Total quality management (TQM): an overview

In the manufacturing industry, product quality has become a key factor in determining a firm’s success or failure in the global marketplace. Advanced, highly reliable manufacturing methods have made it possible to achieve very high standards of product quality. As a result, more and more firms are making product quality a keystone of their competitive strategy. The success of many major Japanese companies is truly rooted in their long‐term commitment to the improvement of quality. The improvement of production quality is a long‐term commitment to continuous improvement in every aspect of the production process. Today’s competitive market, in almost every category of products and services, is characterized by accelerating changes, innovation, and massive amounts of new information. Changing customer needs fuels much of the rapid evolution in markets. Most organizations that have been successful with their quality improvement effort have adopted an integrated approach commonly referred to as total quality management (TQM).