Total Quality Management - British Airways

Introduction

The methods to control the quality of products and services have developed continuously along with the rapid changes in techonology and social culture, that have marked the evolution of society, especially in this century. Nowadays, Total Quality Management (TQM) has been accepted by both service and manufacturing companies as a systematic management approach to meet competitive challenges. TQM redefines the quality with emphasis on top management commitment and customer satisfaction. It provides companies a linkage between productivity and quality as well as increases companies's efficiencies. The benefits of TQM are numerous and are increasingly realized by companies.

This report will discuss about the principles of TQM and contrast the TQM in manufacturing sector with the TQM in service sector. Mercedes Benz and British Airways are used as examples of manufacturing sector and service sector respectively in order to give a clearer view about differences and similarities between these sectors. In addition, it will also emphasis on continuous improvement processes and challenges that Mercedes Benz and British Airways encountered while implementing the TQM.

TQM in Technical Workshops

British Airways Technical Workshops are located at Heathrow, Gatwick, Glasgow and South Wales. These workshops were responsible for the overhaul and the repair of aircraft components. Technical workshops were the first department that British Airways chose to apply TQM concept. The following key steps were applied to TQM implementation in Technical workshops at British Airways: (1) Conduct a survey to diagnose the current position within Technical workshops and report findings; (2) Get support and commitment to the TQM concept from all levels of management and respond positively to the outcomes of the survey; (3) Educate staff according to the principles of TQM and facilitate necessary changes in management style; (4) Change policies, procedures and work practices in order to fit and facilitate new organizational culture; (5) Start the process of quality improvement; (6) Review the progress made and encourage a sustained commitment from all levels of the company (Mardar, 2015).

The survey was completed in order to find out issues and problems that the staff was facing, to determine the cost of not getting it right at first time and to identify areas of waste. It was carried out accross Technical Workshops, customer and supply areas. In order to collect the quality costs, the quality-related activities of staff were broken down into three areas: (1) Prevention cost, which included activities that provide performance "right first time"; (2) Appraisal cost, which included activities that help to do it "right the first time" ; (3) Failure costs, which included activities resulting from the failure of the concept "right first time" (Marda, 2015).