Key Points

• TQM is a great approach for improving quality, customer satisfaction, and process uniformity.
• Organizations like Ford and Xerox have leveraged TQM to bolster their output and regain lost market share.
• While seen as somewhat antiquated by modern standards, TQM is readily adapted to current workflows.

How are leading organizations leveraging TQM? Total Quality Management is a philosophy and approach that emphasizes the likes of continuous improvement, customer satisfaction, and employee engagement. The methodology itself reached the peak of its popularity in the 1980s, before the rise in popularity of methodologies like Six Sigma and Lean.

TQM is still a highly effective means of conducting business, however, as you’ll see from the leading organizations featured today. While some of these businesses have developed their methodologies, as you’ll see, they took heavy inspiration from the principles and teachings of TQM to establish their spin on things. So, let’s dive in and see.

Toyota

Toyota is primarily known for developing the Toyota Production System, which bears quite a few similarities to Lean manufacturing. That said, the earliest forms of TPS took heavy inspiration from TQM, as you might expect from one of the leading organizations in the automotive industry. Quality was heavily pursued, with continuous improvement, or Kaizen per Lean terminology, emphasized across the entire workforce.

Toyota has cultivated a reputation for effective and reliable vehicles, and that starts with its roots in TQM and subsequently TPS. Efficient manufacturing, reduction of waste, and an emphasis on customer satisfaction have made Toyota one of the leading organizations around when it comes to automobiles.

Without TQM, who’s to say that Toyota would enjoy such a healthy and enviable position in the market? Between Lexus and Toyota, they’re the brand to beat when it comes to providing affordable, dependable cars at any price point.

Motorola

Motorola originated Six Sigma, so a tip of the hat on behalf of our humble publication, but the methodology has its roots in approaches like TQM. While the data-driven decision-making is uniquely something developed by Motorola, other aspects of Six Sigma take heavy inspiration from TQM.

As mentioned above, the emphasis on continuous improvement is not unique to Six Sigma at all. The methodology likely takes this aspect from TQM. Other heavy inspirations include things like employee engagement, leadership buy-in, and customer satisfaction. Motorola was able to quickly turn its fortunes around in the 1980s thanks to its revolutionary creation of Six Sigma.

However, it is entirely likely we wouldn’t have a Six Sigma to champion today if it weren’t for the groundwork set by TQM decades before Motorola started its work. TQM has likely helped establish that Motorola is one of the leading brands in the telecom market segment, thanks to some of the guiding principles shared with Six Sigma.

Xerox

The 1980s weren’t a good decade for Xerox, as it faced stiff competition from Japanese companies that were developing similar photocopiers that were cheaper and more advanced. Some changes had to be made to help maintain their status as one of the leading brands for these machines, and Xerox turned to TQM to help provide a competitive edge.

To this end, Xerox started the “Leadership Through Quality” initiative. This effort benchmarked their processes against competitors, trained employees in the use of quality tools, and empowered and engaged the workforce. Xerox began focusing on customer satisfaction, upping the quality of their output, and the overall reduction of defects.

While Xerox might not have regained the same sort of market share it enjoyed before the Japanese surge in the 1980s, it remained competitive. They were able to close the decade out as one of the leading organizations in their market segment in the United States, with their brand name being synonymous with photocopiers over the coming decades.

Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company was in a similar position to Xerox in the 1980s. Thanks to the efforts of leading organizations like Honda, Toyota, and others, Ford’s market share in the United States was steadily falling. Coupled with other issues like spotty quality control, persistent defects, and a lack of innovation and it seemed like America’s top automotive company was set to close the decade with a whimper.

Ford ended up turning to TQM to reverse some of the damage done throughout the decade. The “Quality is Job 1” initiative saw Ford focusing its efforts on preventing defects. To this end, they began working closely with suppliers and vendors for high-quality components and materials. Employee engagement was a top priority, with the workforce tasked with identifying and fixing problems on the assembly line.

The initiative was a resounding success, as Ford was able to reverse some of the damage done to its reputation. By the 1990s, they were in a far better position and helped to capture market interest with innovations like the Ford Explorer and other vehicles. Ford enjoys a leading spot in the American automotive market, thanks to the work done with TQM in the 1980s.

Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company

The hospitality business is a tough nut to crack, as you’re relying heavily on the likes of customer service to inform overall satisfaction. Ritz-Carlton is one of the leading organizations in the hospitality space, something it owes heavily to the use of TQM in guiding its business practices. Employees are empowered, tasked with resolving guest issues as they arise.

Ritz’s “Gold Standards” inform every possible interaction and decision made by an employee. Further, extensive training guarantees the quality of service remains consistent and of the highest quality. The result has seen Ritz-Carlton win two Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Awards in 1992 and 1999.

Tata Steel

This Indian steel giant has become one of the leading organizations for raw materials over the last few years. This is thanks to an exhaustive and extensive implementation of TQM in the 2000s. Tata has been able to transform itself completely with an empowered workforce, process standardization, and a heavy focus on customer satisfaction.

Operational efficiency is up, quality is improved, and the cost of operations has been reduced across the board. When it comes to textbook implementations of TQM, organizations could learn something from Tata Steel.

The company’s efforts in implementing TQM saw it receive one of the vaunted Deming Application Awards in 2008.

Milliken & Company

Textile giant Millkien & Company was an early adopter of TQM, which helped to elevate it as one of the leading organizations in its market. Like Tata Steel, Milliken began focusing on employee empowerment. Quality initiatives were started with the intended goals of improving productivity while reducing defects. It proved to be a successful implementation, as Milliken ably demonstrated that TQM could work beyond the confines of industrial applications.

Further, Milliken leveraged this success toward superb quality, something noticed in 1989 when the organization received the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.

Hewlett-Packard

The final example today is a bit of an oddity. Hewlett-Packard is one of the storied old tech giants in the United States, pioneering the likes of portable calculators, desktop computers, servers, and more. While HP has never been quick to dub their practices TQM, the proof is in the pudding. Despite a heavy focus on engineering, HP has focused on quality for decades.

Dubbed the “HP Way,” the tech giant has fostered a culture centered on continuous improvement, high standards, and innovation. While HP is one of the leading organizations in enterprise computing, it has roots in TQM. TQM may be responsible for HP becoming such a strong presence on the market today.

Other Useful Tools and Concepts

Looking for something else to go with your morning coffee? You might want to take a look at the role of Scrum Masters. Scrum Masters are essentially servant leaders, and the success of any Scrum project hinges on their ability to navigate and provide all the necessary materials for a team to do their best.

Additionally, you might want to take a closer look at some of the top lessons from Lean Six Sigma implementation in the public sector. While not immediately evident, the public sector greatly benefits from the use of Lean Six Sigma, despite any regulatory guidelines you might have to adhere to.

Conclusion

TQM is one of the great approaches that have distinguished businesses over the last few decades. It is still highly relevant in the modern era, guiding many manufacturers and businesses towards achieving great results. The lessons we can learn from these organizations is to always focus on improving our processes, the pursuit of quality, and the importance of customer satisfaction.