QUALITY MANAGEMENT

Quality Management

Quality Management

Introduction

The term quality management has a particular importance in several company areas. This particular description, that does not intend to guarantee 'good quality' by the more common meaning, but more accurately to guarantee that a product or organization is reliable, could be believed to have 04 major parts: quality assurance, quality improvement, quality planning and quality control. Quality management is centered not only on the quality of service/product, but also ways to accomplish it. For that reason, Quality management employs control of processes with products and quality assurance to attain more reliable quality. This paper discusses the concept of Quality Management in relation with the Case Study of Hypnos.

Discussion

Quality (of goods and services, as well as environmental quality) was one of the major types of performance measures that drive operations. Many of these perspectives relate to a good or service's fitness for use—the ability of a good or service to meet customer needs. Understanding fitness-for-use criteria is important in the design proces. It is also important to understand that “fit for use” can mean different things to different people and that customer perceptions of quality are as important to understand as any measurable characteristics that a firm can quantify. Many people view quality by comparing features and characteristics of goods and services to a set of expectations, which may be propagated by marketing heading for expanding quality as an figure variable in their minds. (Cianfrani, 2009)

Case Study

As the case study of Hypnos show that in 1985, Hypnos received a good chance of working with John Lewis which is the high-street retailer. After the contract with John Lewis Hypnos had to boost its production which was a challenge. The company also had to create a new management team which is able to run a bigger and more multifaceted process. When it aimed to expand its business to retail consumer market, it encountered two major challenges in developing a successful retail strategy. The challenges included; shifting manufacturing to a low-cost location in Asia and reduction in quality. Hypnos was having a problem in developing a winning strategy which could meet the both objectives without Constraints. Later the company successfully made an appealing strategy which helped the company to meet the objectives without constraints. (www.hypnosbeds.com)

The company hired new experienced managers with expertise in overseeing a streamlined production process who introduced modern ways to decrease costs and perk up efficiency. They used lean manufacturing and total quality management for this. In order to retain and improve existing workers, the company refurbished its HR system and introduced a career progression scheme. The company revamped its promise to the local community by spending in a nearby village as a latest facility for it production unit. It can be summarized as follows:

Challenges

Constraints

Solution (s)

1. Reduction In Quality

Hypnos was determined not to compromise on quality (as it is a holder of a Royal Warrant to the Queen)

1. Introduction of Lean Manufacturing and Total Quality Management ...