Total Quality Management - CII Institute of Logistics

Total Quality Management
Effectiveness implies ‘doing the right things’. The key elements of effectiveness
improvement include:
Statement of a vision: how an organization sees itself in the future; this,
together with a mission, focuses the whole organization on a clear direction.
Identification of key processes: for delivering the mission and challenging the
need to continue with processes, which do not add value.
Identification of customer/supplier relationships: deciding who is the customer
and their requirements.
Measurement of performance: develops the understanding of how services
will be measured leading to ‘internal contracts’.
Clarity of authority and responsibility: establishes who are ‘owners’ and who
are ‘contributors’ to a process and identifies weaknesses in the roles and
responsibilities context.
Improving effectiveness is a way of focusing effort and resources on providing customers
with a product or service that meets their requirements.
2.5 Departmental Purpose Analysis
Departmental Purpose Analysis (DPA) is a technique giving a practical approach to
improving effectiveness (Figure 2.4). The first part of this is a structural review defining
the role and responsibilities of each function in relation to the mission. The second part
looks at the customer/supplier relationship and identifies value-added processes or
opportunities for quality improvement. The third and fourth stages quantify the cost of
quality opportunities and an action plan to gain measurable improvement.
It can be argued that all activities should add value to an organization. If they do not, why
do them? Thus each person in the supply chain should add value to the process. The
benefits associated with these activities may be financially quantifiable. In most cases,
the benefits will be very much more subjective.
CII Institute of Logistics 37
Website: www.ciilogistics.com