We will define Total Quality as the integration of all the functions and processes of an organization, in order to achieve continuous improvement in the quality of the goods and services produced therein. The objective is to supply a product or service in which its quality has been designed, produced and sustained at an economic cost and that fully satisfies the consumer.
It is a systemic approach, in which the overall effectiveness of the system is greater than the sum of the contributions made individually by the subsystems.
The latter include all the organizational functions that intervene in the life cycle of a product, such as: design, planning, production, distribution and after-sales service. Also the administration subsystems have to be integrated, which requires: a customer-oriented strategy, quality instruments and employee participation. Therefore we can establish that any product, process or service is improvable, based on a policy of "continuous improvement" that must be present in each member of the organization.
Total quality assurance is an effective system of the efforts of various groups, in a company for the integration of development, maintenance and improvement of quality in order to make possible marketing, engineering, manufacturing and service to satisfaction. consumer total and at the cheapest cost.
Total quality assurance forms the fundamental foundation of positive quality motivation in all company employees and representatives, from top executives to assembly workers, office personnel, agents and service personnel. And a powerful total quality assurance capability is one of the primary forces in achieving greatly improved overall productivity.
The terms "quality control" and "quality assurance" have come to have different meanings in different companies. Each term means different aspects of the activity of customer satisfaction with quality. Total quality assurance programs include and integrate the actions involved in the work covered by both terms. This work will mainly mention the one related to ISO standards.
HISTORY AND ORIGIN OF THE PHENOMENON
I must point out that the phenomenon that has led Japan, from being a sunk and ruined country at the end of the Second World War, to become an industrial power is due to its high commitment to quality. At the 1985 Quality Congress in Japan, President Matsushita launched his famous challenge: “we are going to win and the industrial east is going to be able. You will not be able to avoid it because you are carriers of a fatal disease: you have Taylorist companies. But the worst thing is that their minds are too. You are satisfied with how you operate your companies, distinguishing on one side those who think and on the other those who tighten screws….. ”words that shocked the Western business world.
On the other hand, Takashi Ishihara, president of Nissan Motor Co., breaks with another stereotype, stating that the first step in the creative process must be, resist the temptation to imitate.
To learn more about the beginnings of the concept and applications of Total Quality, in addition to the reason for Japanese growth, we must know that at the beginning of the 20th century, Frederick W. Taylor (1815 - 1915), a character well known to administration scholars at As President Matsushita made references in his speech, he developed a variety of methods aimed at improving production efficiency, in which they considered workers little more than machines capable of thinking. This system, beneficial in principle but fatal in its consequences, was deeply rooted in all western industrial systems.
In 1931, Walter A. Shewart (1891 - 1967), of the Bell Telephone Laboratories, who had published a series of writings on the application of statistics to the quality of industrial products, brought to light his famous work. "Economic Control of Quality of Manufactured Products", which constitutes a milestone in the history of world quality.
Confirming the theory that, unfortunately, wars are one of the phenomena that most favors technological development and research, the Second World War gave an extraordinary boost to quality control in the United States, in response to the need to rapidly produce supplies. highly reliable warfare.
The arrival in Japan of the quality phenomenon begins in 1946, during the occupation, when WG Magil and HM Sarahson of the SCAP (Civil Communications Section) decide to instruct the Japanese telecommunications industry in quality control.
Two years later, the JUSE (Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers), aware of the serious deficiencies in the quality of Japanese products, as well as the repercussions of this problem on the foreign market, decided to found a research committee, the <
Also in 1949, W. Edward Deming arrived in Japan as a consultant in statistical research under the patronage of SCAP. In 1950, on a second visit as a guest of JUSE, he held an eight-day seminar attended by 21 people from senior management of Japanese companies. New conferences that same year in Tokyo, SAKA, Nagoya and Hakata, which are now attended by over four hundred Japanese engineers; two other visits in 1951 and another in 1952 constitute the true origin of the phenomenon: the Japanese understand that quality is the secret of the success of their country. Furthermore, the key to true victory, in a conflict of interest that for many had not ended with the military defeat of 1945.
In 1954 the JUSE invited Dr. Joseph M. Juran, then another young expert on quality issues, to lead several new courses. Since then Deming and Juran visit Japan many times, they have given their respective and complementary lessons on quality; in the case of Deming, based on the use of statistics and in the case of Juran, structured on the problems and approaches to its implementation.
CURRENT VISION AND PHILOSOPHY OF QUALITY
In the fully free European market, the doors are opened wide at the borders of the EU countries. The products cross them freely, without tax and impediments, highlighting a fierce competition in which only the most prepared will survive.
Growth-oriented companies develop quality management in each of the departments, because this is the only way to achieve excellence in the organization, saving time, reducing costs, and producing products that offer guarantees.
Today it is no longer about selling, it is a matter of making customers, winning the market, having a solid number of buyers linked to the company for the quality of the products, the quality of the services and the quality of human treatment.
Quality and competitiveness are news because they have ceased to belong to the business organization to become a social concern, support for business survival or a state issue, as happened a few years ago in other countries of the community.
Today the Japanese organization techniques are implanted around the world and copied in Europe and the USA; its two biggest competitors.
Through simple but effective organization systems it is possible to increase quality, productivity, competitiveness, perhaps most importantly, to ensure the future and continuity of both the company and the workers.
The solution lies first in understanding on the part of employers and workers that we are in a conjunctural moment in which needs are common: ensuring survival. Then take concrete measures to implement Total Quality processes, through which some companies have already demonstrated their success and vocation for being successful.
All of the above allows a process of improvement motivating, to rediscover the enormous potential of the human being and its application in a job well done, with the consequent benefits to society.
It helps to rediscover the sense of individual and group work, the relevance of doing things right the first time, knowing the cost of non-quality accompanied by apathy, indifference or manipulation, understanding the preventive approach over the corrective. Total quality is not a problem, it is a solution. Placing the new leader as a facilitator of working conditions highlights the importance of having a solid system that allows you to "land" and maintain the motivation of all the staff in an organization. And finally it seeks the revaluation and dignification of work.
TOTAL QUALITY, DEFINITION OF OBJECTIVES AND SCOPE
Already defined as a set of characteristics of a product that satisfy the needs of customers and, consequently, make the product satisfactory. An important complementary nuance can be added: Quality is also about not having deficiencies.
goals
For a company to achieve these objectives, compliance with standards and minimizing the variability of the attributes demanded by customers must be taken into account.
The objectives and policies that are sought with a Total Quality Management are the following:
- Provide customers with high quality products and services at the lowest possible cost. Motivate all company personnel to actively work towards quality and organize training programs. Establish effective communication channels within the company and promote teamwork.Create quick, simple, practical and reliable control and analysis procedures.Work under appropriate industrial hygiene and safety conditions.
Why is quality important?
- Due to the high cost of doing things wrong, repeating jobs, correcting continuous errors, not avoiding waste, among other concepts.
For the competitive advantage produced by providing customers with the Quality in goods and services they receive as such.
So it means achieving a higher return on investment for today and always.
Basic fundamentals
If Quality consists of providing satisfactory products for the client, all activities through which this satisfaction is achieved will have to be involved in it, regardless of the place in the organization in which they occur. This means obtaining:
- The quality of products, the quality of supplies, the quality of processes, the quality of resources, both technical and human, and materials, the quality of management activities.
This philosophy, which aims to cover the entire organization and all its activities, is what we call Total Quality. But Total Quality (TC) is not only a way of thinking. It is, above all, a set of principles and methods that seek the goal of customer satisfaction. And at the lowest cost.
To understand CT in all its breadth, one must cite a set of basic foundations. Total Quality implies:
- Orient the organization towards the client. Satisfying customer requirements is the main thing. With this objective, the organization must revolve around the processes that are important for this purpose and that provide added value. This implies overcoming the classic view that responsibility for Quality is exclusive to the departments in charge of the product or service. The action of others will have an effect, to a greater or lesser degree, on the final result. Expand the Customer concept. We can conceive of the organization as a system made up of internal suppliers and customers. Applying Quality means that the needs of the internal customer must also be satisfied. Possess cost leadership.Quality costs, but non - quality is more expensive. If it is a matter of focusing attention on the customer's needs and expectations, these will be better met if the cost transferred to the customer is lower. This reduction of costs allows to compete in the market with real possibilities of success. Therefore, it is necessary to reduce non-quality costs. Manage based on prevention. The underlying idea is to do things right the first time. It is better than the classic detect and correct actions. The need to apply control actions is reduced, minimizing costs. Enhance the human factor.Quality is not controlled, it is done. And it is carried out by the people who make up the organization. All without exception. Therefore, it is essential to establish human resource management from the motivation for Quality and participation. Permanent improvement. Quality has to be conceived as a horizon, not as a goal. Total Quality is not reached, a horizon is being pursued that broadens as progress is made. Implicit here is this idea of continuous improvement. It is always possible to do things better and adapt more precisely to the needs and expectations of the client, which, moreover, are dynamic.
| QUALITY ASPECTS | CLASSIC CONCEPT | CURRENT CONCEPT |
| OBJECT | Affects products and services | It affects all the activities of the company |
| SCOPE | Control activities | Management of the entire company, in addition to control |
| APPLICATION | Imposed by management | For conviction and participatory |
| METHODOLOGY | Detect and correct | To prevent |
| RESPONSIBILITY | Quality Department | Commitment of each member of the company |
| CUSTOMERS | External to the company | Internal and external |
QUALITY COSTS
That quality costs money, cannot be denied. But it is equally undeniable that non - quality is more expensive.
It may seem cheaper not to establish quality controls, not to invest in training, not to spend money on user needs and satisfaction studies. Measuring quality using an indicator system costs time and money, as does studying a process and redesigning it to make it more efficient.
But, unquestionably, non - quality is more expensive. Considerably more expensive. The widespread idea that quality is expensive is due to not measuring the cost of poor quality.
To understand the cost that it really has, we will start by defining the term phantom factory (or "error factory"). This expression refers to the resources and efforts that are applied in an organization, but that do not add value to the activity of the same and, therefore, represent a cost. Some of the consequences caused by this ghost factory are:
- Repeat jobs Duplicate processes Correct errors Support costs for claims for poorly performed jobs and services Store unnecessary surpluses
On the contrary, there are four types of costs associated with quality and non-quality:
- Prevention Costs. They are produced to prevent mistakes from being made. That is, they are the derivatives of actions that help the organization, its departments and employees, to do their job right the first time.
Example: Preparation and review of protocols, Quality planning, Training of management personnel, selection processes, Technical manuals, etc.
- Evaluation costs. They are the result of the evaluation of the finished product (or the service once it has been delivered). In other words, it involves everything spent to determine if the result of a process conforms to the standard, if it conforms to the specified quality.
Example: Product / service quality audit, Process control, Studies on customer satisfaction, Measurement of customer waiting time, etc.
- Costs for Internal Errors. They can be defined as those in which the organization incurs as a consequence of errors made during its processes and activities, but which have been detected before the product or service is delivered to the customer.
Example: Accidents, equipment breakdowns, correction of accounting errors, repair costs, re-inspection due to rejections, corrective actions, etc.
- External Error Costs. They are associated with defects that are found after the service (product or service) has been delivered to the customer.
Example: Withdrawal of products, Treatment of claims, Customer service for complaints, Rejected and returned products, Repair of returned materials, etc.
PRODUCTIVITY AND QUALITY
Only when productivity and quality are considered together is it possible to achieve greater competitiveness. It is argued that a program aimed at improving quality causes disruptions and delays that result in lower production. Although this may be true in the short term, it does not actually happen in a longer period of time. This argument is not valid when the costs associated with poor quality are taken into account.
The argument in favor of a positive relationship between the two concepts was raised by W. Edwards Deming, who established 14 principles and, based on his observations on the way productivity is reduced due to defects, rectifications and the waste caused by poor quality, in which any improvement in it will reduce defects and therefore improve productivity.
No arguments for quality improvement can be given based solely on reducing the volume of production or eliminating flaws and defects because it would be a very simplistic argument.
The proven advantages of ACT should be considered, as this is a broader and longer-term process and, as such, addresses cultural change and also creation in terms of the vision, mission and values of the organization, which includes the advantages of productivity.
Although technology is an important factor in productivity, it would be a mistake to attribute it as the only answer to improve quality and productivity. What is needed is not the replacement of labor, but the improvement of processes.
Many people think of technology as automation and mechanization, but in reality technology includes methods to improve processes in order to improve the relationship between product and inputs. Just focusing on automation and machine technology will take time and money, and these two factors are rare. Instead, management systems consume small amounts of time and money and can be just as effective or even more. The solution is to improve the system and the process before introducing more technology.
THE QUALITY SYSTEM FOR MANUFACTURED COMPANIES
This refers to the organization systems, vision, procedure and work instructions that manufacturing companies must have. Once people are convinced of being better and motivated to collaborate in a means of productivity and mutual satisfaction, they need a system that supports them to "land" and feed back their new attitude.
An organization with agile and understandable procedures for everyone involved in the process, from the CEO to the cleaner, and from the client through the stages of design, raw materials, manufacturing to distribution, delivery and satisfaction of the client and society.
A system that tells each member what to do and how to do it, and that provides feedback and recognition on a plane of excellence. A system that unites the mission and effort of each department, of each group in a synergy of results towards productivity.
However, the objective of this is the transformation of groups into work teams, within an organization to maintain its competitiveness and fulfill the mission of service to Society.
In an organization there are different groups, which in turn can be made up of quality circles, teams that must have their vision perfectly identified, where they are going, their mission, what is the reason for their team, strategies, paths or alternative means to achieve their goals and these in turn must be consistent with the other teams in the group and the organization and most importantly never lose sight of the team's beliefs and moral principles.
This continuous process of excellence must be the engine of new change and modernization, through the implementation of continuous improvement processes, as the basis of any Quality process. And now organizations more than ever, is when they must be willing to measure their competitiveness against the best in the world in their field and learn from their experiences.
In the country, this process should be oriented mainly to the educational and training aspect where there is too much lag at the global level.
And finally, professionals must be aware that Total Quality brings with it an inherent happiness due to the fact that through our services, we satisfy the needs of our clients, of our society and consequently of our country.
Adopt the new philosophy.
The new challenge requires learning to comply with responsibility and to be in the change to be made, one should not tolerate more than the currently accepted levels of errors, unsuitable material defects or used parts not in accordance with the requested service, people who do not know which one their work and that they are afraid to ask, damage by manipulation outdated methods of distribution and formation of work orders inadequate and ineffective supervision, management not rooted in the organization.
Delays and mistakes alarmingly increase costs and this affects the price of the product or services.
Stop relying on mass inspection
Stop relying on mass inspection to achieve quality, you must demand statistical evidence that services from the first steps are made with quality. Routine inspection to improve quality is equivalent to planning defects and renewing that the process for the development of the service does not have the necessary capacity to comply with what is specified, this has reason to be when applied to truly critical parts or assemblies, therefore does not improve or guarantee it.
Quality is not done with inspection, but by improving the service process, inspection, rights and the process (claims) are not corrective actions of the service process, since they increase costs and reduce the expected vitality.
End the practice of doing business on a price basis
End the practice of doing business on the basis of price; the price does not make sense, without a measure of the quality of what is purchased, without it it is directed towards the lowest bidder and the result is translated into low quality and high costs.
The objective when buying tools and equipment should be to minimize the net cost per hour or annual life, but for this it is necessary to think long-term, not only consider the purchase price today, the necessary figures of the initial cost maintaining the duration of life of each important tool or equipment must always be at hand analytically to be used regularly to establish costing policies, the purchasing department must understand that it is a matter of minimizing the cost of the service in the long term and not the cost of spare parts or material They should also be aware that in some circumstances the parts or materials themselves may be excellent separately, but they do not work well together.
Because they do not represent the best possible combination. Suppliers must know that not only the specifications that are required for the spare parts and materials that are purchased from them, but also consider the use that will be given to them so that they know whether they should recommend them or not.
Constantly and continuously improve all processes
Constantly and continually improve all service planning processes to improve quality and productivity and thereby lower costs.
The purpose of quality must be present from the initial stage of the process of a service once the plans are executed, it would be too late to want to introduce quality in later phases, that is why it is so important that the design of the services is the result of teamwork.
System improvement indicates that the desired quality begins with the idea which is taken by the governing body or its decision makers which is translated into plans and specifications in an attempt to deliver the desired quality to the consumer whose benefit will be seen. in a reduced demand for the service and a continuous improvement in the quality of each activity, of acquisition, of distribution of the work of the workforce, of the payroll of inventory management, accounting, etc.
Improving the process implies making the best use of the workforce, making a good selection of the personnel and the task assigned to them, training them, and offering them the possibility of increasing their knowledge and developing their skills.
Implementation of training.
The training must be completely rebuilt, the organization needs its staff to know the company in depth from the spare parts and materials used, to the customers who are provided with the service, one of the most important wastes is the non taking advantage of the skills of the staff, this causes frustration and has harmful effects on the worker.
It is necessary to completely reform the training programs, as this is done poorly and with favoritism.
The organization must consider that the money spent on training, education and training is not reflected in the balance sheet and therefore does not increase the net value of the company as it would in the case of the acquisition of inventories, tools and equipment.
Adopt and implement leadership.
The administration must be distinguished by its leadership capacity, it must become a promoter of improvement and make the characteristics of quality prevail and stand out in the service they provide.
As true leaders, managers need to know the work they oversee to help their staff improve their own performance and remove barriers that make it impossible for them to do their job with pride.
Non-boss leaders are required
Authority will be in crisis when the leader is content to be a "chief administrator" without deciding to be a leader.
What a nation or any group, large or small, needs is to have in front not someone who has achieved a position of responsibility, but a servant of the organization.
To develop and maintain quality, leaders are required to commit to the organization and its workers, rather than bosses, to inspire confidence in their actions, to fix and solve, to assign duties, to prepare, to teach, who is not content with what possible but with the impossible.
He makes ordinary people extraordinary people, he understands them with a mission and the amalgamation in the faith of realizing a dream that allows him transcendence and fulfillment, gives meaning to the life of his followers and above all “a reason to live "
Eliminate fear at work
No one can give their best when they do not feel safe and as long as they do not overcome fear in any of its manifestations: fear of expressing their own ideas, of asking, of learning, etc. Fear always implies an economic loss, so it is necessary to create an environment that fosters security in personal performance.
Knowledge is a very important element that helps to perform the assigned work more efficiently, however it is very frequent to find resistance to acquire them, if fear is not suppressed, it cannot serve the best interests of the organization, since then the workers They fulfill at any cost what is asked of them regardless of whether the spare parts or materials are appropriate for the equipment to operate correctly.
Eliminate interdepartmental barriers.
The personnel of other areas must have knowledge of the problems that concern the different phases of the service if they work as a team, they can eliminate the interdepartmental barriers that due to selfishness and negligence cause delays in information and of course in customer service; important improvements are achieved, both in the quality itself, as in the process of the service phases and in the reduction of these teams they could be called quality control circles.
Eliminate exhortations or admonitions and goals from the workforce.
The majority of errors do not come from the workers, but from the system itself, for this reason, when warning them, they generate frustration and resentment.
More than exhortations what the workers need is that the governing body traces a route for them to improve quality and productivity.
The campaigns of exhortation and the signs generally have as a immediate effect a slight increase in the quality and productivity and in the decrease of some defects, however over time it will be the positive attitude with which they received them, emerging an attitude contrary to improvement and even more when numerical goals are required of them since they think that the organization is never satisfied with the effort being made, a different situation when the organization displays posters with information on what is done month by month in order to improve the systems and increase the quality and productivity, with smarter work.
Eliminate numerical quotas for labor.
It is normal that the organization needs to have the necessary elements to predict costs, which also means knowing the production quotas per worker. When they know each other, average quotas or rates will be established and if the organization works with them and the workers find out; Those who had exceeded this quota will tend from now on not to produce more and would wait bored when it comes to leaving, this way of proceeding results in dissatisfaction and economic losses.
Piecework is even more devastating than quotas or job standards, the hourly or assigned worker soon learns that he is paid to perform faulty services as the more units assigned and soon enough they finish the more he will charge and where is your satisfaction for a job well done.?
Eliminate administration by numerical targets.
Proposing internal goals in the administration of an organization without the appropriate method to achieve them is burlesque, if as an example of these goals are to decrease costs by 10%, increase sales by 20% and improve productivity by 5%, compliance is interpreted as success instead if it is not achieved explanations have to be given.
When you have a stable system, you work at its full capacity, therefore it is superfluous to specify a numerical goal and you will not be able to go beyond the capacity of the system itself, on the contrary, if there is no stability, there is no reason to propose objectives. numerical because there is no way of knowing how much the system can produce.
Remove barriers that prevent people from being proud of their work.
The first thing a worker needs is for him to be explained what his job is. It is not necessary to treat the workers as if they were just another merchandise telling them at the last minute what to do or hiring them and dismissing them according to the needs of the organization, it is very common for managers to get used to studying and solving number problems and not they know how to adequately solve people's problems.
It is the responsibility of the administration to provide the worker with adequate spare parts because he not only wants to use his time but also wants to feel fulfilled with the work he is doing.
Promote the education of all personnel and their self-development.
Organizations need educated and trained people, not just good people.
There is no shortage of good people, what is lacking are people with high levels of knowledge, in the degree of preparation of people, there are the foundations that allow progress in the field of competitiveness.
People need more and more money in their careers, increasing opportunities to add something material or spiritual to society.
Act to achieve the transformation of the company.
The governing body or decision makers must agree on their way of thinking and on the direction of the company they will take when introducing this new philosophy they must have the courage to break with tradition and feel proud for having adopted a program of quality and for fulfilling its new obligations. The administration should try to carry out a series of seminars in which they explain to the staff why it was necessary to make the change and what this change implies for each of them.
The change to be made is a process; therefore, what has been said above about continuous improvement must be applied to this process.
In any organization, people form work teams, the purpose of the team must be to improve, at the corresponding stage, the inputs of the process and its results, each of its members must have the opportunity to contribute ideas and plans, but you must wait for your best contributions to reach a consensus among your colleagues, you should not consider the work done in a study session as the best, in the following session people should assume a critical attitude towards the results of the previous session, to have more and more clear ideas and to constantly advance.
The above must be based on globally recognized standardization standards such as the ISO Standard.
ISO 9,000. UNIVERSAL QUALITY STANDARDS.
The most visible trigger of the current concern for quality has been the adoption by the European Committee for Standardization (CEN.) Of a set of standards issued in 1987 by the organization for International Standardization (ISO.), Under the
ISO 9000 designation. The CEN adopted these standards without changes, assigning them the number EN 29,000. As a consequence of this decision, all countries have been forced to revise their old and traditional schemes.
The ISO is an Institution based in Geneva (Switzerland) formed by the standardization organizations of 91 countries (among which is the National Institute of Standardization, INN of Chile).
ISO is a non-governmental organization, but in which the European countries have a very important representation, since they contribute approximately 40% of the financing. Its actions rest on the work of 180 technical committees (TC), more than 70% of which are administered by Europeans.
The origin of the ISO 9000 series was the competition raised worldwide by those countries such as Japan, which were moving rapidly towards total quality. Europe's response was the adoption of a Quality Management System, that is, it is a group of common guidelines and standards aimed at introducing and strengthening quality in their own production organizations. But organizations are neither self-sufficient nor isolated. The products of one industry are inputs for another. The quality is extended to all participants in the chain inside or outside the country. As a consequence, the European agreement imposes, in practice, an obligation for Companies interested in exporting to that market. In other words, while ISO 9000 is voluntary,Those goods and services that cannot demonstrate that they have been produced in accordance with a Quality Management system will be prohibited from accessing the European Common Market.
ISO, its benefits in production
ISO 9000 standards cannot be established or interpreted as protectionist barriers. Accepting that throughout the world numerous obstacles to trade between countries persist, the agreement of the European Economic Community regarding ISO 9000 is oriented in a completely different sense. There are several arguments in favor of this assertion.
Firstly, the uniformity of procedures and standards will facilitate the commercialization of products, reducing or eliminating a series of fences. For example, exporters will now have to certify their products only once, and not face the prohibitive costs that would mean simultaneously complying with a different set of standards for each destination country. It will also be easier to pack, label products, obtain transport licenses, go through customs procedures, or solve legal problems.
All this can mean a significant decrease in costs.
Secondly, the general acceptance of ISO 9000 standards is a factor that contributes significantly to relying on its ability to raise the quality of the goods and services produced under the Quality Management system. Conformity certification, a central element of these standards, is a guarantee of quality for customers. This can be very advantageous in terms of marketing.
In addition, it is also very important to keep in mind that, well applied, a Quality Management system will increase the value of the product, not necessarily implying an increase in its cost.
Finally, the requirements are for all Companies that trade with European countries, both external and internal to the Community itself. This means that very soon European products will be characterized by their quality, as are exports from Japan.
Benefits of an ISO 9000 certification
- Better product design and quality. Reduction of waste, rework and customer complaints. Effective use of resources, resulting in better productivity. Creation of an awareness of quality and greater satisfaction of employees at work. improving the culture of the quality of the company. It improves the confidence of the clients. It improves the image and credibility of the company in the international markets, which is essential for the success in the export activity.
What is ISO 9000, regarding manufacturing companies
The ISO 9000 standard is a series of five quality systems standards (two guiding documents and three contractual documents).
ISO 9000 provides a guide to select one of the ISO 9001, ISO 9002 or ISO 9003 contractual standards. These last three are the contractual standards used to certify a Company. The ISO 9001 Standard is the one with the greatest coverage, since it covers design, production and installation. ISO 9002 is a derivation of the
ISO 9001 standard and covers only production and installation.
Finally, ISO 9003 Standard is a derivative of ISO 9002 Standard and covers only final inspection and testing.
The ISO 9004 Standard is a guide document that can be used as a reference for the implementation of the requirements contained in the ISO 9001.9002 and ISO 9003 Standards as applicable.
In Chile, the National Institute for Standardization, the series of ISO 9000 standards are defined as follows:
NCH- ISO 9000: Quality management and quality assurance standards - selection and use guide.
NCH ISO 9001: Quality system- Quality assurance model in design / development, production, installation and service.
NCH ISO 9002: Quality systems- Model of quality assurance in production and installation.
NCH ISO 9003: Quality systems- Quality assurance model and inspection and final tests.
NCH ISO 9004: Quality management and elements of the quality system-General guidelines.
The ISO 9000 Standard does not constitute a Total Quality System. However, the ISO 9000 series constitutes a good initial step to implement Total Quality Systems. It has been established that ISO 9000 standards will be reviewed every 5 years.
PERSONAL COMMENT:
Human beings and rather most of us act by inertia following the guidelines set by others, without knowing exactly what we intend or how to achieve it, others are affected by what they will say, etc., all of the above are arguments that we use to limit our growth.
The reality is that since we were little we were educated in a negative way, either because our elders did not show us with deeds what they demanded from us with words or the reality or environment in which we live limited us and stopped us.
That is why the vast majority of people blame circumstances and in some cases go to the extreme of believing that everything is due to their bad luck.
Realization is the full expression of our potential, and the only change to achieve quality is having the courage and courage to extract the best from ourselves, assimilated failure makes success, achievers know it is the surest way to achieve full quality.
This personal vision and the deep respect that I feel for Quality, apart from everything learned in the development of this work, allow me to ensure that the standardization and application of quality is the best method that we can use as a country and companies in particular., to emerge and prosper.
Although it is a relatively modern concept, it is no less true that its development and settlement in modern companies is increasingly extensive, with the fundamental objective of producing goods or services that satisfy all participants in the production process, including the clients.
Finally, it seems to me that despite the costs and high commitments required to implement Total Quality, it will continue to be the fundamental tool for differentiating companies, referring to their level of production, sales and permanence in the market.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Kaoru Ishikawa, What is Total Quality Control ?, Japanese modality, 1st. ed., Colombia, Ed., Norma, 1996.Armand V. Feigenbaum, Total Quality Control, 3era.de., México, Ed. Cecsa, 1994.Dr. Mario Gutiérrez, Administer for Quality (Administrative Concepts of Total Quality Control), 2nd. ed., Mexico, Ed. 1995.W. Edwards Deming, Quality Productivity. (The way out of the crisis), 2nd. ed., Madrid, Ed. Díaz de Santos, 1989 Notes of Total Quality of the Master Gilberto Eduardo Hazas, University of Mexico, year 2000. Total Quality - Iso 9,000, In Search of Continuous Improvement, Pablo Fernández Santander
