). This five S is considered as good housekeeping practices. The

list describes how to organize a work space for efficiency and effectiveness by

identifying and storing the items used, cleaning and maintaining the area and

items, and sustaining the new order.

In this chapter, I have also learned that there are also seven

deadly wastes. Through these, I will be able to scrutiny what to be eliminated,

and how these wastes prevented.

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 REFLECTIVE ESSAY ON
Chapter 11 & 13 7 Quality Control Tools & Intro. to
Statistics; & Six Sigma

The eleventh chapter makes me realized about the

use of the symbols in making process flow chart. Since then, I have not

known that there are standard symbols used for drawing the process flow

chart.

The cause and effect diagram which was popularized by

Ishikawa is quite interesting especially when it is being called fishbone

diagram because it is look like really a fish bone where you can organize all

your thoughts in the diagram the possible causes and effect of the problem

occurs in an organization. This diagram is a friendly user that can be easily

establish and organize for discussion.

I also have learned the significant use of Check Sheet, Scatter

Diagram, Pareto Chart, and Histogram.

And above all, the most stressful topics which is the review on

the fundamentals of Statistics which make me wipe out my bleeding nose on

the formulas and how to perform them. But thanks God! I made understand it

with the help of our professor Mr. Bestil.

And much more on chapter thirteen- The Six Sigma, were I can’t

believe there is a standard that vying for almost perfection. Perhaps, this is

really possible because there are companies who really adopted this like

Motorola and other globally competitive known companies.

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 REFLECTIVE ESSAY ON
Chapter BPB, QFD, Taguchi’s Robust Design,
15,16,17,18, & 19 TPM, & FMEA 1 of 2

Among the tools or method of TQM, Business

Process Benchmarking (BPB) is the most common in different business

institutions, because it is a process of comparing not only on processes,

standards, policies, but also to the extent of comparing different cultures of

the organization. Through Benchmarking, an organization or institution will

tend to make a difference above the other competitor being benchmarked.

This tool is also prevalent in common people that day-to-day interact with one

another. Benchmarking pushes organization or individuals to be competitive

and persistent to reach the desired goals.

Unlike the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) that focuses on

the requirements of the customers. This method is more on giving importance

on specific target market. Its primary tool is the House of Quality an excellent

quality planning tool. The team involve should be a cross-functional group of

employees that can easily manoeuvre the needed job specification.

Another tool that really needs quantitative ability is the Total

Productive Maintenance (TPM). Here, you need to know the Overall

Equipment Efficiency (OEE). Before you arrive at a conclusion, you need to

know first the Availability, Reliability, Maintainability, Rate of Efficiency (RE),

Speed Efficiency (SE), and the Quality Rate. It’s quite intricate to arrived at a

conclusion of the performance of equipments based on the formulas given in

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 REFLECTIVE ESSAY ON
Chapter BPB, QFD, Taguchi’s Robust Design,
15,16,17,18, & 19 TPM, & FMEA 2 of 2

this chapter but it is very useful in terms of process

efficiency as well as to the products produce based on the efficiency of

equipments used.

It is also interesting to learn about the Taguchi’s Loss Function,

wherein he emphasizes the possible losses the customer will incur when the

product is not consistent and reliable. Through loss functions we may be able

to know the appropriate limitations of product specification that we are going

to produce or as a consumer we may know the limitations of the product we

buy.

As per FMEA or Failure Mode and Effects Analysis when

performing TQM in an organization, at an earlier stage of the product

development there should be a design for quality and reliability. Reliability is

the probability of the product to perform at a specified period of time. In this

method, a manufacturer should identify the causes of the failure, how often

this failure occurs, and what are the possible effects of the failure. Then, after

the failures have been identified, rank them according to the level of risk

through Risk Priority Number (RPN).

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 REFLECTIVE ESSAY ON
Chapters 20, ISO 9000 Standard, Environmental
21 & 22 Mgt. System, & Quality Awards Index

In this chapter I have learned that ISO 9000 is

a family of quality management systems standards based on the British

Standards Institute (BSI) specifically BS 5750 that were proposed to

International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in 1979 and first

published in 1987. ISO do not certify any organization but only a third party

certifying bodies should certify through the standards required by the ISO.

One of the ISO standards is the EMS 14001 which sets out the

criteria for an Environmental Management System. It does not state

requirements for environmental performance, but maps out a framework that

a company or organization can follow to set up an effective EMS. It is

designed to help businesses remain commercially successful without

overlooking environmental responsibilities. It can also help organization to

grow while reducing the environmental impact of this growth. An ISO 14001

system provides the framework to allow organization to meet increasingly high

customer expectations of corporate responsibility as well as legal or

regulatory requirements.

Lastly, in the last chapter considers all the quality awards bodies

that recognizes top organizations with exceptional organizational quality

performance like Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, Deming Prize,

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Rajiv Gandhi National Quality Award, and other quality awards bodies in

different parts of the world.

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