Total Quality Management and Control for Mulberry Production Departmen

Question: Describe about the Total Quality Management and Control for Mulberry Production Department. Answer: Total quality management is a management approach that integrates all the organizational functions i.e. marketing, finance, production, human resource, engineering, customer service, design etc and focus on the requirements and expectations of the customer. TQM would ensure that the requirements of both customer and organization are met. The customer requirement would focus on the product quality, reliability and consistency in the services that meets customer expectations and requirements and wins the confidence of the customer. The organizational requirement would focus on effective costing, optimum utilization of the resources (material, manpower, technology, infrastructure and information). TQM and its implementation would include the following activities in order to align with company goals and objectives: Employee and management commitment Reducing product and service costs Improvement of teams Meeting customer expectations and requirements Demand flow manufacturing Employee empowerment and involvement Recognition and celebration Specific incorporation in strategic planning Reducing development cycle times Challenging quantified goals and benchmarking Systems to facilitate improvement Line management ownership Focusing on processes / improvement plans The report intends to develop a TQM process for the production department in order to produce high quality laptop handbags. Quality control, monitor and process development Control and monitoring would be required for the complete production process of Mulberry in order to produce high quality handbags which meets the needs and requirement of the customers, who are young ladies and boys, business community and tutors. Identify and correct defects In order to control quality it is important to identify defects in the production department and prevent it in the future. The defects can be minimized by maintaining the quality of the raw materials and the process of making hand bags. The quality of raw materials that is leather, stitching material can controlled by the selection of proper vendors and suppliers. The quality of process can be controlled by assessing, recording and resolving work problems in the factory within the workers. Trade unions can be appointed to resolve the issues of the workers. Quality Management Systems QMS is a process of controlling the quality of the services and product by preventing defects. It focuses on satisfying customer needs and requirements. The Mulberry handbags are designed to meet the requirements of young ladies and boys along with business community and tutors, therefore the sizes, colors and texture are all in align with their requirements. The laptop handbags are designed by using superior quality leather with the latest trendy designs providing cushion for the support in case the laptop slips out of the hand of the user. SOP will be implemented in the production department to control the quality of the handbags. The process of making handbag will be divided into sub processes of sourcing of raw material, cutting and sizing, modeling leather, leather processing, painting and drying and packaging and labeling. The workforce of 100000 workers will be divided into three teams namely turning leather, painting and packaging. These three teams will be trained for the process they would be assigned. Sourcing of raw material The high quality raw leather sheets and stitching material will be purchased from the local vendors, who are the most authentic and reliable suppliers providing leather at a very effective cost. The paints that will be used for leathers can also be obtained at a very effective price from the local sources. Cutting and sizing: The leather sheets will be cut into different sizes as per the requirement, which is 16*8 inch for 15 inch laptops and, 10*5 inch for 9 inch mini laptop. It is essential to control the size of the blade and its sharpness. Modeling leather Once the leather has been cut into different sizes, then modeling of leather will take place for which the workers would need to be trained for the required design. The requirement is for 16*8 inch and 10*5 inch leather hand bags, according to which the modeling will take place. The control mechanism will make sure the thickness and color of the thread being used along with the needle and sewing technique being used. Processing leather The leather is then processed through the tanning process and gives a polished leather product. Here, the amount of chemical added in each step is to be controlled along with the temperature and ph value. Painting and drying Once the processing of the leather is complete, painting the hand bags will start to give them their desired and attractive look. Three colors would be required for painting which are black, camel and red. The color mixing has to be standardized by controlling the amount of the color mixed. After painting the handbags will be dried using the drier. Packaging and labeling Once the bags are completely dry, now they will be labeled with the company logo and packed in labeled boxes. Quality Plans Quality plan would define the standard and specification along with the procedures of the production. The standard will be set in terms of sizes (10*5 and 16*8), color fastness (black, camel and red), texture (fibers, yarns and fabric construction), design and quality. Apart from these hand bag will also be tested for its durability, reliability, performance, visual and perceived quality. The handbag should comply with these standards. Testing Testing of the handbags would ensure that the customers receive high quality handbags as per their requirement. The bags will be tested on the basis of the standards and specification set in the quality plan. The quality manager would make sure that only those hand bags, which passes the quality test would be sent to the exclusive showroom and the rest are scrapped after investigating the defect. Recommended Changes in the department The change recommended for the production department is to ensure the quality of raw material used which is leather and stitching material. Ensuring high quality leather would mean testing the leather before beginning with the process of cutting and sizing leather. Following test would be implemented to ensure high quality leather: Standard Test for Measuring the Relative Stiffness of Raw Leather Physical and Mechanical Tests for the Determination of Thickness of Leather Chemical Testing Therefore, there is a need to install equipments for these tests to be conducted to check leather quality. Results Customer requirement and expectation The changes will result in a better product quality which will be consistent, reliable, durable and high quality. This will lead to increased customer satisfaction. Organizational goals and objectives The change will improve the quality of the product and reduce the number of defected products which will help in achieving the goals and objectives of Mulberry. Impact on the Stakeholders The shareholders will now be required to invest more money for the set up and staff requirements. The board members will have to come up with a structural plan for the implementation of the changes. The workers will now have to perform the inspection test for the raw material and thus, will have to work with more responsibility. The suppliers will be alert in terms of quality because now the inferior quality leather will be monitored. The customers will now be getting a very high quality product in terms of reliability and durability. Chemical testing will affect environment in a hazardous manner. List of References Nanda, V, (2005), Quality Management System Handbook for Product Development Companies, US:CRC Press. Jain, PL, (2001), Quality Control and Total Quality Management, India: Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Limited Company. Rao, A, (1996), Total Quality Management:A cross functional perspective, US: Wiley. Smith, AK, (1993), Total Quality Management in the Public Sector.Quality Progress, June 1993, pp. 45-48. 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