Total quality management 443 marketing, purchasing, production, distribution, technical and finance. The group should be headed by a member of staff with sufficient managerial experience and should be accountable to the board or directly to the chief executive The steering group should also appoint the person to be designated as the 'management representative,, whoever named, who will be responsible for the maintenance and control of the system in the future. This person is concerned with ensuring that documentation proceeds smoothly and that documentation is controlled. He/she is also responsible for the internal audit system. This so-called Quality Manager may have other duties within the quality system, but this should not be to the detriment of"ownership'of the ystem by all the constituent parts 15.4.3 Initial status The steering group should arrange for the two key activities to be carried out:(a) a definition of current business processes carried out in all parts of the business and(b)based on this information define the scope within which you wish to implement the TQM system. This is a key decision and must be based on a sound understanding not only of the essential processes which support delivery of your products to your customers, but must also understand all of the support functions which help to maintain that delivery mechanism (e.g. finance maintenance) Once the scope of activity is defined it is imperative to carry out an exercise to establish the level of benefit that may be obtained from the introduction of the TQM system. Typically this can best be achieved by carrying out a quality osting exercise Quality costing will determine the operational costs of not doing things right, such as wastage in manufacturing, loss due to non- conforming product, down-time on equipment. Based on the findings of this exercise it is possible to estimate the possible company wide benefit of introducing the quality system. These potential savings can then be reviewed by senior management, and a firm commitment to establish the system made necessary the scope of the TQM can be reviewed at this point to ensure that the areas covered will lead to maximum return 15.4.4 Planning The steering group should draw up the implementation sequence and agree timescales with all appropriate parties so that a plan can be made. The plan must cover all elements of the implementation including process analysis documentation, implementation, training and PR elements. The group should monitor the plan of implementation. If there are problems to overcome in achieving the plan, the steering group must be sufficiently senior to overcome blockages. If the plan cannot be achieved for unavoidable reasons, the steering group must give an account of this to the chief executivemarketing, purchasing, production, distribution, technical and finance. The group should be headed by a member of staff with sufficient managerial experience and should be accountable to the board or directly to the chief executive. The steering group should also appoint the person to be designated as the ‘management representative’, whoever named, who will be responsible for the maintenance and control of the system in the future. This person is concerned with ensuring that documentation proceeds smoothly and that documentation is controlled. He/she is also responsible for the internal audit system. This so-called ‘Quality Manager’ may have other duties within the quality system, but this should not be to the detriment of ‘ownership’ of the system by all the constituent parts. 15.4.3 Initial status The steering group should arrange for the two key activities to be carried out: (a) a definition of current business processes carried out in all parts of the business and (b) based on this information define the scope within which you wish to implement the TQM system. This is a key decision and must be based on a sound understanding not only of the essential processes which support delivery of your products to your customers, but must also understand all of the support functions which help to maintain that delivery mechanism (e.g. finance, maintenance). Once the scope of activity is defined it is imperative to carry out an exercise to establish the level of benefit that may be obtained from the introduction of the TQM system. Typically this can best be achieved by carrying out a quality costing exercise. Quality costing will determine the operational costs of not doing things right, such as wastage in manufacturing, loss due to non￾conforming product, down-time on equipment. Based on the findings of this exercise it is possible to estimate the possible company wide benefit of introducing the quality system. These potential savings can then be reviewed by senior management, and a firm commitment to establish the system made. If necessary the scope of the TQM can be reviewed at this point to ensure that the areas covered will lead to maximum return. 15.4.4 Planning The steering group should draw up the implementation sequence and agree timescales with all appropriate parties so that a plan can be made. The plan must cover all elements of the implementation including process analysis, documentation, implementation, training and PR elements. The group should monitor the plan of implementation. If there are problems to overcome in achieving the plan, the steering group must be sufficiently senior to overcome blockages. If the plan cannot be achieved for unavoidable reasons, the steering group must give an account of this to the chief executive. Total quality management 443