430 Chilled foods 15.1.1 Defining quality Despite the preponderance of quality assurance texts, quality standards, and definitions of quality, many people are still confused by the term quality. In the early incarnations of quality management, quality assurance and quality control were often used synonymously. However the importance of differentiating between reactive quality management (quality control) and pro-active quality management(quality assurance)was quickly realised. More importantly the benefits to be derived from the wide ranging implications of quality assurance were soon realised and capitalised upon by practitioners. The concept of TQM akes the now more familiar quality assurance requirements, as exemplified by BS5750/ISO9000, one step further and seeks to view ALL operations and processes that a company utilises as being inherently important to their overall business performance and quality of service parameters According to BS 7850, Total Quality Management may be defined as follows Management philosophy and company practices that aim to harness the human and material resources of an organisation in the most effective way to achieve the objectives of the organisation. On a slightly different tack, Margaret Thatcher once paraphrased quality very succinctly, The combinations of features in a product which ensures that customers come back for a product which does not However, it is important to realise that the objectives of the organisation can be multifaceted and reflect other primary business needs as well as the more obvious product quality issues. TQM systems should therefore be capable of ncorporating objectives as diverse as customer satisfaction, business growth profit maximisation, market leadership, environmental concerns, health and safety issues and reflect the companys position and role within the local community. One over-riding principle must be for the TQM system to ensure compatibility with the needs of current legislation in all its guises- food safe business practices, environmental and waste, employment rights and health and safety The need to meet the ever-increasing demands of customers for improved reliability and quality of product have fuelled the need to consider TQM systems. Supplying just-in-time manufactured products with short shelf-lives to the retail outlet in a reliable and dependable manner, pressure on margins to provide cheap yet wholesome foods, and the continuing need to provide evidence of safe food production have all added to the requirement to consider the totality of the chilled food business operation Unfortunately for staff tasked with considering TQM systems there has been much confusing literature produced on the subject. Various titles have been used to describe TQM systems, e.g. Continuous Quality Improvement, Total Qual Total Business Management, Company Wide Business Management, Cost Effective Quality Management, Integrated Management Systems. Suffice it to say that the objectives of the various schemes have all been synonymous and I refer the reader back to the definition of TQM given earlier from BS 7850. The hallenge to practitioners of TQM is usually not with the title given to the15.1.1 Defining quality Despite the preponderance of quality assurance texts, quality standards, and definitions of quality, many people are still confused by the term quality. In the early incarnations of quality management, quality assurance and quality control were often used synonymously. However the importance of differentiating between reactive quality management (quality control) and pro-active quality management (quality assurance) was quickly realised. More importantly the benefits to be derived from the wide ranging implications of quality assurance were soon realised and capitalised upon by practitioners. The concept of TQM takes the now more familiar quality assurance requirements, as exemplified by BS5750/ISO9000, one step further and seeks to view ALL operations and processes that a company utilises as being inherently important to their overall business performance and quality of service parameters. According to BS 7850, Total Quality Management may be defined as follows – ‘Management philosophy and company practices that aim to harness the human and material resources of an organisation in the most effective way to achieve the objectives of the organisation.’ On a slightly different tack, Margaret Thatcher once paraphrased quality very succinctly, ‘The combinations of features in a product which ensures that customers come back for a product which does not.’ However, it is important to realise that the objectives of the organisation can be multifaceted and reflect other primary business needs as well as the more obvious product quality issues. TQM systems should therefore be capable of incorporating objectives as diverse as customer satisfaction, business growth, profit maximisation, market leadership, environmental concerns, health and safety issues and reflect the company’s position and role within the local community. One over-riding principle must be for the TQM system to ensure compatibility with the needs of current legislation in all its guises – food safety, business practices, environmental and waste, employment rights and health and safety. The need to meet the ever-increasing demands of customers for improved reliability and quality of product have fuelled the need to consider TQM systems. Supplying ‘just-in-time’ manufactured products with short shelf-lives to the retail outlet in a reliable and dependable manner, pressure on margins to provide cheap yet wholesome foods, and the continuing need to provide evidence of safe food production have all added to the requirement to consider the totality of the chilled food business operation. Unfortunately for staff tasked with considering TQM systems there has been much confusing literature produced on the subject. Various titles have been used to describe TQM systems, e.g. Continuous Quality Improvement, Total Quality, Total Business Management, Company Wide Business Management, Cost Effective Quality Management, Integrated Management Systems. Suffice it to say that the objectives of the various schemes have all been synonymous and I refer the reader back to the definition of TQM given earlier from BS 7850. The challenge to practitioners of TQM is usually not with the title given to the 430 Chilled foods