Quality is another name for customer satisfaction and the USA cannot afford to ignore its importance. Education and training are essential to the productivity and competitive advantage of the entire country. Emphasizes the importance of quality training and suggests the keys to implementing a...

Argues that organizations are in the midst of a competitive revolution and quality improvement is an important factor in the quest to remain competitive. Companies are realizing they need to initiate a quality improvement programme and that training is a critical variable in the success of that...

Identifies critical factors that must be practised to achieve effective quality management in an organization based on the synthesis of literature on quality concepts. A framework to be used by organizations to evaluate their quality practices was developed. A field study was conducted to...

The US Department of Defense is playing a significant leadership role in implementation of TQM. Provides an overview of the process of implementing total quality management in the US Department of Defense and discusses the implications of this change for its subcontractors and related...

Provides a synthesis of total quality management literature by identifying eight critical factors and supporting performance measures of total quality management in a manufacturing environment. Develops the factors and measurements using data from available literature. Contends that the approach...

The operations strategy literature has identified four primary dimensions on which a firm competes with another. These are: price, quality, flexibility, and delivery dependability. Of these, quality is perhaps the most critical dimension in terms of the impact on the degree of competitiveness...

Compressing the time from idea to market has become a focal competitive priority of global manufacturing companies. Develops a framework that assesses the strategic value of a company in terms of its “time” performance. The primary tool employed to accomplish this is an agility matrix whose...

The QS 9000 quality system was developed in the United States in 1994 by a team consisting of representatives of General Motors, Ford, and Daimler‐Chrysler as well as the US truck manufacturers. The objective of the system is to standardize the quality system requirements and documentation...

Manufacturers in Europe, Japan, and the USA have widely employed the Taguchi methods of robust experimental design in optimizing product designs and manufacturing/assembly processes. However, these methods have made relatively little inroads into the service industries, for rather obscure...

In this case study, flow manufacturing implementation at Acme International, a toilet bowl and seat manufacturer, is described. Flow manufacturing, is a pull‐driven strategy; its main principle is that daily production rate can be synchronized with demand. Thus, customer service is improved...