Inhaltsangabe:Introduction: Total Quality Management (TQM) has already made its mark in history. Big players in major industries, such as Ford and Siemens, have already aligned their business and production processes to this holistic management concept. Over the past three decades there are more medium-sized companies applying TQM principles to their business. Quality has been important in helping companies gaining a competitive edge in globalized markets. TQM with its extensive set of methods aims to embed quality awareness among all departments of a company where work affects the quality of the products. There are thousands of articles and books written on how large and medium sized companies have successfully implemented of TQM. An extensive literature review and interviews of experts and owners of very small businesses (micro-businesses) indicate that this is the only industry where TQM systems have not yet been implemented. Although micro-businesses are pressured by their customers to achieve high levels of quality in their products, there is not enough research that addresses the issues of implementing TQM practices for micro-businesses. Scientific literature does not provide answers to crucial questions such as: - What methods of quality management are currently being in use in micro-businesses? - How could a TQM system be tailored to meet the needs in a micro-business environment? This thesis is part of a large-scale field study that recently has been launched by the Howe School of Technology Management at Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ. The study aims to reveal answers to the questions listed above. This thesis forms the foundation for the subsequent field study. The main goals is to deploy a systematic TQM framework for micro-businesses that will be help micro-businesses understand how the quality management culture has an impact on a company s success. Additionally, this thesis aims to develop a questionnaire that will examine the validity of the framework and serve as basis for the field study. The focus is on very small manufacturers. First breakthroughs in quality management have been taken place in this industry. Thus we can dispose of more than 100 years of research results in this field. Furthermore it is the manufacturer who is used to the first-movers role in new quality management models another good reason for choosing this industry. Layout of This Thesis: After an exposure of the problem in [...]

From recurring episodes of great depression, oil crises, political crises, wars, debt crises, to the ongoing climate change, there is a constant pressure on businesses to cope with critical events. However, throughout history, crises have been pivotal in advancing businesses and societies. This contributed volume approaches crisis not simply as a source of problems, but also as a set of choices. It seeks to explore critical events as possible opportunities for sustainability, through process improvement, creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship. Chapters reveal that times of crisis provide opportunities for new start-ups, creativity, resilience, organisational change, and revitalisation. This book also emphasises the importance of sustainability, driven either by the market or as a response to critical events. Within the wider attempt to explore avenues for Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Sustainability at times of crisis, the book is loosely organised in three thematic sections: organisational responses to crisis; digitisation, and how technology facilitates or hinders sustainability under conditions of crisis; and SMEs, Family Firms (FF), Entrepreneurship, which explores how critical events offer opportunities for innovation.

Manufacturing companies including a local micro-enterprise - Quality Postform Ltd are persistently facing competitive pressures as a consequence of customers demanding higher quality products. The emergence of Quality Management has been attributed by many researchers and Quality Gurus including Phil Crosby as a strategic imperative for typical organisations to survive within a highly competitive environment. Nevertheless, research carried out throughout the past years is relatively restricted regarding the practicality of micro-manufacturing firms in implementing Crosby’s Quality Improvement Programme, which is claimed to be highly beneficial in typical situations. This dissertation seeks to investigate this scenario from both a descriptive and critical perspective towards Quality Postform Ltd. The research provides a critical evaluation of the academic contributions towards the quality management concept. Distinct disputed viewpoints have been identified focusing on Crosby’s 14-Step Quality Improvement Programme. From one end of the spectrum, supporters uphold that claimed benefits have been acknowledged. Alternatively, others sustain that in essence a Quality Improvement Programme is counter-productive in terms of its application within Small and Medium sized Enterprises. However the researcher has identified four key pre-requisites in order for micro-firms to effectively implement Crosby’s programme. These include: management commitment, the acknowledgement of a quality problem, the organisation’s readiness to embrace change together with the suppliers’ readiness to support the quality programme. The methodology applied to assess the presence of these four pre-requisites at QPL was to compile primary, qualitative data through one-to-one / face-to-face interviews with key management officials. This approach is justified due to the absence of formalised documentation and as a result, it is imperative to assess that historical data on Quality Systems is seriously lacking at QPL. The field research outcome reveals that QPL’s management is experiencing serious doubts regarding the feasibility and practicality of the program’s implementation within a micro-manufacturing firm. This is the case primarily whenever the latter is facing limited financial and human resource capabilities such as at QPL. The research findings disclose that none of the four pre-requisites are present within this micro-firm. Moreover it confirms the scepticism on the part of [...]

Africa, has seen the emergence of new key players in the game of economics and business, small entities have grown into large entities and countries once seen as low, competitors with a lack of an competitive edge have now become key figures, on the market and global front as a whole.This book Looks at the African prespective, of small beginnings to big ending

Quality management (QM) practices are the basis for the successful implementation and maintenance of any QM system. Quality control (QC) is identified as a QM component. Therefore, QM effectiveness is dependent on the QC strategy. QC practice is more or less complex depending on the type of production. The book is focused on new trends and developments in QM and QC in several types of industries from a worldwide perspective. Its content has been organized into two sections and seven chapters written by well-recognized researchers worldwide. Several approaches are debated based on sample traceability, analytical method validation, required parameters, class of exponential regression-type estimators of the population means, determination of impurities, viewpoints, and case studies.

This study investigates the relation of total quality management (TQM) and just-in-time purchasing (JITP) with respect to firms' performance, based on theories from operations management, organization theory, strategic management and marketing. U.S. companies have implemented TQM and JITP techniques to improve their global competitive position. The lack of empirical research on how these techniques effect firms performance makes it necessary to explain their strategic values as management innovations. In this study, a cross-sectional mail survey was used with the target population of firms in the continental United States that have implemented either technique, or both. The results indicate that the extent of TQM and JITP implementation positively correlates with a firm's performance. Furthermore, the relation between JITP and financial and market performance is more significant in those industries that face high as opposed to low foreign competition. In this study, the validity of findings was assessed in four parts: statistical conclusion, internal, construct, and external validity. Each validity type is defined and its threats are discussed. Based on the findings, a revised research model is offered. The author also notes likely avenues of future research for theorists and practitioners.

Acclaimed and used in over 200 colleges and universities around the country, Total Quality Management: Text, Cases and Readings has been completely revised and expanded to meet the growing demands and awareness for quality products and services in the competing domestic and global marketplaces. Since the publication of the first and second editions of this book, interest in and acceptance of TQM has continued to accelerate around the world. This edition has been thoroughly revised, updated and expanded. Some of the changes are: A new chapter on the emerging Theory of Constraints Expanded treatment of Process Management Eleven new readings Ten new cases Chapter examples of TQM at 12 Baldrige winning organizations End of chapter recommendations for further reading Revised and updated textual material The Varifilm case is retained as a comprehensive study that illustrates good and not so good practices. Each chapter contains an exercise which provides the reader with an opportunity to apply TQM principles to the practices illustrated in each case. Based on sound principles, this practical book is an excellent text for organizational development programs aimed at practitioners responsible for developing and implementing TQM programs in their own service or manufacturing organizations.

International conference supported by Indian Statistical Institute, held at Bangalore, 20-22 December, 2011; selected papers.

This book focuses on the application of workstudy in productivity of manufacturing SMEs locally and abroad and also explores various industrial problems which face manufacturing SMEs in developing and underdeveloped countries in the rest of the world. Low productivity is currently a serious challenge facing manufacturing SMEs, where these SMEs are operating below expected production output levels which makes it difficult for them to compete in the global market. SMEs are the engine drivers of economic growth, one of which is manufacturing. The challenge is that government from various countries in developing and underdeveloped countries, mandated agencies in their respective areas, to ensure that there is economic progress for these SMEs, but productivity remains low in the manufacturing SMEs. When SMEs do not perform well, productivity of manufacturing SMEs declines and unemployment increases. Thus, an increase in unemployment results in a drop of GDP in the country and can become a global and economic crisis. This book describes a process which enables the reader to use effective knowledge that addresses problems facing the productivity of manufacturing SMEs such as work study tools and case studies and provides solutions and applications to improve the running of the manufacturing SMEs in growing their productivity.

1.1 Background Steel besides an alloy is referred to as the backbone of human civilization, since it has been serving mankind from hundreds of years in realizing their social, cultural, political and economical needs. Steel essentially composed of iron and other elements like carbon, manganese, silicon etc. Steel by its virtue of nature is an eco-friendly product used in our everyday life. It has been the material for innumerable applications in the past and it would likely to continue in the future for sure. At modern times, its production is considered as the crucial factor for the development of economies. Steel is shining up to the extent that any country’s socio-economic development and standard of living is determined by its per-capita consumption. During the early period of globalization steel industry was in the forefront among the other sectors and made rapid strides since then. Increasing modernization of green and brown field plants in the twenty-first century has led in doubling of global steel production from 851 million tons at the turn of the century in 2000 to 1,662 million tons in 2014. According to World Steel Association, the global steel demand is estimated to realize 3000 million tons in 2025. The past growth in production and consumption of steel has largely been at the cornerstone of the heightened economic activity in the emerging economies, especially China, whose demand remains a pivotal factor driving the global steel industry.