A survey of TQM practices in the Malaysian electrical and electronic industry
Total quality management (TQM) is one of the key approaches towards realizing the goal of meeting customer satistaction. Besides efforts for quality improvement by large companies, many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have also pursued their quality improvement effort, but mostly through...
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Main Authors: | , |
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Taylor and Francis Group
2003
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/6184/1/ShariMohdYusof2003_ASurveyofTQMPractices.pdf http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/6184/ http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/apcity/unpan012140.pdf |
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Institution: | Universiti Teknologi Malaysia |
Language: | English |
Summary: | Total quality management (TQM) is one of the key approaches towards realizing the
goal of meeting customer satistaction. Besides efforts for quality improvement by large companies,
many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have also pursued their quality improvement
effort, but mostly through the ISO 9000 certification route. Few of these SMEs have actually
implemented a total approach using the TQM philosophy. This paper relates to a survey conducted
to investigate the level of practice on TQM elements and to find the most critical factors perceived by
the SMEs. A questionnaire was sent to 248 companies in the electrical and electronics sector in
Malaysia, which resulted in a response rate of 24.2%. Attempts at finding significant differences
between small and large companies’ quality practices were made and revealed that there was a
significant difference between the TQM practices of large and small companies. Management
leadership, continuous improvement system and education and training proved to be rated among top
priorities for successful implementation by large companies, compared with SMEs. However, supplier
quality management was found to be the least implemented criteria by both large and small companies.
This indicates that a much greater emphasis must be given on supplier management in future quality
improvement programmes. The study has highlighted the importance of TQM adoption in SMEs to
meet future challenges in realizing the vision, of world-class organizations. Engineering innovation
must not be limited to ‘hard technology’ alone but should incorporate advanced manufacturing
management techniques to sustain the improvement efforts and in meeting the long-term needs of the
nation. Further studies can be made focusing on other types of industry in Malaysia, such as
automotive, metal-based, and food processing, etc, to allow for a more comprehensive TQM
framework to be built upon to meet the needs of SMEs in their drive towards a total quality
organization |
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