An engineering management analysis of quality management systems in the context of product quality : a case study

M.Ing. (Engineering Management)The recent quality revolution has improved companies’ competitive positioning; they can utilise quality tools and methodology to improve performance in their markets and businesses. These tools have become easily attainable and popular due to the Internet. However, the Internet has also created higher consumer demand for quality products. The implementation of a quality management system is an effective method to improve product quality as well as improving business performance through documented and managed processes and activities. The ISO 9001 standard and the Total Quality Management (TQM) philosophy are the most popular quality management systems used globally. For the current research, a case study was performed on ten South African firms to (1) gain knowledge of the issues these manufacturing firms face when working towards achieving high product quality levels under ISO certification, as well as (2) to identify successful quality practices implemented by firms that produce superior quality products. A questionnaire was used as the research instrument, and was addressed to employees of enterprises that have any relevance to quality practices of the company they work for, regardless of size. The focus areas of the questionnaire were quality performance, motivation for pursuing ISO 9001 certification, the use of quality tools and the perception that employees have of their firm’s soft elements. A conceptual model was designed for finding causal relationships between these variables. The outcomes of the current research indicated that the majority of the studied firms’ quality performance levels were above average and they proved to have good knowledge of the basic quality tools. The most frequently used quality tools for these South African firms were the activities of monitoring scrap and the use of Statistical Process Control (SPC) tools during production. The results also showed that the firms are very knowledgeable and aware of the importance of the soft elements of the system. The establishment of measurable quality objectives at relevant functions proved to be the soft element that firms were the most satisfied with. The paper concludes with a list of recommendations for organisations that wish to improve or further improve the quality of their products