What is Total Quality Management (TQM)? Everything You Need to Know

Total Quality Management (TQM) is an approach to achieve long-term success through continuous improvement.

What is Total Quality Management?

TQM and its variations have been around for a long time, dating all the way back to the original industrial revolution. It is a very broad term, as opposed to Lean, which is an extremely narrow and concise approach focused on reducing wastes.

The Benefits of TQM

The implementation of total quality management / TQM has many benefits. TQM reduces the cost of doing business and therefore allows a business to remain profitable even during a recession. The implementation of TQM is also beneficial to an organization’s employees. TQM is a process that allows employees to learn and work on things they are passionate about. They work to develop and improve their talents and learn new skills which enhances their skills set. Total Quality Management / TQM is an excellent way to reduce errors and increase profits. 

How to Implement Total Quality Management

Knowing how to implement Total Quality Management (TQM) or Total Quality Management Processes (TQMP) is one of the first steps to improved business performance. Many businesses are new to TQM and for many others, it is a process they've been following for a long time, but not getting the expected results. But adopting TQM will not be easy and requires an investment of time, effort and resources. 

Conclusion

It is very important to thoroughly understand what quality is for your organization (or for your customers) before you can do anything related to it.  Before you start, you need to learn as much as you can about the customer needs, how you can achieve them, and what tools are available to help you to achieve them.