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Total quality management (TQM) is the continual process of detecting and reducing or eliminating errors in manufacturing, streamlining supply chain management, improving the customer experience, and ensuring that employees are up to speed with training. Total quality management aims to hold all parties involved in the production process accountable for the overall quality of the final product or service.

TQM was developed by William Deming, a management consultant whose work had a great impact on Japanese manufacturing. While TQM shares much in common with the Six Sigma improvement process, it is not the same as Six Sigma. TQM focuses on ensuring that internal guidelines and process standards reduce errors, while Six Sigma looks to reduce defects.

TQM was often championed by individuals within an organization and then managed by voluntary teams, often called Quality Circles, which focused on particular processes within the business, normally in manufacturing/production. Relatively simple and easy to understand, TQM is well suited for individual projects. This is a great tool for problem-solving after things go wrong.

Here are the 8 principles of total quality management:

• Customer-focused
• Total employee involvement
• Process-centered
• Integrated system
• The Strategic and systematic approach
• Continual improvement
• Fact-based decision making
• Communications

Key Features:

• Total quality management (TQM) is an ongoing process of detecting and reducing or eliminating errors.
• It is used to manufacture to streamline supply chain management, improve customer service, and ensure that employees are trained.
• The focus is to improve the quality of an organization's outputs, including goods and services, through continual improvement of internal practices.
• The focus is to improve the quality of an organization's outputs, including goods and services, through continual improvement of internal practices.
• Total quality management aims to hold all parties involved in the production process accountable for the overall quality of the final product or service.

TQM is a structured system much like a Six Sigma program. When all of its elements are implemented properly, TQM is like a well-built house. It's solid, strong, and exploits the value of synergy. The sum of the collective efforts of everyone in the organization is greater than the sums that each individual can contribute.

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