Quality management - from bottom to top

One advantage of a smaller business is that you needn't bother with management trends often sold to the bigger boys by management consultants. At least that's how it seems on the face of it. Does it really count as an advantage though? It could be that Total Quality Management could make money for a small business as well as a big one.

Quality management is becoming the only route forward for many businesses. Certain giants now insist on their suppliers providing quality certifications, like BS5750. Those don't come easily and can be expensive, and while a policy of Total Quality Management isn't essential to obtain them, you might as well undertake a TQM drive if you're going to all that trouble.

Jack McGavigan, the now retired chairman of John McGavigan & Co, certainly thought Total Quality Management made sense. And what's more, it helped his firm avoid a burgeoning crisis in the late 1980s. The company, specialising in 'graphics-related plastics technology' including car parts, was being squeezed on both sides by suppliers and customers, competition was growing and costs were rising.

With groups of employees set up to tackle issues from the bottom up, the company was already set up along the lines of quality management. But Edward Smith, managing director of John McGavigan Automotive Products, believed passionately that disaster could be averted with even more quality. It was his belief that the employees were the experts and he wanted to exploit their potential, which means communication, teams and training.

Smith also advocated the 'will to win'. The foundation of the company's drive for Total Quality Management was a generally high expectation. This paid off. Previously the company would accept rejects at a rate of 1.5 to 2%, but this was reduced to 500 parts per million - or 0.005%.

The key to Total Quality Management is for everyone to get involved. You have to work towards producing the perfect products via perfect processes for perfect customer satisfaction. This might seem impossible and in reality it is. But working on a basis of 'continuous improvement' is the key. It's no flash-in-the-pan process; it has to undertaken for many years.

The rewards are plenty. McGavigan's productivity rose by 80%, which Smith credits with employee involvement. And if that weren't proof enough, the outfit was eventually bought by Pressac Holdings for £9.75 million.

About the Author Robert Heller is a quality management expert and co-author of the Thinking Managers business management website, along with lateral thinking pioneer Edward de Bono.