A Survey Of Quality Management Practices In The Kenyan Small And Medium Manufacturing Industries

This paper is to explore the concept of Quality Management Practices (QMPs) and the extent of its implementation in the Kenyan small and medium manufacturing industries (SMMIs). The respondents of this survey consisted of 125 SMMIs in Nairobi and its environs selected through convenience sampling. Nairobi was chosen because it is the capital city of Kenya and where most of the SMMIs are located. Personal visits and interviews were made to Plant managers, Quality managers and factory supervisors and they were requested to fill in questionnaires. According to most of the responses received, SMMIS practice QMPs in one way or another but have very poor implementation levels. The paper concludes that further research is needed to validate and explain the findings; the role QMPs may play and what contributes to poor implementation levels and adoption rate in the operations of SMMIs in the manufacturing sector