TQM and CIP mean nothing to you? No problem, that's what this blog post is about. TQM is the abbreviation for Total Quality Management and stands for a process to keep the quality in our company high for us and our customers. This includes our internal processes and services we sell. To continuously keep the quality high, we have to conduct an ongoing reflection and implement improvements.
This process is based on the PDCA cycle. The PDCA cycle was developed by William Edwards Deming. He was a pioneer in quality management. The abbreviation PDCA stands for Plan, Do, Check and Act and means the following: Before a process is implemented, it first has to be planned what this process should look like. Afterwards, the process is carried out and then it is reflected on whether the process has achieved what it was supposed to achieve. Finally, the reflection is acted upon, and the process is further improved.
In most companies, the first two points of this cycle are noticed and implemented, but the following ones are usually simply forgotten. We in the practice firm are well aware of the importance of these last two steps. Because only when the actions taken are thought about and reflected upon, a potential for improvement can be recognized. Some companies still take the step of reflection, but the final implementation of the improvement potential is missing in order to generate real improvements. It is important that this process happens regularly, because only through improvements a consistent quality of the products can be guaranteed. This is why we also speak of CIP, which is the abbreviation for continuous improvement process.
Implementation is particularly important in practice firms because this is where the companies' future employees are trained. In this way, it can be ensured that future employees of companies have at least already dealt with the topic of total quality management and also can apply it in future companies.