A Case Study of Total Quality Management in a Manufacturing and Construction Firm. Ammar Al-Saket

Transcription

1 A Case Study of Total Quality Management in a Manufacturing and Construction Firm by Ammar Al-Saket dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Magister Ingeneriae in Engineering Management in the FACULTY OF ENGINEERING at the RAND AFRIKAANS UNIVERSITY SUPERVISOR: PROF. LEON PRETORIUS CO-SUPERVISOR: PROF. JHC PRETORIUS January 2003 Johannesburg

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION AND PROBLEM STATEMENT 1.1 Prologue Total Quality Management Problem Statement and Research Objectives The Research Approach The Organisation of the Dissertation 4 CHAPTER 2 THE CONCEPT OF TQM 2.1 History and Evolution of TQM The Meaning of Quality TQM Principles TQM System Approach Quality Standards Conclusion 33 CHAPTER 3 QUALITY CONTROL 3.1 The Meaning of Quality Control Quality Control and Quality Assurance Quality Control System Approach Process Control Quality Control Tools Conclusion 59 CHAPTER 4 CASE STUDY OF PROCESS CONTROL 4.1 Introduction ABC Steel s Process Control Approach Areas for Improvement in the ABC Steel s Process Control Approach Recommendations to Improve ABC Steel Process Control Conclusion.. 75 CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 5.1 Conclusion Recommendations for Future Research 79 BIBLIOGRAPHY 80 APPENDICES 83

3 ABSTRACT Total Quality Management (TQM) is a managerial approach that views quality to be a result of integrating all organisational activities e.g. engineering, manufacturing, marketing and administration work. It aims broadly at maintaining and improving quality standards and to achieve customer satisfaction. TQM s major components are quality planning, quality control and quality improvement. Quality control is responsible for transforming quality planning and quality improvement outcomes into daily routine work. However, quality control can be implemented by systematically going around the Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA) control cycle, with which organisation may achieve continuous small steps of improvement. An entire enterprise can be better controlled when it is regarded as a set of processes. Process is controlled by the same systematic way of implementing PDCA cycle. Some tools are suggested in this dissertation to control processes. These are statistical process control (SPC), root cause analysis (RCA) and the Feedback Loop. Beyond information gleaned from literature on quality control a case study of a steel manufacturing and construction firm is also presented. Some areas for improvement in the quality arena of this firm are identified based on the results of quality management gained from literature.

4 ACRONYMS AQL = Acceptable Quality Level CWQC = Company-Wide Quality Control ISO = International Organisation for Standards MBNQP = Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Programme NCR = Non-Conformance Report OHSAS = Occupation Health and Safety Management Standards PDCA = Plan Do Check Act PPM = Part Per Million QA = Quality Assurance QC = Quality Control RCA = Root Cause Analysis SA = Situation Appraisal SAEF = South African Excellence Foundation SPC = Statistical Process Control SQC = Statistical/Strategic Quality Control TAT = Turn-around-time TQC = Total Quality Control TQM = Total Quality Management ZD = Zero Defect

5 LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1: The Six Steps of PDCA Cycle 3 Table 2.1: Examples for Categories of Quality 11 Table 2.2: Quality Definition and Quality Factors 14 Table 2.3: Definitions of TQM 23 Table 3.1: Control Cycle 36 Table 3.2: Elementary Statistical Methods 52

6 LIST OF DIAGRAMS Fig. 2.1: Evolution and Development of Quality Control 7 Fig 2.2: A Comprehensive Approach to Quality 17 Fig.2.3: Road-Map for Generalised Quality Planning Process 24 Fig. 2.4: PDCA Control Cycle 25 Fig. 2.5: Kaizen and Kairyo Improvements 27 Fig. 2.6: An Integrated TQM Model 29 Fig. 3.1: Interrelationship of the Three Major Quality Management Activities 38 Fig. 3.2: Stages of Major Management Activities 39 Fig. 3.3: Quality Control Cycles in Management Activities 40 Fig. 3.4: Company-wide Quality Control 41 Fig. 3.5: Aspects to be Controlled 43 Fig. 3.6: Repeated Application of the PDCA Control Cycle 44 Fig. 3.7: Baldridge s Steps toward a Mature Process Approach 47 Fig. 3.8: Process Context 48 Fig. 3.9: Data Collection (Check) Sheet for Measurable Quantities 53 Fig. 3.10: An Example of a Histogram 53 Fig. 3.11: The Pareto Diagram 54 Fig. 3.12: Cause and Effect Diagram 55 Fig. 3.13: Using Histograms to Direct Quality Control Activities 56 Fig. 3.14: Scatter Diagram 57 Fig. 3.15: A Typical Control Chart 57 Fig. 3.16: Feedback Loop 58 Fig. 4.1: Integrated Management System Flowchart 61 Fig. 4.2: QA/QC Progress Flowchart 61 Fig. 4.3: Non-Conformance / Corrective Action (NCR) Report 66 Fig. 4.4: Weld Reject Rates in Percentages for Fig. 4.5: General Flowchart Depicting the Sequence of Work Instruction Processes of ABC Steel 69 Fig. 4.6: Work Instruction Inspection of Painted Steel 69 Fig 4.7: Monthly Rework Costs (Rands) for September and October

7 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The idea of writing on the subject of Total Quality Management started from an indirect suggestion when Prof. L Pretorius proposed to a group of students a number of topics one of which is now the title of this dissertation which he encouraged me to write. Several people have made invaluable contributions towards this dissertation. Firstly, I would like to thank Prof. L Pretorius for the leadership, hints and insightful notes he has provided which have gone a long way in shaping the dissertation in the manner it is. My thanks and appreciation also goes to Prof. JH Pretorius for the invaluable comments and suggestions he offered. The quality manager for ABC Steel Engineering Company (the case study) facilitated this research to give it a practical flavour by investing his time, support and full access to the company s literature for which I am very grateful.

8 DECLARATION I hereby declare that all the research work, except wherever it has been appropriately acknowledged by relevant references, is my own work.

9 DEDICATION To my wife Leenah who strove to ensure a suitable environment for me to write this research. Thank you Leenah for your prayer and support.

10 CHAPTER 1 Introduction and Problem Statement 1.1 Prologue A t Ford Motor Company, in 1974, Paul Hartman reported that more than 80 percent of the automobiles had to go to a rework facility immediately after the assembly line (Jablonski, 1994:11). Deming (1994:22) mentions that 23 percent of the cost of running a hospital in the US goes towards administration against a comparable 5 percent in other places. These two and many other examples urge questions like: how are we doing our business? What is the right approach of doing business? And how can we achieve a quality product? Deming is well-known in his contribution to the Japanese quality movement. He reports (1994:57) that in 1950, he was invited to deliver lectures about quality management in Japan. Japan, he claims, has been turned around through his presentations to top management and engineers on system of production. They had great knowledge but what has ignited Japan is the change in the managerial approach, which has resulted in the production of quality products. The word quality is rather an attractive term for both organisations and customers. It became like a slogan that forms new international business trends at all levels. Many organisations claim having a quality programme in some way or another. On the other hand, libraries and electronic information retrieval systems are flooded with literature on the subject. The above-mentioned observations may be due to the following reasons: 1

11 Today s business environment, which is characterised by rapid advances in technology, global competition and rising customer expectations. (Wolking, 1996:1) The term quality itself maybe subjective i.e. having different meanings to different people under varying circumstances (Ceronio, 1996:15), which implies having different approaches in order to achieve quality. Today s business environment and the nature of the term quality itself imply that the quality concept is an ever-changing one, hence, continuous attention must be paid in order to catch up with the ever-changing quality standards to control moving targets in an internationally competitive market. (Feigenbaum, 1983:7) 1.2 Total Quality Management Total Quality Management is a managerial approach aiming at achieving quality in a broad sense. Today s environment urges Total Quality Management (TQM) to be a managerial approach and style so as to achieve customer satisfaction and global competitiveness. TQM is based on the following principles: quality integration, quality first, customer satisfaction, continuous improvement, prevention rather than inspection, factual-based decision and workforce involvement. Quality management aims at conducting the inherent managerial elements of planning, control and improvement (Juran, 1992:14) based on the total quality principles. The expected results of TQM are better organisation performance, increased productivity, more effective and efficient processes and more competitive products. However, the ultimate results of implementing TQM are achieving customer satisfaction and global competitiveness. For these outcomes to be achieved, management is required to invest in a quality programme by training people, establishing new infrastructure, delegating managerial duties to others and the implementation of quality concepts broadly, throughout the organisation, whereas planning, process and products are included as well as suppliers, employees and customers are considered in the whole quality programme. In the current research the focus is on TQM principles in broad terms and quality control in particular. 2

12 Quality Control Quality control is a managerial activity of evaluating and implementing the outcomes of quality planning and quality improvement programmes. Several approaches may be followed to conduct quality control. Juran (1989:145) suggests a three-step approach to quality control namely: evaluating actual performance; comparing actual performance to goal, and taking action on the difference. To evaluate the performance, information is needed and all stakeholders should participate in getting the information. Customers too can efficiently give information regarding product/service performance. However the workforce often gives information that adequately reflects operation process quality. Management can measure the performance relevant to their level as well. Another approach to quality control is known as the Plan, Do, Check, Act Cycle. This approach considers planning for quality control as part of quality control stage. Ishikawa (1985:59) breaks down PDCA cycle into six steps presented in Table Determination of Goals and Targets 2 Determining Methods of reaching Goals 3 Engaging in Education and Training 4 Implementing Work 5 Checking the Effects of Implementation 6 Taking Appropriate Action Table 1.1: The Six Steps of PDCA Cycle (Ishikawa, 1985:59) 3

13 For the manufacturing field, Zairi (1991:37) advocates concepts that are mainly statisticallybased techniques for achieving, maintaining and improving on quality control of products and services. These concepts are based on typically the following stages: Measuring with manufacturing, Recording of measurement. Analysing the records, using the analysis for feedback and corrective action. In summary, the concept of control includes all activities and arrangements which empower the organisation to be able to achieve their objectives effectively and economically. 1.3 Problem Statement and Research Objectives This research aims at presenting aspects of TQM and generally how it can be integrated into the organisation. Other matters related to quality such as quality standards will be briefly presented as well. More attention will be given to quality control, its essence, where it fits in within the whole TQM framework and what its mechanisms are. A case study of ABC Steel Engineering Company (ABC Steel) is employed to present and examine practicalities of a managerial process control system. Suggestions and broadly formulated recommendations on how to improve the process control are also given. 1.4 The Research Approach The nature of the study is a descriptive one. Therefore, an exploration is done in order to describe the concepts and mechanism of TQM and quality control. More attention is given to identifying the meanings of concepts under discussion, and that, in turn, forms a well-defined basis for evaluation of other related aspects afterwards. This implies that the research work is mainly based on widely accepted pioneering TQM ideas and established quality standards. A discussion on the process control system of the case study based on ABC Steel s managerial approach based on the firm s literature is presented. A case study on process control is examined against the theoretical outcomes of quality process control. 1.5 The Organisation of the Dissertation This chapter has highlighted some concepts of TQM as well as the objectives and approach of this research. The rest of the research is organised in the following manner: Chapter 2 4

14 discusses TQM, its principles and system approach. In addition, it traces the historical development of the quality concept as well as quality standards. Chapter 3 expands on the concept of quality control and where it fits in the TQM framework. A more detailed discussion is presented on examination of the process as an essential part of quality control covering issues such as the nature of the process, characteristics of and how the process is controlled. Some tools used in quality control are briefly presented before concluding the chapter. Chapter 4 presents the ABC Steel s managerial process control case study by evaluating it using the tools and framework presented in Chapter 3. Recommendations for improving the company s control process are accordingly given. The research concludes in chapter five with a summary and recommendations on the work presented in chapters preceding it. 5

15 CHAPTER 2 The Concept of TQM 2.1 History and Evolution of TQM Q uality control as it is known today did not exist in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. However some quality control activities would be performed informally by individuals at workshop level (Garvin, 1988:3). The development and evolution of Quality Control started during and spanned the entire twentieth century (Feigenbaum, 1983:15). In 1913, JC Penney became one of the earliest people who presented the fundamentals of Total Quality Management philosophy when he suggested concepts such as customer satisfaction, fairness, quality, value, associate training, and rewards for performance to be managerial bases for the business (Jablonski, 1994:29-30). Furthermore, Fredrick W. Taylor who is known as the father of scientific management presented other quality concepts in the early 1900s as well (Garvin, 1988:5). Anyone tracing the development of TQM throughout the twentieth century, may easily notice the gap between TQM development as a theory in literature as opposed to TQM development in practice and implementation particularly in the USA notwithstanding that is where it originated (Kinlaw, 1992:viii). For example, it took more than fifty years for Walter A. Shewhart s (a physicist with Bell Telephone Laboratories, the birth place of the American quality), teachings in the book The Economic Control of Quality of Manufactured Product published in 1931 to be recognised and implemented in the USA (Kinlaw, 1992:vii). Nevertheless, the development of the approach to quality control in the USA went through 6

16 four broad stages: operator quality control, inspection quality control, statistical quality control and total quality control (see Fig. 2.1 adapted from Feigenbaum, (1983:16) below). Evolution and Development TQM USA Quality Assurance USA TQM Japan Statistical QC Operator QC Inspection QC Years Fig. 2.1: Evolution and Development of Quality Control [Feigenbaum, (1983:16), Adapted] Operator Quality Control Up to 1900 when goods were produced in small volumes, quality control activities were performed by artisans and skilled craftsmen (Garvin, 1988:3). That period of time in the quality control movement is termed the Operator Quality Control Era (Feigenbaum, 1983:15). Some features of this era were that quality control was performed mainly in the product-manufacturing field and was not a responsibility assigned to an independent person. However, the operator performed quality control as part of his job. When one goes back, however, to the early 1800s, a breakthrough in this field may be acknowledged when a rational gauging system was put in place. Under the set up, a model of a product is kept from use as it serves as a standard for measuring the degree of conformity of subsequent output (Garvin, 1988:4). Another innovative idea in the field of quality was the 1819 proposal of introducing the inspection concept to control product quality, though not formally adopted and recognised immediately. 7

17 2.1.2 Inspection Quality Control Inspection quality control may be the first directly linked concept to TQM that ever was formally introduced. In the early 1900s Fredrick W Taylor gave this concept more acceptance by singling it out as a task for bosses to manage their businesses effectively (Garvin, 1988:5). Enhancing Taylor s idea in 1922, G.S. Radford published the book The Control of Quality in Manufacturing in which he clearly stated the direct link between inspection activity and quality control. All these efforts have pushed inspection concept to become formally linked to quality control and to be part of management where as it is performed on an independent basis, to the extent that by 1924, for example, a department for inspection engineering was established at Western Electric (Garvin, 1988:6). However, products during this stage was not yet produced in huge volumes, therefore, 100% inspection i.e. inspection for all units of production was conceivable (Feigenbaum, 1983:16) Statistical Quality Control A statistical theory was originated over 80 years ago by Sir Ronald Fisher. (Jablonski, 1994:29). Shewhard pioneered a breakthrough of statistical quality control (SQC) through his publication in 1931 based on statistical principles (Garvin, 1988:6). He realised in a single volume that in any work process there would be natural variation such that limits should be specified to distinguish acceptable product fluctuating within these two limits (Kinlaw, 1992:vii). Then, Shewhard was working within a team at Bell Telephone Laboratories at Western Electric, where they had a programme for nationwide telephone network standardisation and uniformity, the challenge they faced was how to extract big amounts of information regarding units quality from a section of inspection data. Consequently, some statistical techniques such as sampling, control charts and using prediction and probability rules were adopted and developed (Garvin, 1988:8). Another challenge that prompted the use of SQC was the mass production that was required for World War II (Feigenbaum, 1983:15) when the ordnance department of the USA Army faced a problem of getting large quantities of arms from different suppliers at an acceptable level of quality (Garvin, 1988:9). Another contributor to this field was E.W. Deming. He added to Shewhard s work and developed his own version of SQC. All in all, by the late 1940s, inspection that was based on statistical techniques had become the primary method of control quality (Garvin, 1988:12) 8

18 2.1.4 Total Quality Control The concept of TQC grew rather slowly in the USA (Kinlaw, 1992:vii) although many TQC aspects were developed in the USA in the 1950s. Quality was implemented in the American and European industries only in the 1980s (Kinlaw, 1992:viii). The reason for this according to Feigenbaum s opinion was that prior to that, there was no willingness or the ability of business and governmental organisations to take adequate steps concerning the findings of technical and statistical work (Feigenbaum, 1983:16). He continues by saying that the quality problem could not be handled by existing decision making structures. In other words, quality control still was seen as a duty for inspection group or statistical quality control coordinator at the shop-floor level. However, this level of the decision-making structures could not comprehend the quality problem broadly and this excluded the involvement of the management system and the administration work in the quality problem. On the other hand, Japanese quality before the 1940s was limited to inspection quality. Even the SQC approach was limited to a small group of experts (Garvin, 1988:179). However, the post-war era saw dramatic progress in the Japanese quality, and that happened over a relatively very short period of time. (Kinlaw, 1992:vii). In fact, quality control was introduced to Japanese by some American experts (Garvin, 1988:180) The most well known expert who contributed to Japanese quality is W. Edward Deming (Garvin, 1988:180). He was invited to Japan in 1950 to deliver a series of lectures on SQC (and the system of production) to the leaders of Japan industry (Deming, 1994:57). Other experts such as Joseph M. Juran followed Deming s footsteps in 1954 and presented seminars on the system of total quality management in organisations (Garvin, 1988:182-3). Their contributions influenced the Japanese dramatically (Deming, 1994:57). Basically, the 1950s became a watershed era in the Japanese transformation from copier to quality leaders. (Jablonski, 1994:29). The Japanese realised the special need for an own approach to quality. In this regard, they initiated an effort in In 1962 the Japanese had innovated the concept of quality control circle. (Ishikawa, 1984:6) By 1968 they had developed their own version of TQM, and presented it as Company Wide Quality Control (CWQC) (Ishikawa, 1985:45) and the most prime aspects of TQM were perfected in Japan between (Galgano, 1994:xiii) 9

19 Quality control progress in the USA took a different route and initially less momentum than the Japanese one. The 1950s had seen invaluable theoretical contribution. For instance, the publication Quality Control Handbook by J.M Juran in 1951, tackled the economics of quality (Garvin, 1988:12). In addition, during 1956 A.V Feigenbaum proposed a comprehensive approach to quality in his publication Total Quality Control (Garvin,1988:13) On the quality concepts implementation side, in Martin Company took a new step by adopting a programme called Zero Defect (ZD) rather than the concept of Acceptable Quality Levels (AQL) that had been proposed by the war department in the The program ZD was based on quality principles such as: workers motivation and training, as well as the idea of being the ZD becoming an achievable objective. (Garvin, 1988:17) In fact, some authors termed the period of the two decades of 1950s and 1960s of quality control movement as Quality Assurance (Garvin, 1988:18). In the early 1980s, the Americans felt the gap between quality of their products and the Japanese ones (Jablonski, 1994:12). They realised that quality is a crucial factor for business success in the modern international business environment (Feigenbaum, 1983:17). Subsequently, the TQM approach begun to be adopted in the 1980s, as part of managerial strategies in the USA and European industries as well as in the service sector and government (Galgano, 1994:xiv). In the late 1980s major aspects of TQM had been integrated (Jablonski, 1994:12). A later dimension added to TQM related to emerging environmental and health issues. Today, it is noticeable that most leading companies have adopted TQM programme (Galgano, 1994:xiv). 2.2 The Meaning of Quality The dictionary gives a long list of the meanings of the word quality many of which are subjective. (Peach, 1997:36) However, some of the meanings of quality as applied in the field of management in general and manufacturing in particular are examined in this section. David A Garvin (1988) discusses the term quality where he dedicates three chapters of his book in an attempt to offer a comprehensive meaning for quality. He begins the third chapter of his book with a conceptualisation of the term quality by raising questions of whether quality can be a subjective term or an objective one; absolute or relative; and what its 10

20 relationship with variables such as price, cost, productivity and market share is. He then categorises most of the definitions into five principal groups namely: the transcendent, product-based, user-based, manufacturing-based and value-based. (Garvin, 1988:39-40) Table 2.1 presents some examples for each one of the mentioned categories. Group Examples of Definitions I. Transcendent "Quality is neither mind nor matter, but a third entity independent of the two... even though Quality cannot be defined, you know what it is. " (Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance [New York: Bantam Books, 1974], pp. 185, 213) "... a condition of excellence implying fine quality as distinct from poor quality... Quality is achieving or reaching for the highest standard as against being satisfied with the sloppy or fraudulent." (Barbara W. Tuchman, "The Decline of Quality," New York Times Magazine, November 2, 1980, p. 38) II. Product-based "Differences in quality amount to differences in the quantity of some desired ingredient or attribute." (Lawrence Abbott, Quality and Competition [New York: Columbia University Press, 1955, pp ) "Quality refers to the amounts of the unpriced attributes contained in each unit of the priced attribute." (Keith B. Leffier, "Ambiguous Changes in Product Quality," American Economic Review, December 1982, p. 956) III. User-based "Quality consists of the capacity to satisfy wants. (Corwin D. Edwards, "The Meaning of Quality," Quality Progress, October 1968, p. 37) "In the final analysis of the marketplace, the quality of a product depends on how well it fits patterns of consumer preferences." (Alfred A. Kuelm and Ralph L. Day, "Strategy of Product Quality, "Harvard Business Review, November-December 1962, p. 101) "Quality is fitness for use. (J. M. Juran, ed., Quality Control Handbook, Third Edition [New York: McGraw-Hill, 1974, p. 22) IV. Manufacturing-based "Quality [means] conformance to requirements. " (Philip B. Crosby, Quality Is Free [New York: New American Library, 1979], p. 15) "Quality is the degree to which a specific product conforms to a design or specification." (Harold L. Gilmore, "Product Conformance Cost," Quality Progress, June 1974, p. 16) V. Value-based "Quality is the degree of excellence at an acceptable price and the control of variability at an acceptable cost." (Robert A. Broh, Managing Quality for Higher Profits [New York. McGraw-Hill, 1982], p. 3) "Quality means best for certain customer conditions. These conditions are (a) the actual use and (b) the selling price of the product." (Armand V. Feigenbaum, Total Quality Control [New York: McGraw-Hill, 1961], p.1) Table 2.1: Examples for Categories of Quality (Garvin, 1988:40) For more convenience, out of these five approaches for defining quality, an elaboration will be made on two of them, namely: manufacturing-based and user-based definitions. 11

21 2.2.1 Manufacturing-Based Definitions of Quality Manufacturing-based definitions of quality look at quality from a manufacturing viewpoint, where pre-determined requirements, design activities and manufacturing practices are the bases of quality product and accordingly, the quality definition will be conformance to requirement (Crosby, 1990:40) Crosby argues that this definition offers practical meaning for quality. In addition, it considers that zero-defect product is the only acceptable quality level since 100 percent conformance to requirements is the only acceptable quality measure. However, it is management s prime responsibility to create the right requirements in order to meet customer real needs. (Crosby, 1990:40-1) On the other, hand Juran (1992:11) finds the definition of quality to be conformance to specifications or conformance to standards. This is a problematic definition when applied at managerial levels as a product is meant to meet customer needs while a conformance to specifications is just one of many means for achieving that objective on the part of the manufacturer. Furthermore, standards and specifications are static while quality is a moving target. Lawton (1993:80) supports Juran s observation by mentioning that requirements are often specified by the producer who may have only a partial relationship to customer desires. Gavin (1988:45) realises this criticism when he says that the definition conformance to specifications considers that the product, which is of customer s interest and deviates from specifications is likely to be described as poor quality product, as such, this would be a serious problem in that definition of quality. All in all, as ISO notes that specification, in itself might not guarantee that a customer s requirements are met (Peach, 1997:37) User-Based Definitions of Quality User-based definitions of quality view quality from the customer side. The quality of the product is determined by the user or by the customer (Feigenbaum, 1983:7). Hence, the product which is regarded as having the highest quality is the one, which best satisfies customer s preferences (Garvin, 1988:43). A popular definition underlying this approach is 12

22 the one by Juran (1989:1) where he defines quality as fitness for use. He then identifies two dimensions of quality namely: product features that meet customer needs and freedom from deficiencies. However, Garvin points out basic problems with the user-based approach is that it equates quality with maximum customer satisfaction: though related, they are not identical. In addition, in order to achieve satisfaction from wide range of customers, it would be practically difficult to comprehend varying individual preferences and to transform those into a meaningful definition of quality at the market level. Besides, by considering quality to be exclusively customer determined, the product s impact on the environment, health, safety and social concerns are not explicitly addressed. In the case where these concerns are considered, it would be at individual level only Comprehensive Approach for a Definition of Quality Juran (1992:9) reports that to date, there is no consensus on the adoption of a simple comprehensive phrase to describe quality. Garvin (1988:46-7) goes further in pointing out the potential conflict that exists between members of marketing, engineering and manufacturing departments within an organisation due to them holding different views of what constitutes quality. Marketers tend to see quality from the customers viewpoint; hence, their concern is what happens to the product outside the factory. Engineers in general, focus mainly on specifications and how to translate product performance into precise measurements while manufacturing departments would look at the meaning of quality from a different standpoint altogether. They would tend to prefer the practical meaning of quality i.e. conformance to specifications and doing things right the first time while reducing waste. These three approaches are not unified. Therefore, a serious problem in communication may exist within an organisation. However, an organisation can take advantage of these dissimilar perspectives of quality in order to enhance its position, as this would be an adoption of a comprehensive meaning of quality rather than the pursuit of satisfying a particular definition of quality. In supporting Garvin s findings, Galgano (1994:3) states that quality becomes a comprehensive and unifying concept. He goes further by relating the internal structure of the organisation to the quality concept itself. Moreover, he considers quality to be a changing concept increasing constantly over time. 13