Total quality management in manufacturing: A study in the Singapore context

The paper presents a total quality management (TQM) framework combining the concepts underlying the notions of total quality control (TQC), Just in Time (JIT), manufacturing resource planning (MRP), and quality control circles (QCCs). An integrative model, in which these notions and the related issues are complementarily connected on the same logical plane is presented and it is argued that this is akin to the total systems intervention (TSI) approach in its endeavor to seek manufacturing excellence. It also has similarities to creative problem solving, especially with regard to corporate strategy, but here with an emphasis on the role of manufacturing. However, TQM is an idea of its own, and not a conceptual derivative of systems theory.