Quality Management Beyond Manufacturing

Western business leaders have often been criticized as short-sighted and focused on the near term. One manifestation of this syndrome is the excessive attention to fire fighting and achievement of immediate results. One key to breaking this pattern and building a long-term perspective is to strengthen the underlying business processes instead of each specific output and deviation. Therefore, process improvement represents a key principle of Total Quality Management. Any of three failings will prevent an organization from systematically improving its business processes. First is the failure to identity key processes and assign ownership. Second is the failure to measure the right things. Third is the failure to apply a robust improvement approach which builds an understanding of fundamental root causes for problems. A six-step road map is offered in this article to overcome the problems posed by measurement and approach. Assigning ownership for key processes is the responsibility of senior management, and beyond the scope of this article. Characterizing Work Processes The concepts of process improvement were applied to repetitive manufacturing operations, and many hopeful practitioners have encountered difficulties extending improvement tools and techniques to other functions. To begin, consider the similarities and differences between manufacturing and nonmanufacturing work. All products and services are produced and delivered through work or business processes. A process can be defined as the sequential integration of people, materials, methods, and machines so as to produce value-added outputs for customers (see Figure 1). A process converts measurable inputs into measurable outputs through an organized sequence of steps. Furthermore, the process model applies to both manufacturing and nonmanufacturing work. Nonmanufacturing processes differ from their manufacturing counterparts in any of three ways. Manufacturing is unique in that (1) its customers are isolated from production, (2) its outputs are tangible, and (3) its operations are highly repetitive. By contrast, customers usually are involved directly in the delivery of services, and the value added by nonmanufacturing processes is often characterized as intangible. Some nonmanufacturing processes are repeated infrequently, and their outputs can be unique. Customer participation in the production of the output is the first key characteristic which distinguishes manufacturing from nonmanufacturing processes. Referred to as coproduction, this characteristic is found in most nonmanufacturing functions. As co-producers, customers frequently provide the material input into the service process. Customers supply the automobiles, appliances and buildings on which maintenance and repair services are performed. Customers supply their own bodies to the work processes in the health care, travel and entertainment fields. Customers supply the money and data processed in financial and information services. Customers supply the conceptual designs and real estate used in construction. The feature of coproduction brings the customer directly into the service process. This results in the process itself representing an experience of vital interest, importance and value to the customer. Coproduction also exposes a broad array of employees to direct contact with customers. In fact, coproduction influences the basic design of service processes. Tangibility and repetition are the other two key characteristics which distinguish manufacturing from nonmanufacturing functions. Defining specifications and measuring conformance of tangible outputs are relatively straightforward procedures which can rely on physical characteristics such as size, weight, shape, volume, thickness, and material composition. Repetitive processes generate large quantitites of data over relatively short periods. The combination of tangible outputs with repetitive processes facilitates the measurement, comparison, analysis, and systematic improvement of operations, as well as the inspection, grading and sorting of outputs. …