Tqm of Jakel Silk House Company

Part A 1. 0 Introduction of the organization: Jakel Silk House Jakel Silk House was established with the belief that are the catalysts to bring fashion in Malaysia from a medium to higher level with the support of the distinguished partners and clients. The firms are working together with the fashion industry to user in a new era of fashion, from a company of Malaysians for Malaysians. The focus of Jakel Silk House is to put one of Bumiputra on the Malaysian stage of fashion fabrics. The company realizes that it is a daunting task. However, the company believes that in this endeavor comes opportunity. Mission or objective is very important to each business firm and the firm must have clear mission so that they can make good planning to achieve their objective. Jakel Silk House mission is to innovate, recreate and to rediscover the area of fashion fabrics. Other than that, Jakel Silk House has something for every woman, every home and every occasion. Choose from a spectrum of sub line creations ranging from high-end prices for limited edition pieces to the very affordable. Fabrics from Jakel Silk House display an elegance aura of grandeur with the most saleable fabrics in expression of chiffon, crepe, satin and jacquard silk. Some of this rich range of silk are immaculately finished in embroidery of embellished with fine beads, sequins, machine-sewn of meticulously hand sewn. In addition, to a contemporary collection of crepe, georgette, tissue and silk in various colors, patterns and designs, Jakel Silk House also has wide range of fabrics for curtains and upholstery complete with matching trimmings. Other than that, Jakel Silk House also provides a made-to-measure service where customers select the fabrics of their choice and Jakel Silk House will complete the task right up to installation. As a leading supplier of fabrics, Jakel Trading has been in the forefront bringing in the finest fabrics, silk and textiles products from all over the world including exclusive fabrics from Korea, France, Spain and Italy. The interesting thing about Jakel is their focus solely on high-end fabrics. Jakel are also extending their product line to cater to the mid-range market. Because of their expertise in this industry, they are able to bring in more affordable products. Some of the more renowned brand names found at Jakel's stores are Valentino, Pierre Cardin, Zegna, Armani, Lorenzo Riva, Ungaro and Solstiss. Part B 2. 0 Introduction to TQM (Total Quality Management) TQM is a set of management practices throughout the organization, functioning as to ensure the organization consistently meets or exceeds customer requirements. TQM places strong focus on process measurement and controls as means of continuous improvement. TQM is a description of the culture, attitude and organization of a company that aims to provide, and continue to provide, its customers with products and services that satisfy their needs and demand. The culture requires quality in all aspects of the company's operations, with things being done right first time, and defects and waste eradicated from operations. Important aspects of TQM include, customer-driven quality, top management leadership and commitment, continuous improvement, fast response, actions based on facts, employee participation etc. Customer-driven quality is all about customer satisfaction and it is seen as the company's highest priority. The company will only be successful if customers are satisfied. The TQM is sensitive to customer requirements and responds rapidly to them. In the TQM context, `being sensitive to customer requirements' goes beyond defect and error reduction, and merely meeting specifications or reducing customer complaints. The concept of requirements is expanded to take in not only product and service attributes that meet basic requirements, but also those that enhance and differentiate them for competitive advantage. Top management leadership need the TQM method to success and have the best commitment. It has to be introduced and led by top management. Attempts to implement TQM often fail because top management doesn't lead and get committed. Instead it delegates and pays lip service. Commitment and personal involvement is required from top management in creating and deploying clear quality values and goals consistent with the objectives of the company, and in creating and deploying well defined systems, methods and performance measures for achieving those goals. These systems and methods guide all quality activities and encourage participation by all employees. The development and use of performance indicators is linked, directly or indirectly, to customer requirements and satisfaction, and to management and employee remuneration. Base on our interview, Jakel Silk House had applied TQM on its marketing department as well and had achieve many sucess in the business. Table 1. Hierarchy of TQM principles by Deming No. TQM Principles 1Decision of management to attain the highest quality of work. 2Decision to satisfy requirements of the consumer Rendering of some functions and responsibility from the top level down 4Group influence on the individual in team work 5Regulation of system and processes inside the organization 6Definition of quality and the creation of the quality standards 7Quality measurement in chemistry laboratories 8Sustainable quality improvement in chemistry laboratories 9Comparison of experiences at other chemistry laboratories 10Perception of the whole process 11Improvement of employees qualifications and training 12Definition of problems in one's organization 13Solution of problems in one's organization 14Quality assurance in one's organization 5Active management in chemistry laboratories-actions for avoiding problems 16Ensuring quality of material suppliers 17Communication inside the organization 18Recognition and inducement of employees, i. e. a reward system Part C 3. 0 Why/where (division/department/location) and how the issue topic/ method/ practice is implemented/applied in the organization 3. 1 Marketing Department Jakel Silk House implementing the Total Quality Management especially in their Marketing Department. This is because that marketing department is the one who were concerned or deal with defining the needs of the effectiveness and customers the most. Therefore every aspect of marketing function needs to be completed with quality. Quality control at the production stages is as much the common concern of all divisions as it is the individual responsibility of the technology, production technology, purchasing, manufacturing, inspection, ditribution, customer service and the other divisions. The discussion here is focused on process analysis, process control, quality assurance, process improvement and quality control in purchasing, all of which are essential to mantaining and improving quality. Jakel Silk House apply TQM to create constancy of purpose toward improvement of the product and service so as to become competitive, stay in business and provide jobs. Jakel also adopt the new philosophy. Because Jakel Silk House are in a new economic age. It’s no longer need live with commonly accepted levels of delay, mistake, defective material and defective workmanship. In cease dependence on mass inspection; require, instead, statistical evidence that quality is built in. Jakel need improve the quality of incoming barriers. End the practice of awarding business on the basis of a price alone. Instead, depend on meaningful measures of quality, along with price. On the other hand to find the problems: constantly improve the system of production and service. There should be continual reduction of waste and continual improvement of quality in every activity so as to yield a continual rise in productivity and a decrease in costs. Institute modern methods of training and education for all. Modern methods of on-the-job training use control charts to determine whether a worker has been properly trained and is able to perform the job correctly. Jakel used the modern methods of supervision. The emphasis of production supervisors to help people to do a better job. The Improvement of quality will automatically improve productivity. The Jakel Silk House management must prepare to take immediate action on response from supervisors concerning problems such as inherited defects, lack of maintenance of sales, poor tools or fuzzy operational definitions. Fear is a barrier to improvement so drive out fear by encouraging effective two-way communication and other mechanisms that will enable everybody to be part of change, and to belong to it. Fear can often be found at all levels in an organization: fear of change, fear of the fact that it may be necessary to learn a better way of working and fear that their positions might be usurped frequently affect middle and higher management, whilst on the shop-floor, workers can also fear the effects of change on their jobs. There was a break down barriers between departments and staff areas. People in different areas such as research, design, sales, administration and production must work in teams to tackle problems that may be encountered with products or service. They should eliminate the use of slogans, posters and exhortations for the workforce, demanding zero defects and new levels of productivity without providing methods. Such exhortations only create adversarial relationships. Eliminate work standards that prescribe numerical quotas for the workforce and numerical goals for people in management, substitute aids and helpful leadership also can be applied. Remove the barriers that rob hourly workers, and people in management, of their right to pride of workmanship. This implies, abolition of the annual merit rating (appraisal of performance) and of management by objectives. Institute a vigorous program of education, and encourage self-improvement for everyone. What an organization needs is not just good people; it needs people that are improving with education. Top management's in Jakel Silk House compay must permanent commitment to ever-improving quality and productivity must be clearly defined and a management structure created that will continuously take action to follow the points. Part D 4. 0 Issues/problems faced by the organization in implementing the topic/method (TQM) 4. 1 Commitment Commitment shown at the canopy of the tree shows the importance of this management team in the quality process. Only a strong commitment towards the implementation of the standard can guarantee its successful completion and continuous improvement. Sometimes it is assumed that to appoint a quality consultant or to fill the quality representative position is the sole responsibility of the supreme authority. This assumption is totally wrong, only a strong and committed boss will drive its company on the way to TQM. The management representative is the head of an organization pursuing quality, and infects every member of that organization who is the least concerned with quality procedures. The management representative is himself responsible for the smooth running of the system. Management is like a brain and all members act as the parts of body, if even a single part does not work properly it will affect the procedure of the whole system. The personnel at the conversion stage are the real factors of success of the system. So the commitment to quality should be enrooted deeply in the quality system organization. Motivation in this regard will help a lot to achieve the ultimate target (quality motivation). Jakel Silk House company should have the high commitment to apply TQM on the business not only from the top management but also the workers. 4. 2 Strategies The next issues in pursuing the quality objective is to develop strategies. The most common procedure is to develop quality policies and quality plans. Well that’s exactly the right way to do the things, but remember only creating the quality policy and making quality plans is not enough. It will be effective only when this quality policy is communicated at every level of the organization. The quality policy should be stated in the most simple way so that every individual can understand it. In case of organizations having employees from different linguistic levels, its suggested to translate the quality policy into their languages, this will help to communicate the concept deep in the organization. Quality plans are also of core value in a quality system, but it has been observed that for some individuals the term is confusing. Most often it is thought that separate planning should be done in order to carry out the process. The fact is that this assumption is wrong. Planning can be categorized in many ways; there may be long-term planning, medium term planning, and short-term planning. Every level of planning should be considered separately in the quality system. The short term planning should always be in the view of long term planning, short-term plans may be daily plans or weekly plans or even monthly plans, but they do affect the long-term strategies of the organization. Jakel Silk House company must plan its strategies for the short term and long term to avoid the problem when implementing the TQM on the business. 4. 3 Teamwork The most significant part of the quality system is the teamwork. The single individual cannot achieve the goal in its real sense. Quality teams and quality circles are two basic techniques used most often in quality management. Quality circle is synonymous to management by objectives (MBO) in management’s terminology. For example quality circles were first of all evolved in Japan as a productivity improvement technique, but now this term is used in a much more elaborate scope. People are grouped from the same organizational area and a leader is appointed in order to monitor the objectives, these teams are self motivated and thoroughly trained to achieve the specific objective. In this way participation of every member is assured by assigning specific tasks. For example, one thing that might be important in teamwork is the rotation of the job, in order to ensure the smooth running of the process even in the absence of any member in the company. This is also the dilemma of many organizations that responsibilities are not rotated among coworkers, which might be the major cause of slow progress of organizations. So, all member in Jakel Silk House must trust each other so that they can create good teamwork and doing well in their business. . 4 Customer-driven quality TQM has a customer-first orientation. The customer, not internal activities and constraints, comes first. Customer satisfaction is seen as the company's highest priority. The Jakel Silk House company believes it will only be successful if customers are satisfied. The TQM company is sensitive to customer requirements and responds rapidly to them. In the TQM context, `being sensitive to customer requ irements' goes beyond defect and error reduction, and merely meeting specifications or reducing customer complaints. The concept of requirements is expanded to take in not only product and service attributes that meet basic requirements, but also those that enhance and differentiate them for competitive advantage. Each part of the Jakel Silk House company is involved in Total Quality, operating as a customer to some functions and as a supplier to others. The Marketing Department is a supplier to downstream functions such as Manufacturing and Field Service, and has to treat these internal customers with the same sensitivity and responsiveness as it would external customers. . 5 TQM leadership from top management TQM is a way of life for Jakel Silk House company. It has to be introduced and led by top management. Attempts to implement TQM often fail because top management doesn't lead and get committed instead it delegates and pays lip service. Commitment and personal involvement is required from top management in creating and deploying clear quality values and goals consistent with the objectives of the company, and in creating and deploying well defined systems, methods and performance measures for achieving those goals. These systems and methods guide all quality activities and encourage participation by all employees. The development and use of performance indicators is linked, directly or indirectly, to customer requirements and satisfaction, and to management and employee remuneration. 4. 6 Continuous improvement Continuous improvement of all operations and activities is at the heart of TQM. Once it is recognized that customer satisfaction can only be obtained by providing a high-quality product, continuous improvement of the quality of the product is seen as the only way to maintain a high level of customer satisfaction. As well as recognizing the link between product quality and customer satisfaction, TQM also recognizes that product quality is the result of process quality. As a result, there is a focus on continuous improvement of the Jakel Silk House company's processes. This will lead to an improvement in process quality. In turn this will lead to an improvement in product quality, and to an increase in customer satisfaction. Improvement cycles are encouraged for all the company's activities such as product development, use of EDM/PDM, and the way customer relationships are managed. This implies that all Jakel Silk House activities include measurement and monitoring of cycle time and reponsiveness as a basis for. Seeking responsiveness as a basis for seeking opportunities for improvement. Elimination of waste is a major component of the continuous improvement approach in this company. There is also a strong emphasis on prevention rather than detection, and an emphasis on quality at the design stage. The customer driven approach helps to prevent errors and achieve defect-free production. When problems do occur within the product development process, they are generally discovered and resolved before they can get to the next internal customer. 4. 7 Fast response To achieve customer satisfaction, the Jakel Silk House company has to respond rapidly to customer needs. This implies short product and service introduction cycles. These can be achieved with customer-driven and process-oriented product development because the resulting simplicity and efficiency greatly reduce the time involved. Simplicity is gained through concurrent product and process development. Efficiencies are realized from the elimination of non value adding effort such as redesign. The result is a dramatic improvement in the elapsed time from product concept to first shipment. 4. 8 Actions based on facts The statistical analysis of marketing and manufacturing facts is an important part of TQM. Facts and analysis provide the basis for planning, review and performance tracking, improvement of operations, and comparison of performance with competitors. The TQM approach is based on the use of objective data, and provides a rational rather than an emotional basis for decision making. The statistical approach to process management in both marketing and manufacturing recognizes that most problems are system-related, and are not caused by particular employees. In practice, data is collected by Jakel company and put in the hands of the people who are in the best position to analyze it and then take the appropriate action to reduce costs and prevent non-conformance. Usually these people are not managers but workers in the process. If the right information is not available, then the analysis, whether it be of shop floor data, or marketing test results, can't take place, errors can't be identified, and so errors can't be corrected. 4. 9 Employee participation A successful TQM environment requires a committed and well trained work force that participates fully in quality improvement activities. Such participation is reinforced by reward and recognition systems which emphasize the achievement of quality objectives. On going education and training of all employees supports the drive for quality. Employees in Jakel Silk House Company are encouraged to take more responsibility, communicate more effectively, act creatively, and innovate. As people behave the way they are measured and remunerated, TQM links remuneration to customer satisfaction metrics. 4. 10 A TQM culture It's not easy to introduce TQM. An open, cooperative culture has to be created by Jakel Silk House management. Employees have to be made to feel that they are responsible for customer satisfaction. They are not going to feel this if they are excluded from the development of visions, strategies, and plans. It's important they participate in these activities. They are unlikely to behave in a responsible way if they see management behaving irresponsibly saying one thing and doing the opposite. 4. 11 Product development in a TQM environment Product development in a TQM environment is very different to product development in a non TQM environment. Without a TQM approach, product development is usually carried on in a conflictual atmosphere where each department acts independently. Short term results drive behavior so scrap, changes, work-arounds, waste, and rework are normal practice. Management in Jakel Silk House should focuses on supervising individuals, and fire fighting is necessary and rewarded. Product development in a TQM environment is customer driven and focused on quality. Teams are process oriented, and interact with their internal customers to deliver the required results. Jakel Silk House management's also must focus on controlling the overall process, and rewarding teamwork. Part E 5. 0 Conclusion Focusing on quality, combined with increasing costs of materials, equipment, labor and advertising are driving the implementation of TQM as a competitive strategy in all types of organizations. These forces for change also provide an opportunity for an expanded role of marketing department management in making TQM succeed. Quality can no longer be viewed as the responsibility for one department. It is a companywide activity that permeates all departments, at all levels. The key element of any quality and productivity improvement program is the employee. Consequently, employee commitment to a TQM program is essential. Because of its fundamental employee orientation, Jakel Silk House should seek the responsibility for implementing TQM programs rather than risk losing their influence over the key element of TQM that the employee. Organizations with a solid reputation for providing high customer satisfaction have a common viewpoint: consistently taking care of the smaller duties is just as important as the larger concerns. Just as they attempt to instill an overall quality philosophy across the company, Jakel can emphasize consistent quality in its own operations. The day-to-day delivery can be just as important as developing strategic programs that may have higher visibility and supposedly greater long term consequences. As a manufacturing company Jakel Silk House is best able to take charge of these important functions as they relate to a TQM strategy. The full potential of the entire work force must be realized by encouraging commitment, participation, teamwork, and learning. Jakel Silk House is best suited to accomplishing this by modeling these qualities. Leading by example, the marketing department in Jakel Silk House Company could then sustain the long term TQM process company wide. A byproduct of setting a TQM example can be the improved standing of the marketing department in the eyes of other, traditionally more influential departments. But, the primary end result can be total quality management as a successful competitive strategy for organizational survival. 6. 0 Reference 1. David L. Goetsch, Stanly Davis: Quality Management: Introduction to Total Quality Management for production, Processing, and Services, Prentice Hall Inc, New Jersey, 2000. . Robert W. Ingram,Thomas L. Albright, John W. Hill: Managerial Accounting, Information for Decision 3rd edition, South Western, Canada, 2003. 3. Gopal K. Kanji: Total quality management, Proceedngs of the first World Congress, First edition 1995, Printed in Great Britain by Hartnolls Ltd,Bodmin,Cornwall. 4. Garrison, Noreen, Brewer, Managerial accounting, Twelfth Edition, Printed in Sin gapore. 5. http://www. johnstark. com/fwtqm. html. 6. Interview with Jakel Silk House Company. 7. 0 Appendices 2 Jakel Silk House (Alamesra branch)