EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
A new line of clothing for plus-size women is being developed. This report shows the Quality Plans, Quality Assurance and Quality Control measures the company used in developing the new line of clothing. This contains the significance of using quality management for the new line of clothing, the quality plans, assurance and controls.
This report shows the use of Quality Planning in the project which follows the four phases; Plan and Design Program, Product Design and Development Verification, Process Design and Development Verification. The Plan-Do-Check-act approach paradigm was used in Quality Assurance and the use of traditional Quality Control from the design to production and a discussion of the pros and cons of using this type of quality control measure.
. It is highly recommended to for companies, whether in huge or small scale to use Quality Planning, Assurance and Control in producing goods. These three processes help companies in creating good products which consumers prefer hence gaining more profit
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction and Project Background —————————————— 1
Project Quality Context ————————————————————– 2
Quality Planning and Assurance ————————————————- 5
Quality Planning ————————————————————– 5
Quality Assurance ———————————————————– 7
Quality Control ————————————————————————- 9
Conclusion —————————————————————————— 11
Recommendations ——————————————————————- 13
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
This report is prepared to assure that the new line of clothing is of excellent quality from the styles of the clothes, quality of the raw materials, and the service of the staff. This report will show how high our standards in terms of quality. It also analyzes and identifies the risk and threats involved with this development of new product.
This report contains the context of the project it discusses the needs and relevance of quality management to the new product. It also includes quality planning, assurance and control.
The project of a clothing company is to develop a new store catering to plus size women. This includes tops, bottoms, inner wears, and dresses. This new line offers custom-made clothes for plus size women who are more fashionably inclined. Few stores cater to plus size women and those stores do not offer custom-made clothes for plus size fashionistas. There is such a small selection of trendy clothes and a lot of those clothes are very awful. The company will give plus-size women the same fashion options as to those smaller sizes. This new line of clothing boasts of its uber-chic styles but in an affordable price without sacrificing the quality. Plus, the new store will provide a customer-oriented service which a lot of stores are often missing.
1
PROJECT QUALITY CONTEXT
Quality management according to (2006) is a management approach or strategy of an organization or company aimed on quality. Its goal is to have a long-term success by means of customer satisfaction. (1994) asserts quality management is an extensive source of information regarding the management of different processes that aims in continuous improvement of product and service qualities. (1996) discussed the basic components in quality management:
The way work is done- not people- is most often the source of problems. The new store needs quality management in order for its employees to deliver good services through a high quality set of clothes and friendly, customer-oriented store staffs. It is significant for the project because it is addressed directly to the consumers if the store staffs are not friendly the customers won’t go back, the same thing also if the clothes aren’t trendy and of bad quality. If the management hires incapable designers and staffs the outcome of the goods and services will be of poor quality.
Satisfaction of customers is paramount. In an organization or company that caters to consumers, satisfaction is the utmost priority.
2
According to (1994) customers are more forgiving if the products that they got have defects over poor business practices and services. The new store for plus size women needs quality management in order to satisfy the targeted consumers. If the products and services are not satisfied with what the store offers most likely they won’t come back and the targeted consumers will be lessen.
Management must provide leadership and foster commitment to quality. Quality management must begin from the top. The management must strive for excellence. The people from the top positions of the organization must bear not good but excellent quality with their work because if the employees see the kind of work the management does it will be emulated. According to(1992) good management includes the following: managers must walk around the facilities, listen to workers, train the managers and then the workers, screen the consultants in quality management, managers must be patient and solve problems one at a time, remove the fear of employees from the management.
The empowerment of employees is crucial. (1991) discussed that if the employees are satisfied, they will render a good service which will contribute to customer’s satisfaction. In addition, (1992) stated that in increasing the effectiveness of quality management the employees must be
3
educated about the challenges and goals of the company, and the management must incorporate a rewards system. The management must educate their employees on the business of the organization and how their work contributes to the success or failure of the company. The employees of the new store must know that the kind of work they do whether it is on the design, sales, manufacturing or marketing will have a huge effect on the company. If one of the teams delivered a service or products of poor quality the whole will be affected.
Total quality management is built around the concept of using teamwork to accomplish change. This component is connected with what is written above; in the new project it has different teams the design, responsible in creating trendy clothes. According to (1995) teams in the company must use techniques in analyzing and improving quality. The most common devices being used are flowcharts, brainstorming and cause and effect diagram. Sales, responsible in selling the clothes and giving friendly and accommodating gestures to clients. Manufacturing, responsible in making the excellent quality clothes. Marketing, responsible for letting the consumers know that the store exists. These teams must be trained properly using new techniques and methods aiming quality improvement.
Tools and techniques are important and must be integrated into an organization’s routine. Quality management involves quality improvement methodology. The new store must integrate it to their system in order to have
4
continuous improvement. Measurement of quality indicators and collection of data must be used in order to have improvement.
Long-term commitment is critical. The new store won’t have a problem in the change in organizational culture if from the beginning the organization used quality management. This component applies only to established organization that is starting to use this method.
QUALITY PLANNING AND ASSURANCE
QUALITY PLANNING
Quality Planning according to(2001) is a framework designed in developing products in the industry, particularly the automotive industry. The goal of quality improvement according to (1986) is reduce variation and have a high statistical approach in the evaluation of quality. Quality Planning has four phases: (a) Plan and Define Program (b) Product Design and Development Verification (c) Process Design and Development Verification.
Plan and Define Program. The management will set the following goals for the new store; (a) Produce top of the line quality apparels. (b) Design trendy outfits for plus-size women (c) Target plus-size consumers from all social classes
5
(d) Advertise the product to gain consumers (e) Retention of the targeted customers and (f) Gain profits. Afterwards, the management will inspect the reliability and quality of these goals.
Then the management will give a Preliminary Bill of the following materials; (a) Raw materials (b) Machineries (c) Manpower and (d) Location.
Next is giving the Preliminary process flow; gathering raw materials, designing, production, marketing and selling of clothes.
And lastly the company will give its Product Assurance Plan, containing its objectives, policies, methods and procedures that will be implemented.
Product Design and Development Verification. The designers will create the styles and designs of different apparels. After the designs are finished the design team with the help of some customers’ opinion will verify and review the designs that will be produced. A sample will be created.
Process Design and Development Verification. In this phase the qualities of the production were formulated. Equipments that will be used are tested and listed. Then a process flowchart will be created indicating the three major sequences in production; (a) cutting process (b) Sewing production and (c) pressing. And Lastly, Process Instructions will also be given.
Product and Process Validation. In product and process validation, there would be a production trial run. If the trial run turned out to be successful the Production part would be approved. The packaging of the product would be evaluated. And a production control plan will be given. The last part is signing-off
of Quality Planning. 6
In addition, in (1979) book, he developed a program that focuses on management commitment to improvement quality, having wide awareness of quality on the organization, making extensive use of teams, evaluation of the quality cost, continuous process on refining the company and setting goals.
QUALITY ASSURANCE
In (2006) states that its main goal is to make sure that the organizations products and services fulfills and even exceeds customers’ expectations. It covers all activities from design to documentation. The most widely used paradigm in Quality Assurance management is the Shewhart Cycle also known as the Plan-Do-Check-Act approach.
The PDCA Cycle according to (2006) coordinates the organization or company’s continuous improvement efforts. The company used this cycle as a paradigm for Quality Assurance management for the new line of clothing.
7
Plan. The organization must identify first the problems that the new store will face and come up with solutions to the problem. The problems would be mainly on the production, availability of raw materials and equipment. Does the organization need to import raw materials? Are the raw materials enough for mass production? Can the equipments handle the production? The abilities and skills of manpower. Do the employees have the skills in operating equipments or designing apparels? These problems can be checked by using quality control measures interpreted by charts.
Do. After finding out problems changes must be done to provide solutions. The company must begin on a small-scale for trial. If the problem is on the availability of raw materials the design team must experiment new styles that will be produced on a small scale. If it is on the equipment, the company must reduce its production to avoid further damage on the machines. If it is on the manpower, further training on the employees who performed weakly, and provide small-group leadership skills.
Check. Find out if the small scale changes are effective or not. The company can check if the experimental designs are effective by selling the products on a small scale. The response of the consumers is the key in checking of its effective. Check if the reduced production of goods has great effect on gaining profits, whether it decreased retain or increased. These things can be checked using data check sheets and control charts. On the manpower, the
training and leadership skills can be seen effective by the performance of the employees, whether they improved or not.
Act. Implement the changes in the organization if the experimental changes are successful. This is done in the company by doing mass productions and changing some process standards. And formal training of the employees.
According to (1992) quality improvement does not end in checking using the statistical tools. He believes that leadership of the management is the most important in managing the change in an organization to success. If the management was able to incorporate the vision, mission and strategies of the company to its employee’s success can be achieved.
(1993) discussed that Quality planning has its benefits: it can increase sales, reduce the yearly failure costs, bad quality products, consumer complaints, and absentees among employees, a safer work environment and a management which have a participative environment.
8
QUALITY CONTROL
discussed that quality control is used in measuring and controlling of the products as it is being developed. (1993) states that quality control is doing the proper things in the proper way, even if, the measures used are not that efficient and cost effective. It is designed to: (a) provide routine and consistent checks to ensure product integrity, correctness, and completeness (b) Identify and address errors. (c) Document and archive inventory material and record all Quality control activities.
The company will use the traditional way in quality control, in which the inspection of products and services during and after production.
During designing these inspection takes place, when the designers create apparels. When the designing team receives the raw designs, there would be sorting of good from bad ones. The good sketches are then sent to be created. The design team must choose raw materials that will fit the designs of the apparels. Raw materials are sorted; the best one that fits the style and function of the apparel will be used. And once the designers finished choosing the designs and materials, the creation of the prototype apparels will begin and afterwards it will be sent for mass production.
9
There are three main points of inspection, first when raw materials are received, before the raw materials enters production the employees sorts the poor from excellent quality materials. After sorting the excellent raw materials it is then forwarded to the production process. Second is during production process, during cutting process products are still being sorted, bad outputs are rejected and excellent outcomes is forwarded again to sewing production. The same process goes to sewing production, bad products are rejected and the best ones enters pressing. Third is when the products are finished. Inspection of quality is tested. According to (1994) the quality of apparels is measured by three factors: (a) Durability (b) Utility and (c) Emotional appeal,
The Durability factors are tensile strength, tear strength, abrasion resistance, colourfastness, and cracking and bursting. Utility factors are air permeability, water permeability, thermal conductivity, crease retention, wrinkle resistance, shrinkage and soil resistance. Emotional Appeal factors are eye appeal of fabric, tactile response to fabric, reaction to hand manipulation of fabric, eye appeal of the garment’s face, silhouette, design and drape.
If the products past the three main inspections it will be dispatched to the customers.
10
CONCLUSION
(1993) discussed that a lot of companies spent huge amount of time and money on Quality Management Programs but usually fails. These companies failed to focus on some customer-driven problem areas. In addition, (1994) stated that customer satisfaction and improvement in the quality of products are not automatically translated into profits.
In conclusion Quality Planning, Assurance and Control are very important in developing a new clothing line. Clothing is one of the basic necessities of man and consumers are very particular with quality. In Quality Planning the four phases makes it easier for the company to comply with the set of standards and can easily achieve customers’ satisfaction. Quality planning lessens the detection of defects because it already prevents it. By using Quality Planning there would be continuous improvement of the products.
In using the Plan-Do-Check-Act approach in Quality Assurance the company will reduce costs in solving a bigger problem because it was already identified and the improvement measures are in small-scale. The probability of losing profit is lesser because experimental designs are created first and tested in a small area of the organization. Plus it will not cause a major interruption in the organization because it was tested first in a small-scale. If the measures did
11
not work, the company will just continue with the cycle. Improvement of the products and services in the organization is continuous if the Plan-Do-Check-Act approach is used.
In using the traditional Quality control there are pros and cons. Traditional Quality Control checks and reviews work, and separates the good ones from the bad. It follows a standard, so that the consumers will get an excellent quality on products and services. The company will give consumers the best of the products, and there would be less customers complaining. The company will gain more customers and would even have loyal ones. And lastly, because of the excellent quality products the company will earn more profits because more consumers would want to buy.
There are also problems in using traditional quality control. The inspection process will not have any values, if the outcome of all the products has no defects. Inspection will cost the company some money, because of lost time inspecting and added labour for employees. If the inspection is done too late during the production the probability of having defective goods is high. And lastly, Inspection is not at par with new production techniques.
The important findings in order for the new line of clothing for plus-size women to be successful are creating a set of long-term goals, having the right machineries, raw materials, manpower and enough money. The threats to the success of the project are the lack of good equipment, incapable employees and
12
manager and not enough capital to start the project.
According to (1993) said that quality management can reduce absenteeism among management and employees, improve production and the work environment is positive.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Quality Planning, Assurance and Control are important factors in creating, developing and marketing new products. Big companies, as well as, small companies must use these three in order to have excellent quality products. By using Quality Planning, Assurance and Control the companies will prevent loss of money due to failure in detecting defective products.
(1994) advises that organizations that are going to use Quality Management must have an effective quality program, calculate the cost of the initiatives being taken by the company and compare it against the revenue returns, determine the factors in customer retention, focus on customer satisfactions, pilot-test programs and continue the improvement efforts of the organization,
13
According to (1994) the management must also recognize that the employees wants direction in the company, workers must believe that the organization stands for something very relevant in the society, employees wants challenges and wants to have the opportunity to keep on learning new ideas and things.
The company must have a set of long-term objectives, this will be a guide in having excellent quality products because the organization wants to reach and
achieve those specific goals. Having the right equipments is important because production won’t begin or it would stop if the company will not provide the proper ones. The company must invest in their manpower because a key in having excellent quality products is the people behind the equipments; if the workers are incapable the result is most likely a defective product. Give trainings to weak employees to hasten their capabilities. And finally, the organization must have enough money to start a project/business. Not enough capital equals to limited equipments and employees and it will result to a defective product.
14
Plan and Define Program
Product Design and Development Verification
Process Design and Development Verification
Product and Process Development
Set Goals
* Produce top of the line quality apparels.
* Design trendy outfits for plus-size women
* Target plus-size consumers from all social classes
* Advertise the product to gain consumers
* Retention of the targeted customers
* Gain profits.
Preliminary Bill of Materials
* Raw Materials
* Machineries
* Manpower
* Location
Product Assurance Plan
Design Apparels
Design Reviews
Design Verification
Design Prototype/Sample
Equipment Quality and Standards
Process Flowchart
* Cutting Process
* Sewing Production
* Pressing
Process Instructions
Production Trial Run
Approval of Production
Product packaging Evaluation
Quality Planning sign-off
APPENDIX 1
TABLE 1. QUALITY PLAN OF THE PROPOSED NEW LINE OF CLOTHING FOR PLUS SIZED WOMEN
APPENDIX 2
FIGURE 1. FLOW CHART IN THE PRODUCTION OF APPARELS
FIGURE 2. PLAN-DO-ACT-CHECK APPROACH
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment