The TQM Magazine: Volume 12 Issue 2

An application of experimental design for process optimisation

Hefin Rowlands, Jiju Antony, Graeme Knowles

Dr Taguchi is a Japanese engineer and an international quality consultant who has made breakthrough improvements in product and process quality through the use of statistical…

The impact of ISO 9000 and TQM on best practice/performance

Vas Prabhu, Alex Appleby, David Yarrow, Ed Mitchell

Companies, irrespective of size or sector, often use ISO 9000 and TQM as a route to world class status. The aim of this paper is to show if this has had any impact on or…

Quality management approach in China

Zhihai Zhang

In order to provide readers with a better understanding of China’s approach to quality management, this paper presents China’s quality management history, the main quality…

Re‐thinking TQM: toward a framework for facilitating learning and change in construction organizations

Peter E.D. Love, Heng Li, Zahir Irani, Gary D. Holt

Organizations in the construction industry have eschewed implementing TQM practices because short‐term benefits are relatively minimal. As a result, re‐engineering has emerged as…

A comparison of Australian firms and their use of continuous improvement tools

Paul Hyland, Robert Mellor, Eddie O’Mara, Ramesh Kondepudi

Continuous improvement (CI) is a process used by manufacturing firms to improve quality, reduce lead times, reduce price, and improve delivery reliability. A survey of firms in…

Learning by auditing: a knowledge creating approach

Ron Beckett, Peter Murray

The following case study demonstrates how an organisation can integrate learning with normal business processes so that it not only shares its knowledge and continuously improves…

Journey towards agility: the agile wheel explored

Sandra Meredith, David Francis

Competitive advantage increasingly rests upon a dynamic capability to compete successfully in an environment of frequent, challenging and, often, unpredictable change. Sustaining…

The effect of company size on the relationship between TQM strategy and organisational performance

Milé Terziovski, Danny Samson

The purpose of this study was to test the effects of company size on the strength of the relationship between TQM and organisational performance. Based on a cross‐sectional study…

Innovation capacity: working towards a mechanism for improving innovation within an inter‐organizational network

Elson Szeto

Improving the innovation capacity of firms is dependent upon various factors, among which the continuous supply of innovation resources and the accumulation of innovation…