Company-wide Quality Control (CWQC)

The avenues through which Kaizen may be pursued are almost endless. However, the “high road” to Kaizen has been the practice of company-wide quality control (CWQC). Hardware, software and human-ware are the three building blocks of business. CWQC starts with human-ware. The hardware and software aspects of business are considered only after the human-ware is in place. CWQC has become an elaborate system of corporate problem solv­ing and improvement activities. The CWQC is expected to yield the following results:

• Provide products and services that satisfy customer requirements and earn customer trust.
• Steer the corporation towards higher profitability through such measures as improved work procedures, fewer defects, lower costs, lower debt service and more advantageous order filling.
• Help employees fulfill their potential for achieving corporate goals with particular empha­sis on areas such as policy deployment and voluntary activities.
• Help the corporation cope with any severe environmental changes or other external prob­lems, win customer confidence and secure and improve profitability.

CWQC signifies a statistical and systematic approach for Kaizen and problem solving. Its methodological foundation is the statistical application of quality control (QC) concepts, including the use and analysis of statistical data. This approach has fostered a process- oriented way of thinking. The following are the salient features of CWQC:

1. Company-wide total quality control (TQC) with the participation of all employees
2. Emphasis on education and training
3. Quality control circle activities
4. CWQC audits as exemplified by the Deming Prize audit
5. Application of statistical methods
6. Nationwide CWQC promotion

Characteristics of CWQC

The main characteristics of CWQC are:

1. Quality before profit
2. Consumer-oriented quality control, not producer-oriented quality control
3. The next process is the customer
4. Application of statistical methods
5. Cross-functional management
6. CWQC starts with training and ends with training

The introduction of CWQC invariably starts with all-out efforts for training managers and workers. This is a natural follow up to the concept of building quality into people. The major aim of various training programmes is to instill CWQC thinking in all employees. Compa­nies should conduct separate courses for the different organizational levels and reach every­one horizontally (vendors on one end to customers on the other) and vertically (from the top management to workers).

Source: Poornima M. Charantimath (2017), Total Quality Management, Pearson; 3rd edition.