I. I. Pichurin

The 28 principles of quality management brought to the attention of readers are formulated on the basis of a study of the work of leading experts in quality and personnel management, as well as the experience of leading domestic and foreign enterprises.

1. Ahead of consumer requirements for product quality

About 20-25 years ago, the complete satisfaction of today's consumer requirements was recognized as a modern approach to the problem of quality. But the unprecedented acceleration of scientific and technical progress has led to the fact that the requirements of the consumer began to change rapidly. Therefore, orientation in quality management to today's requirements of even the most advanced consumer is unacceptable. It is necessary either to determine its future requirements together with the consumer, or the manufacturer himself must learn to predict them.

The reality of this approach is confirmed by both domestic and foreign experience. CNC machines, machining centers in mechanical engineering did not appear in response to consumer requirements, but as a proposal from machine tool manufacturers.

The basis of this principle is the understanding that the manufacturer knows much more than the consumer about the possibilities for improving his product, and he must study the conditions of its application in such a way as to determine which of the potential possibilities will be useful to the consumer. The implementation of the principle of advancing consumer requirements allowed Japan to oust the United States in the production and marketing of such primordially American types of products as cars, electronics, and machine tools. The Japanese have achieved excellence in product quality for a number of reasons. Most importantly, instead of America's "responsiveness to the consumer", they were guided by the principle of "discover new useful properties for the consumer."

The Soviet (now Russian) defense industry has a brilliant experience of getting ahead of consumer requirements. She created such samples of defense equipment that were decades ahead of their foreign counterparts.

2. Quality must be built into the product

This means that the design of the product must correspond to the conditions of consumption, and the production process must be such as to definitely prevent the possibility of the appearance of products that do not comply with the NTD. Not so long ago, manufacturers proceeded from the assumption that there can be no defect-free manufacturing, but all defects can be identified. The practice of advanced enterprises has shown that this is a wrong premise. On the contrary, it is impossible to identify all existing defects, but it is possible to manufacture products with a negligible number of defects.

Why is it impossible to identify all defects?

First, there are defects that are not detected when acceptance tests. For example, in the manufacture of radio equipment, the soldering of contacts may be of poor quality, which will not immediately lead to a circuit break, but over time, the contact may be broken. Any production worker knows that not every violation of technology can lead to an increase in the number of rejected products, which, by the way, creates an illusion for many that violation of technology is harmless. In fact, these violations lead to the appearance of hidden defects, which are much more dangerous, since they can appear at the most inopportune time.

Secondly, even if defects by their nature are such that they are easily detected during inspection, this does not mean that they will all be detected. Interesting research to establish the average number of defects not found during inspection was carried out by the US Department of Defense. It turned out that in the manufacture of defense products, even experienced inspectors do not detect up to 15% of defects. Approximately the same proportions exist in our practice, especially in mass production. It can be calculated that if the defect rate at the enterprise is 0.6%, then almost certainly 0.1% of defective products reach the consumer even with good control organization. The use of selective statistical methods of control increases the reliability of control, but does not completely exclude the receipt of defects by the consumer.

Moreover, the higher the stability of productive labor, the more likely it becomes that defects are skipped by QCD inspectors. Let's imagine two situations. The first is the defect rate of 2%. The inspectors are constantly strained not to miss these two defective products out of a hundred. The second situation is the defect rate of 0.1%, i.e., only one product out of a thousand can be defective. Events become so infrequent, vigilance becomes so lethargic that the probability of missing defects increases dramatically. You may miss one defective product out of twenty tested in the first case. And it will be 5% of all existing defects. But if you do not notice one defective product out of twenty tested in the second case, then these will be 100% omissions, since it was one. Therefore, we say that the higher the quality of workmanship, the greater the likelihood of skipping products, i.e., control becomes less effective.

The only way to rid the consumer of marriage is not to create it. Is it possible? It is possible if the process is carried out strictly following the technology, applying the methods of statistical regulation of technological processes and introducing self-control. The levels of defectiveness (two or three defects per million items) achieved in the best world practice for a number of B1(ts) products confirm the correctness of this principle.

3. Self-control as the main form of product quality assessment

This principle was first formulated and implemented in our country in 1955 in the Saratov system of defect-free manufacturing of products. Its essence lies in the fact that the workers themselves, who manufacture the products, control its quality and present only those products that they consider suitable for inspection by the QCD workers. If, when checking a batch of products, QCD employees discover a defective product, the entire batch is returned to the worker who presented it for delivery.

With this approach, the worker seeks to conduct the technological process in such a way as to prevent the appearance of defective products. A qualified worker, as the experience of using the Saratov system at many enterprises of the country, can work for years without admitting a single case of defective products being submitted for control.

Subsequently, the self-control method was used in the American "zero defects" system. It turned out that with the same technology, with the same equipment, it is possible to dramatically improve the quality of manufacture, if the manufacturer himself is interested in the quality of the products he created. What is the fundamental difference between external control and self-control?

First, with self-control, it accelerates Feedback. The introduction of the idea of ​​self-control entailed the creation of a whole range of measuring instruments built into the technological process, which made it possible to make accurate measurements without spending a lot of time. If earlier a worker learned about an unsatisfactory result after he had already made several products (and sometimes thousands) in the wrong mode, then with built-in measuring instruments he gets rid of this danger.

Secondly, with self-control, the employee is less likely to work in risky modes. Indeed, in cases where the discovery of one defective item in a batch led to the rejection of only that item, the risk was less compared to when the entire batch was returned due to one defective item.

Thirdly, not all defects can be seen with external control. Hidden defects caused by a violation of technology can only be prevented by the introduction of self-control.

4. Statistical methods

Today it is generally recognized that it is impossible to ensure the prevention of the appearance of defective products without the use of statistical methods for regulating the production process, just as it is impossible to ensure reliable product quality control without statistical methods. Statistical regulation of technological processes - this is the adjustment of the values ​​of the parameters of the technological process based on the results of selective control of manufactured products, carried out for the technological support of the required level of its quality.

The use of methods of mathematical statistics makes it possible to determine exactly how often the parameters of the product must be monitored, how many products must be controlled and what adjustments to make to the process. In any process, there are acceptable deviations in the indicators of product properties. The dilemma is that if you stay far from acceptable limits, you have to spend additional money on adjustments, tool changes, etc., and if you go close to acceptable limits, then there is a risk of rejection. The use of methods of mathematical statistics makes it possible to be at such a distance from the dangerous border that, with a given probability, to avoid the formation of a marriage. The Japanese, who have reached a defect level of 0.0001-0.0005% for a number of types of products, attribute this to the use of statistical methods.

Statistical acceptance control- this is a selective quality control of products, based on the use of methods of mathematical statistics, to verify its compliance with established samples. Statistical acceptance control allows you to very carefully check the properties of a small number of products selected for control and, based on the results of the check, give a scientifically based conclusion about the quality of the entire batch. The probability of error, i.e., the probability of defective products getting into accepted batches, is specified in advance by regulatory documents. Statistical acceptance control is applicable not only for checking finished products, but also at intermediate stages as an inter-operational control.

Modern Computer Engineering allows the wide use of statistical methods of control. Before the advent of computers, the colossal laboriousness of mathematical processing was a serious obstacle to the introduction of statistical methods. Now that workers can be armed with personal computers, not only research engineers, but also a larger body of research workers can take part in establishing technological dependencies.

5. The end of the orientation when purchasing materials at the lowest price

The reorientation to quality as a primary success factor and the understanding of the principle “Quality must be embedded in the product” have led to the fact that quality has become the criterion of competitiveness in the entire supply chain of industrial and technical products. Another reason for the change in the attitude of the manufacturer to cheap supplies was the realization of the fact that although it is possible to redirect specific losses from a breach of contract to a supplier of low-quality products that violated the terms of the contract, this will not restore one's good name. If, due to poor quality material, it turned out to be of poor quality own production and the buyer was harmed, he will not be interested in these relationships. He simply will no longer buy such products, and the manufacturer, who failed to find a supplier of high-quality materials, will lose the sales market.

6. Attracting the minimum possible number of suppliers

The traditional rule of American procurement, adopted by European companies, was to have 6-10 suppliers for each type of supplied material. It was believed that the abundance of suppliers guarantees the stability of supply in terms of volume, since possible supply failures from one supplier will be blocked by the supply of others. With many suppliers, it is easy to keep them on their toes and force them to lower the price, since the obstinate supplier can always be replaced or simply do without him, increasing the orders of the rest. This approach was considered classic until quality became the main goal.

To ensure a stable production process, it is necessary to have stable material properties. Experience shows that when supplied according to the same NTD, the properties of materials supplied by different manufacturers differ, although they remain within the permissible deviations. Anyone who wants to have a stable process should ideally have one supplier. This is not always possible, but those companies that are concerned about the stable quality of their products strive for this. In addition, having the minimum possible number of suppliers, it is easier to organize preventive work with them to prevent poor-quality supplies. This practice is widespread in Japan, where many small suppliers to a large firm work predominantly only for that firm, becoming essentially legally independent but production-bound satellite firms. big company. The loss of industrial independence for these small suppliers is compensated by the stability of sales and the ability to rely, if necessary, on the financial strength of a large company.

7. Organization of preventive work with suppliers

More recently, an attempt to intervene in manufacturing process supplier was seen as an encroachment on economic independence. The interaction between the buyer and the seller was limited to the conclusion of the contract. How the supplier conducts incoming control, how he observes the technology and stimulates his employees, how he distributes responsibility for quality among managers, etc. - all this was considered an internal affair of the supplier.

Today, preventive work with suppliers is one of the most important areas for preventing defects in consumer products. These can be jointly developed technical measures aimed at improving the quality characteristics, the reliability of control, improving the quality system, and training the supplier's personnel on quality issues. Specific forms of work depend on the size of partner companies, on the size and stability of orders.

8. Expansion of tolerances with strict adherence to established boundaries

When setting tolerances for dimensions in drawings, permissible deviations of parameters in technological instructions, the following concept is often adopted: to make the restrictions more stringent (less tolerances, etc.), but with slight violations of these restrictions, the products should not be turned into defects. This approach is widespread both abroad and in our country. At the same time, a certain indiscipline of the performers is assumed in advance, who will still violate the boundaries. Even at defense enterprises, which very strictly observed all quality requirements, at the end of the month, often with the consent of the developers, they were allowed “as an exception” to accept previously rejected products as suitable. Let's explain with an example:

a hole with a diameter of 20 mm, according to the conditions of durability, must have a tolerance of ± 0.007 mm. Guided by the concept described above, the designer puts down a tolerance of ± 0.005 mm on the drawings. Workers produce parts, trying to meet the established tolerance. But still, within a month, 100 parts turned out to be rejected according to a given size. Then the designer allows to accept as suitable those of the parts that fit within the tolerance of ± 0.007 mm known to him. It is believed that such a scheme makes the workers strive for the whole month to fit within the tolerance of ± 0.005 mm. In fact, the workers are well aware that the end of the month will come, and the authorities will allow the use of previously rejected parts. This approach corrupts workers.

The correct approach to management in general and quality management in particular is that any boundaries should be made as small as possible, but not to the detriment of the result. But the observance of the boundaries must be absolute. Never, under any circumstances, a part manufactured with violation of tolerance or with non-compliance with technology can not be considered suitable, even if the tolerance is violated by a micron, which is sometimes comparable to measurement accuracy. Workers, having become convinced that boundaries are inevitable, will find ways to stay away from them, for example, through more frequent adjustments, additional measurements, tool changes, etc.

9. Improving quality does not reduce, but increases labor productivity

Many manufacturers, who understand the importance of quality, believe that it is inevitable negative consequence, which will have to be put up with, will be a decrease in labor productivity. But this is a delusion. In fact, by producing better products, in most cases we increase labor productivity.

First, by improving the quality of the project, we create products that better meet the need. In particular, by increasing the reliability and maintainability of products, it is possible to ensure the performance of a larger amount of work with a smaller number of them. For example, if today domestic tractors are idle 30-40% of the time during the season due to failures and funds are spent on eliminating failures over the life of the tractor, three to four times the initial cost of the tractor, then by making them more reliable, tractor builders will create for agriculture conditionally, instead of one, four or five tractors. This means that without increasing volumes, they will increase labor productivity several times.

Secondly, by improving the quality of workmanship, the manufacturer reduces the cost of correcting defects. According to A. Feigenbaum, American machine builders up to 30-40% production capacity spent on fixing defects. For our factories, such figures were not published, but judging by the culture of production, they are unlikely to be less. Let's take an example. At one time, the reasons for the large battle of red bricks manufactured by the Shuvakinsky brick factory were analyzed. The fight was 25-30%. The manufacturers accused the builders of carelessly unloading the bricks. And the builders blamed the makers of the brick, which broke on any impact. When analyzing the quality of the brick, it turned out that its entire surface was covered with cracks due to a violation of the clay storage regime and accelerated firing. The plant explained the accelerated firing by the need to fulfill the plan, exceeding the design capacity by 30%. What productivity gain did society gain by getting 30% more bricks if that excess brick turned into combat?

From the editor

Society has absolutely nothing to do with it. We are talking about a banal cost reduction due to a cheaper technological process, which in turn allows the manufacturer to either offer customers a lower price for a brick, or get extra profit at a constant price.

10. Strive for optimal, not maximum quality

The question often arises before the developers of new products, should we strive for the highest possible, from a technical point of view, level of quality? To many, the very formulation of such a question seems outdated, if the idea of ​​the priority of quality is accepted.

For example, a bearing plant has spent significant funds to increase the service life from 6,000 to 10,000 bearings for special generators. The customers agreed to take bearings of a new type, but categorically refused to agree on a price increase, explaining that the generator had a life of 7,000 hours, and therefore increasing the bearing life to 10,000 hours was pointless.

The quality must be optimal. Optimality is ensured by achieving the maximum difference between the effect of using high-quality products at the consumer and the cost of improving quality at the manufacturer.

Setting the task of improving quality must necessarily be preceded by an analysis of efficiency, not only economic, but also social (improvement of working conditions, environmental impact, degree of satisfaction of demand for household products, etc.).

11. Quality improvement costs should be considered and planned

One of the weakest links in quality management work is accounting for quality improvement costs. Speaking about the optimal level of quality, we noted the need to compare costs and effects. The methodology for determining the effect of the use of high-quality products has been theoretically worked out quite deeply. Regarding the cost of improving quality, there is still no consensus on what to include in this concept. Some authors believe that the cost of quality is the cost of control, the maintenance of the quality management service and the cost of satisfying consumer claims. Others include in the list of costs the costs associated with the improvement of technology, equipment with the next improvement in quality.

It should be noted that the importance of quality costs in recent decades has increased so much that they have become commensurate in magnitude with wage costs.

Given the variety of properties and the need to keep track of costs for each property, it becomes clear that this is not an easy task. However, modern computer technology provides a solution to such problems. Having data on the actual costs of higher quality, you can schedule them in the current production. By changing their value, one can judge the effectiveness of quality management in the enterprise. Having data on quality costs, it is possible to predict their value in the production of new products of improved quality and, on this basis, determine the optimal level of quality.

12. Principle G. Taguchi

The American engineer G. Taguchi showed that within the limits of permissible deviations, there are costs for the manufacturer and losses for the consumer. This principle has been repeatedly described in the press, for example, so here we will limit ourselves to mentioning it.

13. We should strive to ensure that, simultaneously with the improvement of product quality, its price decreases.

This principle is abbreviated as follows: "Better and cheaper at the same time." The principle “better means more expensive” was not in doubt for a long time. But in the late 70s of the XX century. the Japanese began to actively enter the world market with goods more than High Quality than competitors, and at the same time cheaper. At first, the Japanese were accused of dumping, then, when it turned out that this was not the case, they began to talk about their cheap labor force, which made it possible to sell high-quality products at low prices. And already in the 80s there was a general understanding that this is simply a more correct strategy that makes it possible, with low profitability, to obtain sufficient profit by expanding production volumes. And most importantly, to increase our market share, thus ensuring a sustainable future for ourselves. Being guided by this principle does not mean lowering the price of better products, regardless of the costs.

If the provision of higher quality entailed an increase in costs, then, naturally, the price must also be increased, but in such a way that it is beneficial to the buyer. Otherwise he won't buy. But if you can find a solution that reduces costs while increasing quality, then you should also reduce the price in order to increase production. And it turns out that this combination of quality improvement and cost reduction is not uncommon. And if you look back at the history of economics, it turns out that this “new” approach to pricing was known hundreds of years ago. So, the Dutch merchants conquered Europe with the cheapest and highest quality cloth back in the 17th century. Henry Ford conquered the market at the beginning of the 20th century. the cheapest and most reliable cars.

14. Top managers should be personally responsible for product quality

When profit was considered the main goal of the enterprise, the main thing in the activity of the first head was the issue of production volumes and costs. When customer satisfaction becomes the main goal, quality becomes the most important task of the first manager. He personally must be responsible to the company for the quality of the products.

In the Soviet economy, the director was personally responsible for the implementation of the plan. Responsible for quality Chief Engineer and the head of the OTK. In countries with market economies, the CEO was responsible for profit, and for quality - Technical Director or Quality Director. Now for the quality of personal demand from the first head. Of course, this does not mean that the first leader himself organizes control or develops projects. This means that he personally deals with the quality policy, the improvement of the quality system and the organization of the conviction of the personnel in the vital importance for the enterprise of the priority of quality.

15. Give each employee a general idea of ​​the role of quality in general

When breaking down the process of manufacturing a product into many operations, workers performing a single operation may not understand how a small defect in the part they are manufacturing can turn into a huge accident. Very often, not only workers, but also craftsmen and technologists do not understand the importance of observing certain parameters for the functioning of the product as a whole. This happens for two reasons.

Firstly, until recently it was believed that there was no need for explanations, it was enough to accustom people to diligence, and to punish financially for non-execution.

Secondly, products have often become so complex (include up to several tens of thousands of parts) that a sufficiently high level of education is required to understand the interaction of components, machines, and assemblies.

Thirdly, in order to give a general idea of ​​the role of quality in general, it is necessary to spend a lot of time of workers and efforts of educators.

Today, when processes become more and more complicated, it becomes clear that discipline alone is not enough. Creativity is needed, which can be based only on conviction, on encouragement, and not on coercion. In addition, now the level of education of the staff is quite high, so that workers are able to understand complex things. And the understanding came that the funds spent on training pay off by improving the quality. In some companies, up to 20% of production time is spent on training, including a significant part of the time on training in quality management.

What is meant by "training in quality management" of direct executors? They study the product itself and the conditions for its operation. For example, manufacturers of a medical device will learn what its purpose is, how its failure can affect the health of patients, how it works, and what is the purpose of the assembly or part that they manufacture. People who understand the importance of their work have a different attitude towards it. The influence of the quality of manufactured products on the well-being of the company and the people working in it, especially on the guarantee of their employment, is studied. They teach statistical methods, that is, they give workers a tool to ensure quality. They study the quality system itself used in the company, including the distribution of responsibility between employees for quality assurance.

16. Ensuring the creative participation of staff in improving quality

One of characteristic features management of modern production - the need to ensure the creative attitude of the staff to the processes in which he takes part. Why is diligence, which until recently was considered the basis of the organization mass production, was not enough?

First, labor is predominantly mental in nature; secondly, the product itself and the process of its production change so often that it is often impossible to create instructions in advance; thirdly, much higher requirements for manufacturing quality make it necessary to search for optimal solutions within those intervals that are set in any technological process. Theoretical knowledge does not always allow finding the best solutions in advance (especially given the variety of factors influencing the process) that can be found by workers who have experience of direct participation in the process.

Today, there is no doubt that most people are capable of creativity if they are taught how to find new solutions and make them interested participants, not indifferent performers.

17. Banish fears and concerns

The traditional approach to incentives involves a combination of punishment and reward - "carrot and stick". When labor was predominantly physical in nature and the main criterion for success was the quantity of products produced, then intensive work with strict adherence to instructions was considered good, and results could be judged by quantity. Those who worked quickly worked well and should be encouraged. How do you rate the intensity? mental labor? Everything is much more complicated here. And it became not so easy to judge the result of labor. “Fear is a poison for the brain,” E. Deming said 50 years ago. Creativity is impossible under the threat of punishment. Creativity is always associated with risk. It is easier for the performer to act according to the instructions, because then there is nothing to punish for, even if the workmanship is not the best. And if, in search of the best option, he shows creativity and does not get the desired result, then under a system based on punishment for failure, he will be punished. That is why the modern concept of management focuses on rewards as main tool impact. And the more highly technical production, the more mental labor in it, the less effective and probable the punishment becomes. Of course, this does not mean the complete exclusion of punishment as a method of influence.

18. Focus on collective (team) responsibility for quality

In classical American management theory until the mid-70s of the XX century. the opinion about the need for a careful distribution of functions in order to achieve personal responsibility prevailed. With the understanding that the enterprise is a system, not a mechanism, and workshops, sections, teams are also systems within which everything is interconnected, an understanding came of the need to move to collective responsibility. The decisive role in changing these views was played by the Japanese experience of the collective responsibility of teams for quality, that is, such an organization of labor when the administration does not evaluate each worker individually, but evaluates the team as a whole. Some defects are revealed when it is impossible to determine which of the performers was the culprit. But it is possible that in a few years relevant organization determine which team produced this or that assembly, part. And if the responsibility for quality is collective, then there is someone to ask.

In our country, in the 1980s, a mass transition to brigade responsibility for the results of labor was organized, but this happened without creating the necessary prerequisites, and therefore the results were deplorable. Many factories recall this campaign with bitterness as a period of "collective irresponsibility."

What are the prerequisites for the successful application of collective responsibility for quality?

The results of the work of the team's employees should be interconnected by a single process. If, for example, there are ten machine tools on the site that produce the same products, and these products are nowhere articulated into something single, then it makes no sense to unite the machine operators into a team. If the worker of the first machine did something wrong, then this will not affect the results of the worker from the second machine from the same group. Realizing that their results are not interconnected, the workers will find it pointless to unite into one team. But if workers unite in one brigade, successively participating in the creation of one product, then teaming with collective responsibility is understandable to employees and receives their approval.

In a number of industries, collective responsibility has always existed, because it is simply impossible to dismember participation in quality. For example, a blast furnace team has always been judged on the basis of the overall result, since the individual impact of each worker on the quality of pig iron cannot be determined. But in many industries, the transition to a single result did not take place or was unsuccessful. For such industries, the transition to a collective result will be an effective way to improve quality and an indispensable condition for collective evaluation.

The next prerequisite is a certain number of workers in the team. When the number is too small (2-4 people), there is no sense of multitude necessary for a collectivist attitude. When the number is too large (more than 20 people), the possibility of self-regulation, self-government disappears. For team members to be collectively accountable, they must be able to evaluate each other, influence and rely on each other. The optimal number is 8-12 people. At the same time, it is very important that the composition is sufficiently constant and that the team has the opportunity to participate in deciding whether to include new employees in it.

The self-organization of workers is given such great importance that in order to ensure the optimal number of brigades, they go to the reorganization of production, which is associated with large monetary costs. For example, the Topota company abandoned a single end-to-end conveyor for car assembly due to the fact that a huge number of people work on such a conveyor, and there could be no talk of any possibility of self-organization, mutual trust. The conveyor was divided into blocks, between which buffer sections were placed. If one block stops for some reason, subsequent blocks work by feeding from the buffer section. Each block is serviced by an independent team, and its final product is the degree of assembly of the car, which corresponds to the operations performed within the block. The size of the brigade is within the previously mentioned figures. Team members see each other at work and have the opportunity to exchange views. Any of them, if necessary, can stop the conveyor, if without such a stop, in his opinion, it is impossible to ensure the required quality. In this case, the stop will affect only this block, and not the entire conveyor, as it would have been before in the absence of buffer drives.

Now the same division of the conveyor into independent blocks is being introduced at factories producing radio engineering and electronics.

Team members should be able to systematically communicate with each other in order to evaluate each other. To do this, they must work in the same shift and their workplaces should not be at a great distance. When creating collective brigades in the 80s, this rule was often neglected. Cross-cutting teams were created from workers working on the same unit or machine in different places. Naturally, people who meet each other occasionally cannot be so imbued with confidence as to work for a common income. Sometimes they were united in teams of workers who were removed in the process of work by tens or even hundreds of meters. The possibility of communication in this case is also limited. And without communication, trust becomes unlikely.

A prerequisite for collective responsibility for quality is the interchangeability of team members in the production process. As the qualifications increase, each member of the brigade is able to work in all other jobs in his brigade. There is a systematic rotation. In different industries, this rotation can occur in different ways: in some - several times per shift to reduce fatigue; in other productions, everyone has their main place, and the rotation is done only periodically to preserve the possibility of substitution and ensure understanding of the process as a whole. When rotation is considered in terms of quality, it is the understanding of the process in the area of ​​the brigade as a whole that is of interest. Without such an understanding, it is impossible to evaluate the work of colleagues, to correctly represent the impact of one's work on the results of the work of colleagues and their work on one's own result.

The possibility of rotation is closely related to the skill level of the team members. The traditional approach to establishing ranks for members of the brigade is to differentiate them depending on the complexity of the work performed at a particular workplace. As a rule, if the size of the team is 8-10 people, then 1-2 employees have high ranks, 5-6 - medium and 2-3 people - low. It is believed that such a division makes it possible to reduce the cost of wages, making it possible not to pay at a high rate for work that does not require high qualifications. When team interchangeability is required and systematic rotation occurs, this traditional approach is not applicable in most cases.

In order to replace and evaluate each other, workers must have a sufficiently high qualification. Therefore, it is necessary that in staffing sufficiently high ranks were provided for all members of the brigade. Then each member of the brigade, as his qualifications grow, can receive a high rank, regardless of the complexity of the work he performs. this place work. This creates an incentive for professional development and an atmosphere of equal cooperation, without which it is meaningless to talk about collective responsibility.

When all the above conditions are met, collective responsibility for the results of labor not only does not reduce, but, on the contrary, increases individual responsibility. Each member of the team understands that if he worsens the final result with his unsuccessful actions, he will cause damage not only to himself, but to the entire team, and colleagues are able to understand who let them down. It is recommended that the team be given the opportunity to differentiate earnings within the team depending on the individual contribution, if the team deems such differentiation appropriate.

19. Preferential use of the time-bonus wage system, instead of piecework wages

Now, at most Russian enterprises, the labor of workers employed in the main process of creating products is paid according to a piece-bonus system, which stimulates the growth of quantity and does not create an interest in improving quality. True, attempts were made to link the size of the bonus with quality indicators, but in the end only 5-7% of earnings depended on quality. In most developed countries, piecework was abandoned as the main payment system when quality became a primary goal. The experience of leading Russian enterprises that used the time-bonus system showed that even with full capacity utilization, which is typical for the planned Soviet economy, there was no drop in volumes, but there was an increase in quality. Moreover, it is absurd now, when most enterprises work with unloaded capacities, to use a piecework system.

The objections to the use of a time-based bonus system are based on the fear that workers will not care how much they produce if they still receive their earnings for the time spent at work (time wages). But these opponents forget that there is also a second component of payment - a bonus, the condition for receiving which can be made the completion of a mandatory task. In this case, the worker will be interested in doing as much as indicated in the task, otherwise he will not receive a bonus. If the premium is 40-50% of the tariff, then this is a powerful enough incentive to strive to complete the task. So, completing the task is a condition for receiving a bonus. The size of the premium can be linked to quality indicators. Then the worker will not only not neglect quality, on the contrary, he will focus all his attention on it, striving to get the maximum bonus.

20. Focus on long-term assessments with financial incentives

In the American, and later, in the Soviet literature on management and practice of the 70-80s XX in. the principle of immediate response to the good and bad actions of the worker was widely promoted. If an employee has done something good, then the reward should not be postponed, the followers of this principle believed. It is necessary that employees know that any of their actions are monitored and evaluated by the administration. And if you do not react immediately, then the causal relationship between good deed and the reward or bad deed and punishment will be blurred, the adherents of this approach believed, not noticing that an immediate response is only suitable for assessing discipline, but cannot be an incentive to initiative, creativity. In quality-oriented companies, the principle of long-term evaluation is used for material incentives. The period of observation and accumulation of information may be different for different conditions (month, quarter, year). During this time, information is accumulated for each employee, and if the positive results significantly exceed the errors, then a decision is made to reward. The form of encouragement can be different: an increase in salary, an allowance for a certain period, promotion. As a result, employees know that rewards for good performance are not a one-time bonus, but turn into a reliable, stable increase in pay. Does following the described approach mean a complete refusal to immediately respond to any non-standard actions of employees? Of course not. moral encouragement it can be immediate, so that the worker does not get the impression that his good deeds go unnoticed.

21. Increasing the role of moral stimulation

Depending on the level of production stability, the role of material and moral incentives in encouraging efforts aimed at reducing defectiveness changes. When the process is unstable and the level of defectiveness is high, financial incentives for its reduction are quite effective. The higher the culture of production, the more creativity is required, and not just diligence to reduce defects, the more effective moral stimulation.

For example, in the production of castings, the defect rate is 10%. At the same time, the fluctuations of marriage in different teams lie in the range from 5 to 15%. Therefore, the marriage rate of 5% can be considered good result, and 15% - bad. It is possible to draw up a provision on bonuses, in which the teams that allowed 15% of the marriage will be deprived of the bonus, and the teams that received 3-4% will be encouraged as much as possible. It is clear that such a system will interest everyone in reducing marriage. However, it is far from always possible to link the maximum and minimum premiums to the best and worst performance. It may turn out that one or two random failures in a month will lead to worse performance. In this case, it is unjustified and pointless to reduce the team's earnings by 1.5-2 times due to an accidental mistake. But a morale boost would be appropriate to make those who excel in high-sustainability production feel appreciated.

22. Using intrinsic motivation

Both material and moral incentives require external control over the correctness of the actions of the employee and evaluation of his activities. But external evaluation is not always possible. First, because external control over the correctness of the actions of the worker must be constantly carried out by someone with no less qualifications than the one being observed. This means that only self-control is possible, based on the awareness of the importance of the correct implementation of the technology.

Secondly, in any technology a range of parameters is given. The choice of the optimal value of the parameters within this range depends on the qualifications and the desire of workers to constantly find the best option.

Thirdly, the technology itself always requires improvement, and the creative participation of workers in this, constantly observing the process and managing it, is indispensable. Where it is impossible to control the execution, there can be no question of coercion. We can only talk about creating an internal need to work efficiently. To solve this problem - the study of the human factor - psychologists, sociologists, system engineers, managers are involved.

It is the organization of ideological influence on the staff that is considered the main task of the top management of the company. The slogan "Conscience is the best controller", widespread in our country in the 70s XX in., when the struggle for improving the quality of products was announced, was essentially very true.

In his memoirs about the creator of space rockets, S.P. Korolev, one of his employees cites a case that explains how important inner conviction is in the importance of high-quality performance of work.

Preparations for the next launch of a space rocket were coming to an end. An assembly foreman came to S.P. Korolev, who had worked with him for many years and knew him well personally. The foreman said that during installation, as it seems to him, he dropped a nut inside the body. It was the hardest trouble, since it was necessary to dismantle the entire filling, which meant the failure of the deadlines that were under the control of the country's top leadership. The foreman could say nothing to anyone, knowing what trouble he would bring with his message. Especially since he was not even sure if he had dropped this nut. But he was well aware that a catastrophe could occur if the nut in the flight of the rocket, moving, would touch some knots. S.P. Korolev was, in fact, a rather demanding and tough person. But he, knowing full well what troubles await him personally in connection with the failure to launch, not only did not scold the foreman, but hugged him and kissed him, realizing what courage and inner conviction in responsibility for his work the confession he made demanded from the foreman. This foreman showed himself not as a performer, but as a comrade-in-arms, like-minded person. The reaction of S. P. Korolev was the best way ideological influence on subordinates.

23. Designed quality management system

People have always managed quality, although this term appeared quite recently, but not always their quality management actions were of a systematic nature.

system management is a set of governing bodies and management objects that interact with the help of material, technical and information means. Any enterprise is a system in which a set of subsystems operates. Workshops are subsystems in relation to the enterprise, but they can be perceived as systems if sections, brigades are considered as elements. There are also such functional subsystems in an enterprise as production management, management of the technical development of an enterprise, quality management, etc. Without an orderly interaction, the existence of an enterprise, like any organism, is unthinkable. Any of these systems functions most effectively when it is scientifically substantiated. Being one of the most important, the quality management system especially needs a scientifically based construction - design.

It was possible to create management systems based on experience, intuition, when the relationships were not as complex and changeable as they are now.

The experience of introducing product quality management systems in the industry of all developed countries indicates that previously existing spontaneous systems had to be very seriously rebuilt.

24. The quality management system should be under constant control

One of the common mistakes is the opinion that it is enough to develop and implement a product quality management system in an enterprise, and then you can only reap the benefits. When the effectiveness of such an unchanging system begins to decline, they conclude that it is useless, although in fact it is not the system as such that is to blame, but those who do not understand that it must be managed. To manage means to set goals, develop the structure of the system and the quality management procedure, evaluate the result of the system and, if necessary, make adjustments to the structure and procedures.

To manage the quality management system, its structure must include the appropriate management body and determine its place in the enterprise management system. Our and foreign experience shows that if the system management body does not have the status of a leading department, then all management work acquires a formal character over time, even if the system is designed on a scientific basis. A. Feigenbaum in his work “Product Quality Control” writes that in modern production the manager, despite the variety of his duties, should devote 40-50% of his time to the quality problem. In Japanese industry, it is considered a mandatory rule that the first manager personally deals with quality. In many industries in our country, at one time, absolutely correct orders were issued obliging the directors of all enterprises to personally improve product quality and manage complex quality management systems, but they did not follow up on the implementation of these correct instructions.

25. Continuity planning for quality improvement

Traditionally, planning is understood as a discrete activity. Having developed a plan, they begin to implement it and plan again only after the implementation of the previously developed plan. Under the plan can be understood as a list of activities for all types of products of the enterprise for a certain period of time, for example, for a year, three years, five years. A plan can also be understood as a program of action for a particular type of product. In any of these options, the main thing in the traditional approach is the firmness of plans. Once drafted, they should not be changed until they are executed.

The new approach is that planning should be done continuously. Planning means thinking about the future. Why is it necessary to think about the future once a year or every three years?

At the same time, plans for the next year can be quite detailed, for the next year - less detailed, and for the third and fourth years they can be drawn up in general terms. But when we draw up a plan in 2005 and 2006 becomes the next, the plan for it will be as detailed as 2005 was previously scheduled. Constantly expanding the horizon, with continuous planning, we will work out the approaching future in more detail.

26. Several design options at each stage

A mistake made at the stage of forming the goal of improving the quality of machines costs society much more than the mistake of a designer developing individual components; in turn, a designer's mistake costs thousands of times more than a worker's mistake, and so on.

So, in the mid-70s of the last century, American automakers did not attach importance to rising energy prices and continued to design large energy-intensive cars. Neither the excellent design nor the meticulous manufacturing of these cars helped them to compete with Japanese compact fuel-efficient cars. The mistake in choosing the target turned out to be irreparable.

It is known that the more definite consequences a decision has, the more difficult it is to refuse it later. Therefore, at each stage of decision-making, especially at early stages, there should be several options. When there is a choice, there is less chance of error. If we take today's distribution of costs for such stages of quality improvement as goal selection, indicator forecasting, research and development, project development, prototype manufacturing, industrial production preparation, it turns out that costs grow according to an exponential function in which the value of exponents corresponds to the stage number. This means that even if the costs are increased several times at the first stage, the total development cost will increase slightly, and the probability of reducing errors promises huge savings in production and consumption. Having spared no expense in carrying out several variants at the previous stage, it is more likely to believe that the subsequent stage will not be erroneous in the formulation itself.

If the design of a node was worked out in several versions and as a result of the discussion the best of them was chosen, it can be hoped that the costs of developing the technology for manufacturing the node will not be wasteful. If, during the development of the technology, several options were also created and the best of them was chosen, then we can hope that the costs of acquiring equipment and accessories will not be unjustified.

The planned multi-variant search for the best solution makes it possible to reduce the number of non-mastered product samples (their number reaches 30-40% of those developed), reduce the time for mastering new products and, most importantly, improve their quality.

Of course, multivariance should not be considered as a prerequisite for all types of products and all stages. The more expensive, complex and mass-produced products are, the more sense there is in multivariance. Excellent experience in this regard has been accumulated in the creation of defense equipment in our country. When it came to the creation of new aircraft, tanks, guns, small arms, it was considered mandatory to develop several options up to the creation of new models. The country, poor in the 30s, maintained several parallel design bureaus, pilot plants, to give the army the opportunity to choose the best of several options for mass production.

As a result, the army received weapons that allowed it to defeat Nazi Germany, for which all European enterprises worked, including their designers.

27. Parallel execution of new product development stages

The acceleration of product renewal requires a change in the established method of strictly sequential implementation of the stages of developing new or upgrading previously manufactured products. Strictly sequential - this means that until the complete completion of research, the development of the project does not begin, and until the completion of the project, the development of manufacturing technology does not begin, etc. The average duration of the development and implementation of products in our country reaches six years. And in tractor building - 6-8 years. Such terms of development and implementation are unacceptable today. Therefore, the method of combined design, which has long been tested and has proven itself well in our industry, should be adopted. It was in this way that during the Great Patriotic War in the shortest possible time, first-class weapons were created in the Urals.

In his memoirs, the former people's commissar of the tank industry I. Zeltsman describes how the modernization of the T-34 tank took place in 1943. Steelmakers, blacksmiths, foundry workers, stampers, technologists for machining and assembly worked alongside the designers. As a result, the technology was ready at the same time as the design was completed. The work did not proceed sequentially, but in parallel. As a result, the modernization was carried out in a few months. Later, in the 70s, we spent years on similar work, forgetting our own experience.

28. Orientation to production conditions in the development of new products

Designers, when developing any products and requirements for them, must be aware of the potential difficulties that may arise during manufacture, and consider their most important task to reduce them. This applies not only to designers, but also to any developers of new products.

Our and foreign experience shows that only such developments are quickly mastered, in which production conditions are taken into account.

On the largest enterprise Uralmash will not recognize any design development without the confirmation of technologists. And this does not interfere, but helps Uralmash to create first-class cars. If the designers, together with the technologists, having worked out several options, come to the conclusion that in order to provide the required functions of some unit or part, it is necessary to make fundamental changes in technology, then the technologists, working further on the creation new technology do it with an understanding of the importance and usefulness of their work.

Japanese quality management experts say that orientation to production conditions when putting new products into production is one of the prerequisites for success. Research and production and production associations, which include design institutes, have every opportunity to implement the principle of focusing on production, and this is one of their advantages in terms of quality management.

The set of quality management principles formulated here should not be considered mandatory for any enterprise, regardless of the degree of technology perfection, industry affiliation and type of product. This is a set from which, when forming a quality policy, each enterprise can extract for itself a certain number of principles that are relevant to it, depending on the goals in the field of quality, the perfection of the quality management system, and the type of product.

Literature

1. A. Feigebaum. Product quality control. - M.: Economics, 1986, - 471 With.

2. G. V. Niv. The space of Dr. Deming. T. 1 - Togliatti.:

City public fund "Development through quality", 1998. - 336 p.

3. A. V. Glichev. Fundamentals of product quality management. - M.:

RIA "Standards and Quality", 2001. - 424 p.

4. R.L. Ackoff. Ackoff on management. - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2003. - 448 p.

5. Ishikawa K. Japanese methods of quality management. - M.:

Economics, 1988.

6. Harington J. Quality management in American corporations. - M.: Economics, 1990.

7. Nixon F. The role of enterprise management in ensuring quality and reliability.- M: Publishing house of standards, 1990. - 243 p.

8. Peter Drucker Management practice. - M .: Publishing House "William", 2000. - 398 p.

9. Philosophy of quality according to Taguchi // All about quality. Foreign experience, 1994, no. 6.

10. Quality management. Robust design / Per. from English. Ed. A. M. Talalaya. - M.: SEYFI, 2002. - 382 p.

- one of the most frequently used queries in the search engine. What are they looking for under this concept? The concept of quality is defined in the ISO 9000:2005 standard (the Russian analogue is GOST R ISO 9000-2008) “Quality management systems. Fundamentals and vocabulary" as:

the degree of compliance of the totality of inherent characteristics (distinctive properties) with the requirements (needs or expectations).

And nowhere is it said that quality is compliance with a certain GOST or TU. However, to the question, "What is quality?", the vast majority of employees of any company will answer: "Quality of products / services." To the question "What should it correspond to?" answer: "We have GOST (TU, internal standard ...), which must comply with the quality of products (services) manufactured by our enterprise." Who is responsible for quality? “Quality control inspectors should be responsible for quality. Otherwise, what is the OTC for then? They must check finished products for compliance with regulatory documents. And no one talks about the quality of management. Unfortunately, all other employees and management do not consider quality to be their concern either. And this is the main problem of quality management. Quality must be built into every process. Nothing will work without this. Thus, from the concept of product quality, we are moving to the next level - to the concept quality of management (management), which can be represented as several levels.

Quality Management Principles

The concept of quality is embedded in the eight principles of the quality management system (QMS):

1. Consumer Orientation. The quality of manufactured goods/services is always determined by consumers. Companies must strive to meet and even exceed the quality demanded by consumers.
2. Leadership. The QMS at the enterprise should be headed by the top management of the enterprise. Without their personal participation and influence, the process of continuous improvement cannot be launched. They must create conditions in the company for the involvement of all employees.
3. Employee Involvement. The improvement process is also impossible without the involvement and management of the enterprise's personnel. Employees must understand their goals and objectives, feel their importance to the company and enjoy their work.
4. Process approach . The process approach permeates the entire organization, determining the sequence of work and the order of interaction of each employee and department.
5. Systems approach. It is not enough to develop processes for the entire organization. It is necessary to combine them with each other and manage as a single system.
6. Continuous Improvement . The company achieves quality through continuous improvement. Process quality and therefore quality management decisions, is provided by standardization of processes, their constant measurement, analysis, improvement.
7. Fact-based decision making. The company ensures the stable quality of manufactured goods/services through monitoring and analysis of all processes: main, managerial and auxiliary.
8. Mutually beneficial relationships with suppliers. Building trusting mutually beneficial relationships with suppliers is an important condition for ensuring high-quality raw materials/components. Lean and Theory of Constraints provide excellent, proven solutions to ensure uninterrupted supply with minimal inventory.

Indeed, to control quality, no certification is necessary. For this, knowledge and desire are enough. But the implemented QMS helps to structure all processes, identify the responsibilities and relationships of each employee, use positive and negative experience for continuous improvement of the company.

Deming's 14 Key Principles

"Father" quality management theory considered to be William Edwards Deming. It was thanks to Deming that Japan performed its economic miracle after World War II. In Japan, Deming's merits were highly appreciated, awarding him one of the highest orders on behalf of the emperor. In addition, a Quality Management Achievement Award was established in the form of a Silver Medal with a Deming Profile.

8 principles of QMS were developed by ISO based on Deming's 14 key principles:

1. Constancy of purpose. Set a goal for continuous product and service improvement and be determined to achieve it. Allocate resources to ensure long-term goals, not just short-term profits. This is the only way to achieve competitiveness, preserve the enterprise and provide people with jobs.
2. New philosophy. Adopt a new quality philosophy. We can no longer live with the usual level of delays, errors, defects in materials, defects in workmanship. It is necessary to transform the Western style of management.
3. End addiction to mass control. Eliminate the need for checks and inspectors as a way to achieve quality, primarily by building quality into products. Demand statistical evidence of "built-in" quality both during production and in purchasing functions.
4. End the practice of purchasing at the lowest price. Along with the price, demand serious confirmation of its quality. Refuse the services of suppliers who are not able to statistically confirm the quality of their products / services. Seek to establish long-term relationships and mutual trust with one supplier of one type of raw materials / components. The goal in this case will be to minimize the total cost, not just the initial cost.
5. Improve every process. Improve continuously, today and always, all processes. Constantly look for problems in order to improve all activities and functions in the company, improve quality and productivity, and thus constantly reduce costs. Continuous improvement of the system is the first responsibility of management.
6. Put into practice the training and retraining of personnel. Put into practice modern approaches to training and retraining for all employees, including managers and managers, in order to better use the capabilities of each of them. Keeping up with the constant changes in business requires new skills and abilities.
7. Establish leadership. Managers at all levels should be responsible not for bare numbers, but for quality. Managers and managers must ensure that immediate action is taken when they receive reports of defects, malfunctions, poor raw materials, unclear work instructions, etc. that are detrimental to quality. Improving quality automatically leads to increased productivity.
8. Banish your fears. Encourage effective two-way communication and other means to root out fear and hostility within the organization. Any employee who fears his superior cannot properly cooperate with him. Those who experience fear try to hide from those they fear. And how can you expect a full return from people who just want not to be noticed?
9. Break down barriers between divisions, services, departments. People from different functional departments must work in teams in order to troubleshoot problems that may arise with products or services. Most companies are organized along functional lines (purchasing, sales, production, marketing management, etc.), but they must interact.
10. Give up empty slogans and appeals. Refrain from using posters, slogans, and slogans for workers that demand they work without marriage, improve productivity, etc., but do not say anything about methods to achieve these goals. Such calls only cause hostility, because. most of the problems of low quality and productivity are caused by the system and, thus, their solution is beyond the capabilities of ordinary workers.
11. Eliminate arbitrary numerical norms and assignments. Eliminate work instructions and standards that set arbitrary norms, quotas for workers, and quantitative targets for managers. Replace them with outside support and help senior management in order to achieve continuous improvement in quality and performance.
12. Give employees the opportunity to be proud of their work. Eliminate the barriers that rob workers and managers from taking pride in their work. This implies, among other things, the rejection of annual appraisals (assessments of the performance of employees) and management methods by objectives (KPI). And again, the responsibilities of managers, supervisors, masters must be shifted from achieving purely quantitative indicators to achieving quality.
13. Encourage the pursuit of education. Establish a vigorous self-improvement education and support program for all employees. The organization needs not just people, it needs competitive employees who improve their knowledge as a result of education.
14. Commitment to Quality Improvement and Top Management Efficiency. Clearly indicate top management's strong commitment to continual improvement in quality and performance and their commitment to putting all of the principles discussed above into practice. Establish a structure in senior management that will give impetus to the advancement of the principles discussed above on a daily basis, and act. Statements of support are not enough here, concrete deeds are needed.

An example of how “quality” quality problems are solved is the well-known Japanese problem solving technique “5 Whys” (5 Why). For example, the manager found a puddle of oil in the shop. To understand the cause of this problem, he must ask the question “why?” 5 times:

1. Why is there a puddle of oil on the floor? Because it drips from this machine.
2. Why is it dripping from the machine? Because the gasket is leaking.
3. Why is the gasket leaking? Because it's of poor quality.
4. Why do we use low quality gaskets? Because the purchasing department buys the cheapest.
5. Why does the purchasing department buy the cheapest gaskets? Because the evaluation of the work of the purchasing department depends on obtaining the most low prices for purchased goods.

Compare, usually to solve this problem they ask such questions: “Whose machine is this? Whose responsibility is it to change the pads on time? We don't ask "why?". We immediately ask: “Who?”

It is important that by using the "5 Whys" methodology, we find the true cause of the problem, which lies in the field of evaluating the effectiveness of the purchasing department. If we ask "Who?", we do not look for reasons in the system, we immediately look for the guilty among the workers. As a result, we will find only a "switchman" - a worker responsible for replacing the gasket. But this will not solve our problem.

Introduction

1. Product quality assurance principles

2. Principles of product quality management

Conclusion

Exercise 1

Task 2

Task 3

List of used literature

Introduction

The problem of quality is relevant for absolutely all goods and services. This is especially acute in the transition to a market economy. Russian entrepreneurs need to be ready to work in a highly competitive environment today. The difficulties of the Russian economy are manifested not only in a decrease in production volumes, mutual non-payments, but also in its qualitative characteristics. The technology of domestic production, the technical level of capital equipment, as a rule, is much lower than in industrialized countries. But even if the modernization of production is carried out quickly enough, new technologies are created, it will be possible to justify these investment costs only through the production of competitive products or services that are in demand by the consumer.

Examples of the development of advanced industrial countries show that solving quality problems should become a national idea, be of a universal nature, which requires mass education and professional training of all sectors of society, from an ordinary consumer to a leader at any level.

At present, in Russia, the quality of products and services, their safety play an increasingly important role in the country's economy. A significant part of specialists and politicians began to realize that the way out of the crisis state of production lies on the path of the speedy development of competitive products, strict observance of the technical parameters of already manufactured products.

In Russia, the training of quality system auditors is mainly organized by the Committee for Standardization, Metrology and Certification (Gosstandart of Russia), as well as a number of non-governmental organizations together with foreign ones.

1. Product quality assurance principles

Product quality is a set of properties and characteristics of a product that give it the ability to satisfy the stipulated or implied needs of the consumer.

There are three main groups of quality assurance principles:

1. Principles of a technical nature (constructive, technological, metrological, etc.);

2. Principles of an economic nature (financial, regulatory, material, etc.);

3. Principles of a social nature (organizational, legal, personnel, etc.).

Stable product quality assurance depends on many factors that can be divided into two main groups: private and general. General factors include: technical, economic, social, political and other factors that imply the level of development of production, means and systems of quality control, social and economic feasibility and production efficiency, material and personal interest, etc. Among the private factors are: professional the skill of workers, the design of products and the quality of technical processes, the raw materials, materials, components used, the conditions for storage, transportation, sale and operation of products, packaging, labeling, etc.

Sustainable improvement in product quality cannot be achieved through individual and even large, but disparate activities. Only through a systematic and comprehensive, interconnected implementation of technical, organizational, economic and social measures on a scientific basis, it is possible to quickly and steadily improve the quality of products.

Factors affecting product quality can be broadly represented by three blocks: the quality of products depends on internal (intra-company) circumstances, the human factor and external conditions.

In accordance with these blocks, we give brief description conditions for the formation of quality factors:

1. External conditions for the formation of quality factors:

Investments, state support;

The rhythm of the supply of raw materials, materials and components, their quality;

Evaluation and confirmation of product quality;

Legal quality assurance (legal liability for defective products);

The level of design development;

Mutual consistency of control and supervision requirements;

2. Internal conditions:

Discipline, equipment, production technology;

Test base;

Technical control;

Organizational and production structure of enterprise management;

3. Human factor:

Qualification, experience, professionalism;

Encouragement, stimulation, motivation;

Activity and initiative;

Sharing best practices;

Often, when determining the factors that affect any effective indicator that characterizes quality, a cause-and-effect diagram for determining quality is used.

A cause-and-effect diagram (Ishikawa diagram, fishbone diagram) is used when it is required to investigate and depict all possible causes of certain problems or conditions.

The Cause and Effect Diagram was designed to represent the relationship between an effect, an outcome, and all the possible causes that affect them. The effect, result, or problem is usually listed on the right side of the diagram, while the main effects or "causes" are listed on the left side (see Figure 1)

The procedure for constructing a cause-and-effect diagram:

1. Description of the selected problem, namely: what are its features, where does it arise, when does it manifest itself and how far does it spread.

2. List the reasons required to build a cause-and-effect diagram in one of the following ways:

Brainstorming where all possible causes are discussed without pre-training;

Tracking all stages of the production process and indicating on the control sheets the possible causes of the problem.

3. Construction of a cause-and-effect diagram.

4. Analysis of the diagram: factors and conditions are ranked by importance, those causes that are currently amenable to adjustment are established.

5. Interpretation of all relationships.

6. Drawing up a plan for further actions.

Rice. 1. Cause and effect diagram

The use of a cause-and-effect diagram allows you to identify and group all the conditions and factors influencing a given problem.

2. Principles of product quality management

A quality management system is a coherent working structure in place in a firm that includes effective technical and managerial practices that provide the best and most practical ways for people, machines, and information to interact to meet customer quality requirements and save costs. quality. World experience has formed not only common features existing quality management systems, but also the principles and methods that can be applied in each of them.

For the successful management of the organization and its functioning, it is necessary to choose the direction of its development and provide management. Success can be achieved by implementing and maintaining a quality management system designed to continually improve performance to meet the needs of all interested parties. Organizational management includes quality management along with other aspects of management. To this end, eight quality management principles were defined in the development of ISO 9000 (quality standards). These eight quality management principles are designed to guide top management in order to improve the performance of the organization:

1. Orientation to the consumer. Organizations depend on their customers and therefore must understand their current and future needs, meet their requirements and strive to exceed their expectations.

2. Leadership of the head. Leaders ensure the unity of purpose and direction of the organization. They should create and maintain an internal environment in which employees can be fully involved in the organization's objectives.

3. Employee involvement. People at all levels form the backbone of an organization, and their full involvement enables the organization to capitalize on their abilities.

4. Process approach. The desired result is achieved more efficiently when activities and related resources are managed as a process.

5. System approach to management. The identification, understanding and management of interrelated processes as a system contribute to the effectiveness and efficiency of the organization in achieving its goals.

6. Continuous improvement. Continual improvement in the performance of the organization as a whole should be seen as its permanent goal.

7. Making decisions based on facts. Effective Solutions based on the analysis of data and information.

8. Mutually beneficial relationships with suppliers. An organization and its suppliers are interdependent, and a relationship of mutual benefit enhances the ability of both parties to create value.

With regard to quality management, it is advisable to single out specific principles, which include:

1. Formation of management decisions, taking into account production, economic, social, market factors;

2. The relationship of goals and resources, their balance;

3. Completeness of accounting for resource needs;

4. Combination of internal and external quality control;

5. Continuity and stages in the implementation of quality control, development of a quality management system, etc.

The direct objects of quality management are consumer characteristics of products, factors and conditions affecting their level, as well as the processes of formation of product quality at different stages of its development. life cycle.

The subjects of management are various management bodies and individuals functioning at various hierarchical levels and implementing quality management functions in accordance with generally accepted principles and methods of management.

Product quality management at the enterprise is one of the links in the overall management cycle and performs a number of functions similar to the functions of general enterprise management:

1. Planning the quality management process - setting reasonable targets for the release of products with the required values ​​of quality indicators at a given moment or within a given time interval. Quality improvement planning should be based on scientifically based forecasting of the needs of internal and foreign market. At the same time, the use of data on the results of product operation, generalization and analysis of information on the actual level of its quality acquire an important role in the correct substantiation of quality improvement plans.

2. Organization, coordination and regulation of the quality management process - organizational work on quality management at the enterprise consists in the implementation of the whole range of works related to planning, implementation and control of activities aimed at improving the quality of products and all processes of production and economic activity. At the level of sectoral ministries, there are special units that coordinate the work in the field of quality management in their sector. They are subordinate to various industry institutions and laboratories (often at industry enterprises). State and industry quality management bodies have regional centers for the implementation of various functions - standardization, certification, control, etc.

3. Motivation is an incitement to activity by a combination of various motives, the creation of a specific state of the individual, which determines how actively and with what direction a person acts in a certain situation.

4. Control, accounting and analysis of quality management processes is the process of determining and evaluating information about deviations of actual values ​​from given values ​​or their coincidence and analysis results. After the control is carried out, the analysis of the data obtained is carried out, namely: analysis of deviations, localization of causes, establishment of responsibility, study of possibilities for correction, measures to eliminate deficiencies.

On fig. 2 shows a functional diagram of product quality management.

Rice. 2. Functional diagram of product quality management at the enterprise.

The objects of product quality management are all elements that form a quality loop. Under the quality loop (spiral), in accordance with international ISO standards, they understand a product life cycle closed in the form of a ring (Fig. 3), including the following main stages: marketing; design and development of technical requirements, product development; material and technical supply (MTS); preparation of production and development of technology and production processes; production; control, testing and examination; packaging and storage; sales and distribution of products; mounting; operation; technical assistance and service; disposal. It must be borne in mind that in practical activities for the purposes of planning, control, analysis, etc., these stages can be divided into components. The most important thing here is to ensure the integrity of quality management processes at all stages of the product life cycle. With the help of the quality loop, the relationship between the manufacturer of products and the consumer and with all objects that provide a solution to the problems of product quality management is carried out.

Rice. 3. Loop (spiral) quality

Product quality management is carried out cyclically and goes through certain stages, called the Deming cycle. The concept of the Deming cycle is not limited to product quality management, but is also related to any managerial and household activities. The sequence of stages of the Demenga cycle is shown in fig. 2 and includes: planning; organization; control; impact management.

The quality of a product can be manifested in the process of consumption. The concept of product quality from the standpoint of its compliance with consumer requirements has developed precisely in the conditions of a market economy. The idea of ​​such an approach to determining the quality of products is contained in a special science - qualimetry. Qualimetry is the science of how to measure and quantify product quality. Qualimetry allows you to give quantitative estimates of the qualitative characteristics of the product. Qualimetry proceeds from the fact that the quality depends on a large number of properties of the product in question, but in addition to the properties, it is necessary to take into account the conditions in which the product was used.

The essence of quality measurement in qualimetry is as follows:

1. For each type of product, its specific quality levels are taken into account, fixed in the standards and current technical conditions. Quality is characterized by a certain technical and economic parameter (consumer property).

2. The standard of quality is chosen

3. The achieved quality is compared with the standard.

Quality can meet the standard, be above or below the standard.

Important properties for quality assessment are: technical, aesthetic and operational level of quality.

The actual level of product quality can only be established through a comprehensive system analysis of quality, covering all aspects and aspects of the product, all its properties and characteristics as a whole.

Conclusion

Quality is a multifaceted concept, its provision requires combining the creative potential and practical experience of many specialists. The problem of improving the quality can be solved only with the joint efforts of the state, federal authorities, managers and members of the labor collectives of enterprises. An important role in solving the problem of quality is played by consumers who dictate their requirements and requests to producers of goods and services. Quality occupies a key position in the economic and social strategy leading countries, and the level of quality serves as a reliable indicator of the overall state of the economy. Continuous quality improvement serves as a means of overcoming crisis situations. By highlighting and solving the problem of quality as a priority, it is possible to achieve stabilization and economic recovery.

In recent years, the demand for quality management specialists in production has increased dramatically around the world. In Russia, there is currently no system of continuous training of personnel in the field of quality, so far only its individual elements are working for us. Having realized the problem of quality as a strategic one, having chosen and implemented a quality management system in the organization, one can count on ensuring the competitiveness of manufactured products.

Exercise 1

To characterize products according to 13 quality indicators. Type of product - passenger car. The characteristic is presented in table 1.

Table 1. Quality characteristic passenger car.

Group of quality indicators	Group characteristic	Quality indicators
1. Appointment	Characterizes the natural or technical perfection of the product and its compliance with its functional purpose	The functional purpose of a passenger car is that it is a means of transport that ensures the delivery of small goods and people from one point to another.
2. Manufacturability	Characterizes the effectiveness of constructive and technological solutions, causing the need to produce a social product	The suitability of the car for maintenance and current repairs. Periodicity and complexity Maintenance and repair.
3. Persistence	It characterizes the suitability of products to maintain their quality indicators during and after storage and transportation.	The ability of the mechanisms and assemblies of the car to maintain the specified quality indicators, resistance to damage and negative impacts environment.
4. Maintainability	Characterizes the suitability of the product for the prevention, detection and elimination of failures and damage during maintenance and repair	Adaptability of the car to repair and maintenance, prevention of corrosion of parts, timeliness and ease of replacement of individual parts and blocks of the car.
5. Reliability	It characterizes the ability of the product to maintain operability for some operating time without forced interruptions due to failures.	The adaptability of the car to operate in various conditions without losing its quality characteristics
6. Durability	It characterizes the ability of the product to remain operational until a certain limit state occurs with the necessary breaks for maintenance and repair	The main indicators of the durability of a passenger car include mileage measured in kilometers or service life in accordance with technical documentation in years.
7. Ergonomic	It characterizes the properties of the product that are manifested in the system "man - product - environment of use" and affect the efficiency of human activity when interacting with the product (hygienic, anthropometric, psychophyseological)	The use of environmentally friendly materials in the automotive industry, the convenience of operating and driving a car, the comfort of the interior, a certain color scheme of the body and interior of the car, the absence of psychophysiological stimuli (bright color, too bright or very dim lighting, etc.)
8. Standardization and unification	Characterizes the saturation of the product with standard and unified parts	Simplicity and convenience of repair due to the use of standard spare parts, individual blocks and vehicle parts
9. Patent law	It characterizes the quality and weight of products implemented in this product and the possibility of unimpeded sale of the evaluated product within the country and abroad.	The possibility of free sale of cars both within the country and abroad, as well as the free purchase of cars from foreign manufacturers and driving them to other countries.
10. Aesthetics	Describes the ability of certain products to satisfy human needs for beauty	Aesthetics include the appearance of the car: appearance its body, design, color, etc.
11. Transportability	Allows you to quantify the adaptability of products of a given quality to its transportation	Transportation of cars can be carried out in several ways: on their own, by rail, air, sea transport, as well as by trucks. by car
12. Safety	Characterizes the features of the product that determine the safety of persons interacting with this product	The presence in the car of some means that ensure the safety of a person while driving: seat belts, airbags, etc.
13. Ecology	Characterizes the degree of impact on the nature of side effects that accompany the process of using this product	Gradual transition to environmentally friendly fuels, installation of an exhaust gas purification system, etc.

Task 2

The program for improving the quality of work of an economist at a communications enterprise is presented in Table 2.

Table 2. Economist quality improvement program.

Events			Responsible executor
1. Activity automation	Installing a computer at the workplace within a week	Cash assets of the enterprise in the amount of 40 thousand tubes	Supply department employees
2. Connecting and setting up a computer	Within one or two working days	About 1.5 - 2 thousand rubles.	Third party programmer
3. Purchase of components and office equipment	During two days	Cash in the amount of 30 thousand rubles.	Supply department employees
4. Purchase and installation software	Within one working day	7 - 10 thousand rubles.	Department of automated control system, programmer
5. Translation of documents in electronic form	Within one year	Wage in the amount of 8 thousand rubles.	Economist at his workplace
6. Connecting to the Internet	Within one working day	Connection via telephone line- is free	Programmer
7. Creation of a system of electronic mutual settlements with the bank	During the working day	From 3 to 5 thousand rubles.	Programmer

After the implementation of these measures, there was an improvement in such quality indicators as:

1. Speed ​​and quality of paperwork;

2. Efficiency in making managerial decisions;

3. Simplicity and speed of calculations, automation of calculations;

4. Speed ​​and reliability of mutual settlements with the bank;

5. Prompt receipt of the necessary information through the Internet, legal and normative documentation.

Task 3

Certification products - one of the ways to confirm the conformity of products to specified requirements, documentary evidence of product compliance with specific standards or specifications. This is a guarantee to the consumer that the product meets the standard or certain requirements.

Certification of products is carried out by the test method, which is carried out in testing laboratories. During testing, random checks of products are carried out. If the product meets the certification requirements, then a decision is made to issue a certificate. The certification body draws up a certificate of conformity, registers it and issues a license for the right to use the mark of conformity. This mark marks the product. In case of negative results of certification tests, non-compliance with the requirements for the object of certification, the certification body issues a conclusion indicating the reasons for refusing to issue a certificate.

The applicant may submit to the certification body test reports, taking into account the terms of their validity, carried out during the development and production of products, or documents on tests performed by testing laboratories. After checking the submitted documents, including the compliance of the results contained in them with the current regulatory documents, the timing of their issuance, changes made to the design (composition), materials, technology - the certification body may decide to issue a certificate of conformity or to reduce the scope of tests, or carrying out the missing tests, which is reflected in the relevant documents.

There are several types of certification system. The main ones are: mandatory, voluntary, self-certification and third-party certification. A mandatory system is created for products for which the regulatory and technical documentation must contain requirements for environmental protection, ensuring the safety of life and health of people. In this case, a manufacturer without an appropriate certificate has no right not only to sell products, but also to produce them.

The voluntary certification system provides for the certification of products only at the initiative of its manufacturer.

An independent certification system is created by the manufacturer of products, while certificates are issued by the enterprise itself under its own responsibility.

A third-party product certification system is created by a third-party organization that verifies, evaluates, and certifies that products comply with the requirements of regulatory and technical documentation.

The certification process is carried out in several stages:

1. Submission of an application for certification of products, its analysis by the certification body, appointment of experts.

2. Examination of source materials, drawing up a conclusion on the feasibility of certification.

3. Drawing up a verification program, its adoption.

4. Directly checking the products and drawing up an act on its results.

5. Making a decision on certification and issuing (rejecting) a certificate.

6. Registration of acts of inspections.

The main types of certificates are:

1. Quality certificate - a document certifying the quality of products. Contains quality indicators, specifications etc.

2. Certificate of conformity - a document certifying that a duly identified product conforms to a specific standard or other normative document.

3. Environmental certificate - a document confirming the environmental safety of products, as well as the environmental quality (purity) of products.

List of used literature

1. Quality management / Ed. S. D. Ilyenkova. - M.: UNITI, 2000. - 199 p.

2. Gissin V.I. Quality management. - M.: March, 2003. - 400 p.

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Quality management, which emerged as a separate discipline in the 20s of the twentieth century, has now organically merged into the overall management of the organization.

What is quality?

According to ISO 9000:

Quality- is a set of characteristics of an object related to its ability to satisfy stated and implied needs.

Today, various quality management systems are used in the world. But for successful activity at the present time, they must provide an opportunity to implement the eight key principles of systemic quality management, mastered by leading international companies.

These principles form the basis of the international standards in the field of quality management ISO 9000:

1. Consumer Orientation. A strategic focus on the consumer, properly provided organizationally, methodically and technically, is vital for every organization and every enterprise operating in a competitive market.
2. The Role of Leadership. In accordance with it, the manager must create the conditions necessary for the successful implementation of all the principles of system quality management.
3. Employee Involvement. Total Quality Management (TQM) assumes that all employees of the company, all personnel, and not just engineers, quality managers or reliability specialists participate in the creation of a quality product.
4. Process approach. And the fifth principle organically connected with it:
5. System approach to management. In accordance with these principles, the production of goods, services and management are considered as a set of interrelated processes, and each process is considered as a system that has an input and output, its "suppliers" and "consumers".
   The implementation of these principles changes the existing approaches to management, which is based on a hierarchical organizational structure. Practice has shown that the difficulties and problems caused by the fact that unified processes are serviced by organizationally separate units can and should be eliminated by using a group approach.
6. Continuous Improvement. Twenty years ago, the quality strategy was based on the concept of optimal quality. The experience of Japanese, and then American and European industry showed that it is unacceptable to set limits for improvement, improvement itself should be a system and integral part management systems.
7. Fact-based decision making. The implementation of the principle is designed to exclude unreasonable decisions, which are usually called strong-willed. It is necessary to collect and analyze evidence and make decisions based on it. The most common now are statistical methods of control, analysis and regulation.
8. Mutually beneficial relationships with suppliers. This principle, the essence of which is obvious in the simplest cases, must be implemented in relation to both external and internal suppliers.

Here is a list of the main links from the field of quality control:

New 100% Quality Policy

Total Quality Management (TQM)

Introduction Six Sigma

Theoretical aspects Six Sigma

Process Suitability Indexes

Taguchi loss function

International quality standards:

ISO 9000 standards

Standards ISO 9000 version 2000

QS 9000 standard

AS 9000 standard

CMM standards

Statistical quality control methods:

Quality Control Cards

Process analysis

Experiment planning

Questionnaire analysis. Part 1.

Questionnaire analysis. Part 2.

Questionnaire analysis in quality management

Quality and reliability

Quality management at enterprises is carried out with the aim of continuous improvement of products and services provided. It is also aimed at bringing goods in line with state and international standards. The basics of quality management regulate the most important points that allow you to meet the needs of consumers and ensure an appropriate level of safety.

Concept definition

The essence of quality management can be defined as a purposeful activity of managers and employees of an enterprise to influence the production process in order to continuously improve product quality. This activity can be carried out by both senior management and ordinary personnel.

Quality management is an element of the overall management structure and an integral part of any production. This branch is responsible for developing a clear policy regarding quality, setting goals, as well as defining the tasks through which they will be achieved. There are certainly processes such as planning, as well as ensuring all necessary conditions and supplying resources to meet product standards.

It should be noted that quality management is carried out at each stage of the life cycle of a product. This process starts at the idea and development stage. project documentation. And even after the product is sold and put into operation, quality managers collect certain information in order to improve the next batches.

The object of quality management is directly the production process, which begins from the moment the idea for the manufacture of a particular product arises. And the subjects are the heads of the enterprise, which include both top management and heads of individual departments. The process itself implies the consistent performance of a number of functions: planning, organization, coordination, motivation and control.

Development of quality management

Quality management is constantly being improved. The development of management has gone through several historical stages:

• Until the end of the 20th century, there was individual control. Each manufacturer independently evaluated its product for compliance with the original sample or project.
• Already by the beginning of the 20th century, the need for the distribution of responsibilities became obvious. This is how shop control arises, which implies assigning an individual area of ​​responsibility to each of the workers.
• At the next stage, we can talk about the emergence of administrative control, which implies the direct participation of top management in quality management processes.
• With the growth of the scale of production, it becomes necessary to create separate services at the enterprise technical control, which not only evaluate the conformity of the final product to the standards, but also monitor the entire production process.
• Since there is a need for a qualitative and quantitative assessment of production results, statistical methods are beginning to be used.
• A system of universal control is being introduced. This refers to the involvement of employees at all levels in quality management.
• At the beginning of the 21st century, a international organization ISO, which deals with the standardization and certification of products.

How quality is managed

The process of quality management in each individual company can be carried out in different ways. Nevertheless, there is a standard scheme that determines the actions of managers at various levels on this issue.

So, speaking of senior managers, it is worth noting that their responsibilities include comprehensive interaction with external environment. It involves a timely response to changes in standards, as well as legislative acts. Also on the shoulders of senior management lies the responsibility for developing policies and defining action plans aimed at improving product quality.

Speaking about the duties of middle managers, it is worth noting that they comply with all decisions and orders of the directorate regarding compliance with quality standards. They directly influence the production process and control all its stages. If top management determines the strategy, then middle management builds operational short-term plans based on it. We can say that certain levels of quality management are formed that correspond to the general hierarchy in the organization.

An enterprise policy such as general government quality, characterized by a number of features:

• the company's strategy is aimed at improving quality, which is reflected at all levels of management;
• staff motivation is aimed at making them interested in improving product quality;
• the mechanism and process of production is flexible enough to ensure its rapid adaptation to changing standards and customer needs;
• implementation of production activities in accordance with generally accepted international standards;
• compliance of control systems with modern theories and approaches;
• mandatory certification of all types of products.

Quality management system

The enterprises have a certain structure, which implies the interaction of all levels of management in order to ensure the proper quality of products. This is one of the mandatory conditions dictated by modern market conditions. This phenomenon is known as a quality management system, which is guided by a number of principles:

• clear communication should be established between the heads of various departments;
• quality management should use a systematic approach;
• it is necessary to distinguish between the process of product development and the process of its direct production;
• this system should perform a limited number of functions that would clearly separate it from others available in the enterprise.

It is worth noting the annual increase in competition in the market. One of the main aspects this process is the conformity of goods to quality standards. As a result, enterprises began to pay more and more attention to this aspect of production. In this regard, there is a need for a certain material base, as well as modern equipment and technology. However, the most important thing is the staff. It is important to introduce the right system of motivation, as well as such a management philosophy, in which each employee will feel personally responsible for the final characteristics of the product.

Such a quality management system requires significant efforts, which largely depend not only on the scale of production, but also on the type of products produced. Also, management is required to continuously respond promptly to any changes in the international standards ISO 9001, as well as various industry documents.

Quality management methods

Quality is a fairly broad and capacious category, which has many features and aspects. One of these features can be considered quality management methods, the list of which is as follows:

• Administrative methods are some directives that are mandatory. They should include:
  • regulation;
  • norms;
  • standards;
  • instructions;
  • leadership orders.
• Technological method - consists in both separate and cumulative control over the production process and end result. To this end, all kinds of modern engineering tools are used, which are being improved every year. The most objective results are characterized by automated devices that measure and evaluate certain parameters without the participation of the employees of the enterprise.
• Statistical methods - based on the collection of digital data on the output of products, as well as its quality indicators. Next, the obtained indicators are compared for different periods in order to identify a positive or negative trend. Based on the results of this analysis, a decision is made to improve the quality management system.
• Economic method - consists in assessing the cost of activities aimed at improving quality, as well as financial result, which will be achieved after their implementation.
• Psychological method - implies a certain impact on the workforce, which consists in the desire of workers to the highest quality standards. Both self-discipline and the moral atmosphere in the team are important here, as well as an assessment of the individual characteristics of each of the employees.

In order for the actions in the field of quality control at the enterprise to be successful, it is recommended to combine these methods and carry out work on quality management in a comprehensive manner.

Functions

The following quality management functions can be distinguished:

• forecasting - implies the definition based on a retrospective analysis of future trends, needs and requirements in the field of product quality;
• planning - involves the preparation of promising documentation regarding new types of products, future quality levels, improvement of technology and materials (there is a development of a certain reference product or production method, the quality level of which production should strive for);
• technological quality assurance, which implies full preparation for the start of the production process;
• metrological support - implies the definition of standards and bringing to them all objects related to production;
• organization - includes ensuring interaction not only between individual structures of the enterprise, but also between the internal and external environment;
• ensuring stability - consists in the constant striving for a certain level of quality, as well as the elimination of all shortcomings and deviations identified in the production process;
• quality control - aimed at identifying compliance between the planned and achieved level, as well as compliance with its stated standards;
• analytical function - involves the collection and study of information about the results of the enterprise;
• legal support - is to bring all systems and processes in the company in line with the law;
• stimulating the improvement of the quality level - includes the motivation of employees.

It should be noted that the functions of quality management, with the exception of specific items, largely overlap with the basic functions of management.

Basic principles

The principles of quality management are the basis of the system of international standards, and they can be described as follows:

• the production strategy must be entirely consumer-oriented (this applies not only to the range, but also to the level of quality of goods);
• the management of the enterprise is responsible for providing the necessary conditions to achieve a given level of quality;
• all personnel of the company - from the highest to the lowest level - should be involved in the process of improving the quality of products, for which a system of motivation and incentives should be used;
• quality management should be carried out on the basis of a systematic approach, which consists in the perception of all departments of the enterprise in their inextricable relationship;
• it is unacceptable to set the final limits of quality, but should be guided by the principle of continuous improvement of its level;
• the adoption of any decisions related to changes in production technology in order to improve product quality should be justified by figures that characterize the economic feasibility of introducing certain innovations;
• in an effort to improve the quality of the final product, it is worth demanding the same from suppliers of raw materials, materials, as well as machinery and equipment.

Compliance with these principles is the key to an effective organization of quality management.

Terms

In order to apply these principles in practice, it is necessary that the following quality management conditions be present:

• a plan for improving production must be developed or specific economic indicators to which the enterprise aspires;
• actions to improve the existing system are expedient only if there are significant deviations from the specified parameters;
• these deviations must be clearly measured, it is necessary to obtain a description in the form of specific figures or economic indicators;
• the enterprise must have sufficient resources and a level of capability to improve production and bring it into line with benchmarks.

ISO

Most modern enterprises use international ISO quality management standards in their production activities. This is an organization in which representatives of 147 countries take part. This allows the creation of unified requirements for goods and services that not only provide a high level of quality, but also contribute to the development of international trade.

The ISO-9000 quality standard is the most widespread in the world. It contains 8 basic principles according to which activities should be organized. These include:

• focus on customer needs;
• unconditional leadership of the head;
• involvement of employees of all levels in quality management processes;
• division of the production process into specific stages and components;
• understanding of quality management as a system of interrelated elements;
• continuous striving to improve product quality and improve production mechanisms;
• all decisions should be made only on the basis of facts;
• the relationship of the organization with the external environment should be mutually beneficial.

Speaking about the ISO 9001 system, it is worth noting that it defines specific requirements, which, unlike principles, are mandatory. According to this standard, enterprises receive a certificate that confirms the appropriate level of their products, able to fully meet the needs of customers, as well as ensure safety.

The ISO 9004 system is a guide for those enterprises that seek to improve the quality of their products and improve production. It implies a detailed description of all stages that will bring production in line with increasing requirements.

It should be noted that bringing production in line with ISO standards is a voluntary decision of the manager. However, for ambitious organizations that do not want to be limited to local markets, following these regulations, as well as obtaining the appropriate certification, is mandatory.

Why quality management is needed

Modern quality management sets many tasks for manufacturers, the implementation of which ensures the appropriate level of product quality. Although following international standards is a voluntary initiative, a growing number of firms are joining it in order to strengthen their position in the market. The objectives of quality management can be described as follows:

• improving the level of quality, as well as ensuring product safety;
• improvement of the production process in order to achieve the highest economic results;
• creating a positive image in the market, which will significantly increase sales;
• obtaining a significant advantage over competitors;
• attraction of investments;
• entering new markets;
• in case of following international standards - export of products abroad.

Every manager of an enterprise must be aware that the provision of high level quality is necessary not only for the end consumer, but also for the enterprise itself. Why? A competent organization of quality management, as well as adherence to all state and international standards, open up new markets for products, and therefore, allow us to achieve the maximum profit rate.

Main problems

Quality management is accompanied by a number of problems and significant obstacles. Among them are the following:

• combination marketing activities in full compliance with all principles and quality standards;
• despite the economic interests of the enterprise, the entire quality assurance system must take into account the requirements and requests of the consumer;
• continuous quality control at all stages of the production process;
• lack of qualified personnel, sufficiently aware of the latest standards.

Quality Tools

The following groups of quality tools can be distinguished:

• control tools that allow assessing the feasibility of making certain management decisions;
• quality management tools - include comprehensive information about the parameters of a particular product and the features of its production (mainly used at the development stage);
• analysis tools - allow you to identify "bottlenecks" and determine areas for improving production;
• design tools - are used at the stage of product development and allow you to identify the most significant for a potential consumer quality characteristics goods.

It should be noted that ensuring a high level of product quality is the initial task of any modern enterprise, which seeks to take a stable position in the market, as well as expand its boundaries. Obtaining the ISO 9001 international quality certificate allows you not only to increase your reputation, but also to enter the international arena.