Tools and Techniques for Quality Improvement

Total Quality Management Philosophy
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Total Quality Management (TQM) philosophy focuses on ensuring that there is quality assurance that mainly involves all the company members. For any company to grow, this philosophy has to be put in place with closer relationships encouraged between the customers, manufacturers, and suppliers (Besterfield, 2014). This does not only improve productivity but also ensures that high-quality products are attained. Mike Warren, the owner of Mike Inc. which manufactures the small molecule drugs, is currently facing a lot of competition from AbbVie Inc. Most of his customers have been complaining about the quality of the drugs ranging from package to their usage. With no proper mechanisms put in place to improve the quality and productivity of the small molecule drugs, Mike stands a chance of losing even more customers thus there is the need for the Total Quality Management philosophy to be put in place.
One of the major reasons as to why I picked Mike Warren is because of the belief that customers’ satisfaction is very key when it comes to company’s growth. When customers keep on complaining about the quality of products they receive from a company, there is the need for the company to start doing its operations differently. TQM philosophy entails that customers determine what is considered to be a good quality. The company should be in a position to structure its systems to be able to create goods and services which satisfy the customer base (Naidu et al.

, 2016). Managers and company owners should be in a position to implement the major procedures depending on what they observe. Through this philosophy, Mike should focus on ensuring that customers’ demands are met and that their complaints addressed. It will not only increase customers’ satisfaction and loyalty but also enable the company to compete effectively with companies like AbbVie Inc.
One of the core issues when it comes to any business is that change is inevitable. TQM philosophy dictates that for any system to be effective, it should change its operations according to the customers’ needs. This, however, should not be an instant change but rather an evolutionary one. The managers need to monitor their markets so as enable the culture to determine which tools need to be incorporated (Besterfield, 2014). This is something that Mike has to put in place. With the rate of competition escalating every day, one can easily predict that Mike Inc. may soon not have a market for its small molecule drugs.
TQM philosophy encourages evaluation of progress regularly by setting goals to determine which standards the company will be able to make the judgment. It focuses on the managers looking for the sales numbers and the product life cycles. The company also should be able to collect ideas mainly from those who deal with the customers (Naidu et al., 2016). This is where the suppliers come in. They need to provide the company with information on what the customers usually expect and their reactions on the products supplied to them. Since Mike Inc. is being faced with complaints of low-quality products, it needs to bring the suppliers on board to determine what exactly the causal factor of such actions by customers is. Application of this philosophy, therefore, helps in understanding proper evaluation channels to improve the quality and productivity of the products produced by the company.
The necessity of TQM philosophy in any business environment to ensure high quality and productivity of products is inevitable (Besterfield, 2014). Since Mike Inc.’s main concern is on the quality of its small molecule drugs, this philosophy should be used to help in achieving that. Its application should also come forth to help the company remain competitive in the market even with the existence of other similar producers like AbbVie Inc.
References
Besterfield, D. H. (2014). Total quality management. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Prentice Hall. Retrieved from:
http://work.chron.com/total-quality-management-philosophy-quality-improvement-techniques-27923.html
Naidu, N. V. R., Babu, K. M., & Rajendra, G. (2016). Total quality management. New Delhi: New Age International. Retrieved from:
https://www.processexcellencenetwork.com/business-transformation/articles/total-quality-management-as-a-business-philosophy