A

Project Report
On
QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
ON VARDHAMAN WATER TANK

___________________________________________
Under the Supervision of
MS. Vandana Sral

Submitted By

(Akash Srivastab)
1308017708
in partial fulfillment of the requirement
for the award of the degree
Of

Master of Business Administration

In Operation

2015

BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE

Certified that this project report entitled QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ON

VARDHAMAN WATER TANK is the bona-fide work of Mr. Akash Srivastab for the award
of Master of Business Administration from Sikkim Manipal University carried out under my
supervision.

SIGNATURE

SIGNATURE

HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT

FACULTY IN CHARGE

DECLARATION

I, Akash Srivastab student of Master of Bussiness Administration (MBA) year

2013-2015

from Sikkim Manipal University declare that this project is our

original work and it has not previously formed the basis of award of any degree or
similar other title.

Akash Srivastab
Roll No. : 1308017708
MBA 4th
Sikkim Manipal University

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

If words can be considered as a symbol of approval and token of acknowledgement then let
the words play the heralding role of expressing my gratitude acknowledgement.
At the very outset, I take the privilege to convey my gratitude to those people whose
cooperation, suggestion and heartfelt support helped me to accomplish the project report works
successfully.
I acknowledge my sincere gratitude to my Centre Head _______________ for permitting
me to do the study.
My sincere thanks to my faculty guide Ms. Vandana sral for his careful supervision,
valuable guidance and constant encouragement right from the inception to the successful
completion of my summer project.
I would like to express my sincere thanks to all the faculty members of the Deptt. Of
Business Administration for their support.

Last but not the least. I express my heartfelt thanks to all other staff member of
Vardhaman, my parents and friends for the timely help and support they have rendered in
bringing my study, so its relevance in a faithful manner.

PREFACE

Projects are an indispensable part of any kind of formal education. They help us to have a
practical exposure as well as better outlook of the subject, which we are studying. In a
professional course like M.B.A, the students are equipped with strong theoretical knowledge
about the business operations and the time-tested methods of running a successful business. To
make this theoretical knowledge stronger, the students are assigned certain projects in various
organizations to get an idea of practical working styles.
I was assigned to work in Vardhaman. The topic of study was Quality Management
System in Vardhaman water tank. In order to make the data and findings easily
understandable, efforts have been made to present the information in a simplified, lucid and
organized manner. It gives me immense practical exposure to the practical working patterns and
the environment. I will be satisfied if the organization gets benefits from the study and the
findings.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER NO.

1.
2.

TITLE

Executive Summary:
An overview of the organization:
Introduction
History of the organization

3.

Project Overview:
Introduction to the Study
Objectives the Study
Scope of the Study
Research Methodology
Limitation of the Study
Data Analysis
Recommendation
Conclusion

4.

Others:
Questionnaire
Bibliography
References
Glossary

CHAPTER-1
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Project Title

: Total quality management system in Vardhaman.

Duration of study

: 3rd April to 4th May 2015.

Place of study

: Vardhaman,

Name of the company

: Vardhaman Industries.

Major project

:To study the Quality Management System in Vardhaman.

Methodology

structured

questionnaire

was

developed

and

Administered among the selected sample for effective analysis.

Major finding

: Quality Management system have been contributing

to the overall growth of Vardhaman through cost reduction,
waste elimination, process improvement and greater
productivity. There seems to be ignorance among the
support staffs and casual workers to some extent.

Major Recommendations

: To maintain quality maintaining proper parameter

during process operation is essential. Also for
production of quality tank, if the raw material in
plastic it may give law cost and with minimum errors.

CHAPTER-2
AN OVERVIEW OF THE ORGANIZATION
Introduction:
Established in the year 1999, we, Vardhaman Polymers, Solapur are one of the leading
manufacturers and suppliers of superior quality PVC pipes, rigid PVC pipes & HDPE pipes. The
collection is globally accepted for its features such as rugged construction, corrosion resistance,
low maintenance and leak proof. Hence, we are honored as an ISO 9001:2000 certified company.
Under the insightful guidance of the owner Mr. Shirish Chankeshwara, we have carved out a
niche for ourselves in the industry for offering quality PVC pipes and HDPE pipes. Moreover,
we

are

duly

supported

by

dynamic,

energetic

and

experienced

team.

Further, we are backed by a strong dealer network of 200 dealers around Karnataka, Andhra
Pradesh &.Maharashtra. It assists in prompt delivery of the ordered range to various clients
spread across India within agreed time.
History :
The industrial city of Ludhiana, located in the fertile Malwa region of Central Punjab is
otherwise known as the "Manchester of India". Within the precincts of this city is located the
Corporate headquarters of the Vardhman Group, a household name in Northern India. The
Vardhman Group, born in 1965, under the entrepreneurship of Late Lala Rattan Chand Oswal
has today blossomed into one of the largest Textile Business houses in India.
At its inception, Vardhaman had an installed capacity of 14,000 spindles, today; its capacity has
increased multifold to over 8 lacs spindles. In 1982 the Group entered the sewing thread market
in the country which was a forward integration of the business. Today Vardhaman Threads is the
second largest producer of sewing thread in India. In 1990, it undertook yet another
diversification - this time into the weaving business. The grey fabric weaving unit at Baddi (HP),
commissioned in 1990 with a capacity of 20,000 meters per day, has already made its mark as a

quality producer of Grey poplin, sheeting, shirting in the domestic as well as foreign market.
This was followed by entry into fabric processing by setting up Auro Textiles at Baddi and
Vardhaman Fabric at Budhni,Madhya Pradesh. Today the group has 900 shuttleless looms and
has processing capacity of 90mn meters fabrics/annum.
In the year 1999 the Group has added yet another feather to its cap with the setting up of
Vardhman Acrylics Ltd., Bharuch (Gujarat) which is a joint venture in Acrylic Fibre production
undertaken with Marubeni and Exlan of Japan. The company also has a strong presence in the
markets of Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, UK and EU in addition to the domestic market. Adherence
to systems and a true dedication to quality has resulted in obtaining the coveted ISO 9002/ ISO
14002 quality award which is the first in Textile industry in India and yet another laurel to its
credit.
Manufacturing Unit :

We possess state-of-the-art manufacturing unit which is regularly upgrade to enhance the

production capacity. Further, it has scope to enhance its area with increase in demand of our
vast range by various clients. The unit is installed with sophisticated and Fully Automatic
modern Extrusion Machines such as Koliste, Windsor including:

Water Tank

Haul-off

Automatic cutting

Electro polishing

These machines are regularly checked, serviced and lubricated for its smooth functioning. If
required, these can be replaced by latest and new one. These machines are handled by our
proficient team of engineers.
Our manufacturing unit is duly supported by an in-house design unit assisting in development of
latest designed pipes.

Vision: To be globally recognized as a Leading Supplier of Quality Fabrics"

Mission:
Our mission is to break into the golden circle of the globally acclaimed Information Technology
Services Companies by achieving sustainable and profitable growth through delivery of
exceptional IT services to customers by our outstanding people who take pride in the quality of
our services, our business ethics, and our passion to exceed customers expectations

DIFFERENT TYPES OF PRODUCTS BY VARDHAMAN

10

11

Ontrack is an ISO 9001:2000 Certified Company with Total Customer Satisfaction as its quality policy
objective. The emphasis is on basic process discipline enabling timely delivery, and quality assured
deliverables. Well-defined and documented quality standards and procedures have been laid down for
project management that helps monitor projects on a real-time basis and ensure that the customer is
never out of touch.
Quality is our forte and can be found in every business activity of our company. We follow stringent
quality measures at every stage of production right from procurement of raw material. We have been
conferred with ISI approved: 4985:2000; CM/L: 7227366 and 4984:1995; CM/L: 7497294. Further,
our collection is also developed in compliance with ISO 9001:2000 certification and BIS (Bureau Of
Indian Standard).

Under the guidance of quality controllers, we do quality check at all stages of production. The finished
array is also quality tested on various parameters in accordance with international quality standards.
These parameters include:

Dimensional accuracy

Leakage

Corrosion resistance
Quality whether of the people, product or of the services rendered, is of utmost importance improve employee
productivity and overall general development. Mandatory training courses on programming practices and
software quality assurance have been identified for Ontrack's human resource, the actual practitioners of
quality processes.
Vardhman is among the few fully integrated fabric suppliers in the country. An exquisite range of fabrics for
shirting and trousers enables Vardhman to offer fashion solutions to the leading clothing manufactures in the
world. The state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities having 900 shuttleless looms and producing 90 mn meters
per annum processed fabric are located in North and Central India, which cater to the highly customized fabric
needs of the buyers. An integrated fabric supply chain extending from raw materials to yarns and from
weaving to processing provides the winning edge to the customers
12

Expectations from the Customers:

The expectations from the customers are usually stated in the tender documents and
subsequently in the purchase order. Any ambiguities are resolved through the Contract Review
mechanism established, implemented and maintained as per the ISO 9001 Quality Management
System.
Ensuring Customer Satisfaction:
To ensure Total Customer Satisfaction, the following initiatives are taken. Various business
processes of the company are defined and managed with the sole objective of meeting and
exceeding the explicit and implicit customer expectations. The Strategic Business Unit structure
is effectively deployed to clearly identify, understand and ensure total adherence to customer
requirements. In the case of export market, the customer requirements are verified by the
respective QA agencies of the export house or designated agencies of the country or within the
organization. The products are manufactured only after evaluation of all parameters set for bulk
production to the satisfaction of the customer. The Quality Management activity based on the
ISO 9000 Quality Management System and is usually prevention-oriented. Product quality is
assured through Process Control & Stage Inspection and final quality is assured through Final
Product Testing. The status of customer satisfaction is measured through two principal
interventions:
Customer Satisfaction Survey
Handling Customer Complaints
Complaint Handling System
Customer Satisfaction Survey:

13

This is carried out by sending structured questionnaires to major customers and eliciting their
opinion about the products and services being offered. The data collected are analyzed by the
corporate Standards and Quality Assurance Group. The results of these reviews are used to
update the systems and procedures, thus institutionalizing continual improvement processes.
Customer Complaint Handling:

A comprehensive and clearly documented system is implemented through out the company to
handle complaints more systematically. The number of complaints pending and their age as well
as the cycle time for attending to them are continuously monitored and regularly reviewed for
speedy redressal of complaints.

Complaint Handling System:

The calls and complaints from the customers are systematically processed for timely response
and solution. Complaints are handled to the satisfaction of the customers acknowledgements are
taken to act as an input for further improvement of the product or service. The complaint status is
reported at regular intervals to the manufacturing units for review and necessary corrective &
preventive action.

14

Organization Chart of HPC-Corporate Level:

Chairman Cum
Managing Director

ED(HR&ES)/
(Operation)

Director
(Operation)

Director
(Finance)

GM
(Finance)

GM
(HR&ES)

15

SHAPE \* MERGEFORMAT
GM
(Marketing)

GM
(HR&ES)

ED/CE

ED/CE
ED/MD

MD

ED

Chief Vigilance Officer

Company Secretary

MD- Managing Director

ED- Executive Director
GM- General Manager

Workings of the various component of paper mill are as follows:

Electrical Department:

16

Electrical Department basically deals with maintenance and repairs of equipment and machine.
The electrical department is basically divided into two parts depending upon the area of work on
the plant.
The electrical department consists of 30 officers, Among them both Degree and Diploma holder
engineer. In addition, to this there are 60 technicians are there.
Civil Department:
The NPM has well organized civil department which is engaged in modification and rectification
of civil construction like road, trains, buildings etc.
The civil department consists of 12 engineers and it is1. Civil Plant.
Civil Township looks after the civil construction of township and civil plant looks after the civil
construction of plant.
Corporate Citizen
As a responsible corporate citizen, HPC is committed to social uplift and development of the
areas near its mills. It has made significant contribution to the development of the local
community by encouraging ancillary industries in Greenfield areas. It provides health-care
facilities and encourages education, sports and cultural activities in the near-by villages.
Vardhaman has also contributed to the construction of roads in the villages near its mills. In
many adjacent villages, It provides safe drinking water.

Employment:
Vardhaman has generated direct employment for about 17000 employees and on average more
than 10000 indirect workers employees each year. They created employment opportunities both
direct and indirect in this region.

17

Strategy:
The mission is pursued through the following initiatives in the supply chain:
Enunciation of a Quality Policy and defining Quality Objectives in quantifiable and measurable
terms, clearly reflecting the commitment to achieve and continuously improve Customer
Satisfaction at all levels in the organization.
Produce and deliver such quality of goods and services which are comparable to the best in
their class. Any non-conformity at any stage of operations throughout the products life-cycle is
seen not merely as a loss to the company but to the entire nation. All employees are encouraged
to feel that quality is an article of faith and everybodys responsibility rather than a narrow
commercial obligation.
Customer-First policy aimed at transforming the entire company into a customer-focused
organization. These objectives are realized by establishing, implementing, maintaining and
continually improving an ISO 9001 - based Quality Management
System in all Strategic Business Units in the organization.
Occupational Health and Safety Policy:
Vardhaman is committed to Promote and maintain the occupational Health and Safety (OHS) standards to protect its
Human Resources (including interested parties and environment from foreseeable work
hazards associated with its integrated polp and paper manufacturing process including
captive units.
Comply with all the relevant statutory provisions and other requirements in respect of
OH & S.
Cotinually improve the OH & S standards through all reasonable effects of risk reduction
activities.
SWOT Analysis of the Company:

18

Strengths:
1. High Capacity of Utilization.
2. Good Level and Productivity of Plan.
3. Well Qualified Technology and Skilled manpower.
4. Good Reputation of Vardhaman Products in North Indian Market.
Weakness:
1. The prices of finished goods are controlled by Government but the prices of Input-Raw
materials have been de-controlled.
2. No uniform facilities(No dress Code).
3. Lack of working machines.
Opportunities:
1. Strong marketing network in all over India.
2. 591 across of Land and Infrastructure facilities.
3. Operational efficiency and high capacity utilization.
Threats:
1.

Transportation Problem.

19

CHAPTER-3
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Introduction to the study:
As apart of fulfillment of MBA curriculum of Sikkim Manipal University .I have taken up the
title A Analytic Study on Quality Management System of Vardhaman water tank.
The study is an attempt to understand the quality policies and quality management system
of Vardhaman.
Concept of Quality Management System:
A quality management system (QMS) is the means by which quality management practices are
made an integral part of an organization. A QMS is not a temporary fad, but a permanent part of
an organization with a direct bearing on how the organization conducts its business. QMS is not
a vague phrase; it has a very specific meaning: a QMS has a structure, a defined scope,
responsibilities, necessary content (in terms of defined processes and supporting QMS
documentation), and required resources to accomplish quality planning, quality control, quality
assurance, and continuous quality improvement activities. If an organization merely implements
a few quality management practices in its operations, it cannot claim to have a quality
management system in place.
A QMS is not static, and by definition it must be improved continually in order to enhance
organizational effectiveness and efficiency. It may be formally defined as follows. A quality
(management) system consists of the organizational structure, procedures, processes, and
resources needed to implement quality management.
Quality management is the process for ensuring that all project activities necessary to design,
plan and implement a project are effective and efficient with respect to the purpose of the
objective and its performance.

20

Project quality management (QM) is not a separate, independent process that occurs at the end of
an activity to measure the level of quality of the output. It is not purchasing the most expensive
material or services available on the market. Quality and grade are not the same, grade are
characteristics of a material or service such as additional features. A product may be of good
quality (no defects) and be of low grade (few or no extra features).
Quality management is a continuous process that starts and ends with the project. It is more
about preventing and avoiding than measuring and fixing poor quality outputs. It is part of every
project management processes from the moment the project initiates to the final steps in the
project closure phase.
QM focuses on improving stakeholders satisfaction through continuous and incremental
improvements to processes, including removing unnecessary activities; it achieves that by the
continuous improvement of the quality of material and services provided to the beneficiaries. It
is not about finding and fixing errors after the fact, quality management is the continuous
monitoring and application of quality processes in all aspects of the project.
Definition of Quality:
Quality has been defined as "the totality of characteristics of an entity that bear on its ability to
satisfy stated or implied needs. International Organization for Standardization (ISO), Quality
Management and Quality Assurance (Geneva, Switzerland: ISO Press, 1994) stated and implied
quality needs are the inputs used in defining project requirements from the donor and the
beneficiaries. It is also defined as the Conformance to requirements or fitness for use; which
means that the product or services must meet the intended objectives. Joseph M. Duran , Quality
Control Handbook (1951)of the project and have a value to the donor and beneficiaries and that
the beneficiaries can use the material or service as it was originally intended. The central focus of
quality management is meeting or exceeding stakeholders expectations and conforming to the
project design and specifications. The ultimate judge for quality is the beneficiary, and represents
how close the project outputs and deliverables come to meeting the beneficiaries requirements
and expectations. How a beneficiary defines quality may be completely subjective, but there are
many ways to make quality objective; by defining the individual characteristics and determine

21

one or more metrics that can be collected to mirror the characteristic. For instance, one of the
features of a quality product may be that it has a minimum amount of errors. This characteristic
can be measured by counting errors and defects after the product is used. Quality management is
not an event - it is a process, a consistently high quality product or service cannot be produced by
a defective process. Quality management is a repetitive cycle of measuring quality, updating
processes, measuring, updating processes until the desired quality is achieved.

The Purpose of Management of Quality:

The main principle of project quality management is to ensure the project will meet or exceed
stakeholders needs and expectations. The project team must develop a good relationship with
key stakeholders, specially the donor and the beneficiaries of the project, to understand what
quality means to them. One of the causes for poor project evaluations is the project focuses only
in meeting the written requirements for the main outputs and ignores other stakeholder needs and
expectations for the project. Quality must be viewed on an equal level with scope, schedule and
budget. If a project donor is not satisfied with the quality of how the project is delivering the
outcomes, the project team will need to make adjustments to scope, schedule and budget to
satisfy the donors needs and expectations. To deliver the project scope on time and on budget is
not enough, to achieve stakeholder satisfaction the project must develop a good working
relationship with all stakeholders and understand their stated or implied needs.

Quality management consists of four main processes:

Quality Definition
Quality Assurance
Quality Control
Quality Improvements
Quality Definition:
The first step on the quality management is to define quality, the project manager and the team
must identify what quality standards will be used in the project, it will look at what the donor,

22

beneficiaries, the organization and other key stakeholders to come up with a good definition of
quality. In some instances the organization or the area of specialization of the project (health,
water or education) may have some standard definitions of quality that can be used by the
project. Identifying quality standards is a key component of quality definition that will help
identify the key characteristics that will govern project activities and ensure the beneficiaries and
donor will accept the project outcomes. Quality management implies the ability to anticipate
situations and prepare actions that will help bring the desired outcomes. The goal is the
prevention of defects through the creation of actions that will ensure that the project team
understands what is defined as quality.
Quality Characteristics:
All material or services have characteristics that facilitate the identification of its quality. The
characteristics are part of the conditions of how the material, equipment and services are able to
meet the requirements of the project and are fit for use by the beneficiaries. Quality
characteristics relate to the attributes, measures and methods attached to that particular product
or service.
Functionality

is the degree, by which equipment performs its intended function, this is

important especially for clinical equipment, that the operation should be behave as expected.
Performance,

its how well a product or service performs the beneficiaries intended use. A
water system should be designed to support extreme conditions and require little maintenance to
reduce the cost to the community and increase its sustainability.
Reliability,

its the ability of the service or product to perform as intended under normal
conditions without unacceptable failures. Material used for blood testing should be able to
provide the information in a consistent and dependable manner that will help identify critical
diseases. The trust of the beneficiaries depend on the quality of the tests.
Relevance,

its the characteristic of how a product or service meets the actual needs of the
beneficiaries, it should be pertinent, applicable, and appropriate to its intended use or application.
Timeliness,

how the product or service is delivered in time to solve the problems when its
needed and not after, this is a crucial characteristic for health and emergency relief work.
Suitability,

defines the fitness of its use, it appropriateness and correctness, the agriculture
equipment must be designed to operate on the soul conditions the beneficiaries will use it on.

23

Completeness,

the quality that the service is complete and includes all the entire scope of
services. Training sessions should be complete and include all the material needed to build a
desired skill or knowledge
Consistency,

services are delivered in the same way for every beneficiary. Clinical tests need
to be done using the same procedure for every patient.
Quality characteristics are not limited to the material, equipment or service delivered to the
beneficiaries, but also applies to the material, equipment and services the project staff uses to
deliver the project outputs. These include the vehicles, computers, various equipment and tools
and consulting services the project purchases and uses to carry out its activities.
Quality characteristics must be included in all material, equipment and services the project will
purchase, the procurement officers must have a complete description of what is required by the
project, otherwise a procurement office may purchase the goods or services based on her or his
information of the product.
Quality plan:
Part of defining quality involves developing a quality plan and a quality checklist that will be
used during the project implementation phase. This check list will ensure the project team and
other actors are
delivering the project outputs according to the quality requirements. Once the project has defined
the quality standards and quality characteristics, it will create a project quality plan that describes
all the quality definitions and standards relevant to the project, it will highlight the standards that
must be followed to comply to regulatory requirements setup by the donor, the organization and
external agencies such a the local government and professional organizations (health, nutrition,
etc) The quality plan also describes the conditions that the services and materials must posses in
order to satisfy the needs and expectations of the project stakeholders, it describes the situations
or conditions

24

that make an output fall below quality standards, this information is used to gain a common
understanding among the project team to help them identify what is above and what is below a
quality standard.
The quality plan also includes the procedure to ensure that the quality standards are being
followed by all project staff. The plan also includes the steps required to monitor and control
quality and the approval process to make changes to the quality standards and the quality plan.
Quality Assurance:
Assurance is the activity of providing evidence to create confidence among all stakeholders that
the quality-related activities are being performed effectively; and that all planned actions are
being done to provide adequate confidence that a product or service will satisfy the stated
requirements for quality. Quality Assurance is a process to provide confirmation based on
evidence to ensure to the donor, beneficiaries, organization management and other stakeholders
that product meet needs, expectations, and other requirements. It assures the existence and
effectiveness of process and procedures tools, and safeguards are in place to make sure that the
expected levels of quality will be reached to produce quality outputs. Quality assurance occurs
during the implementation phase of the project and includes the evaluation of the overall
performance of the project on a regular basis to provide confidence that the project will satisfy
the quality standards defined by the project. One of the purposes of quality management is to
find errors and defects as early in the project as possible. Therefore, a good quality management
process will end up taking more effort hours and cost upfront. The goal is to reduce the chances
that products or services will be of poor quality after the project has been completed. Quality
assurance is done not only to the products and services delivered by the project but also to the
process and procedures used to manage the project, that includes the way the project uses the
tools, techniques and methodologies to manage scope, schedule, budget and quality. Quality
assurance also includes the project meets any legal or regulatory standards.
Quality Audits:
Quality audits are structured reviews of the quality management activities that help identify
lessons learned that can improve the performance on current or future project activities. Audits
are performed by project staff or consultants with expertise in specific areas. The purpose of

25

quality audit is to review how the project is using its internal processes to produce the products
and services it will
deliver to the beneficiaries. Its goal is to find ways to improve the tools, techniques and
processes that create the products and services. If problems are detected during the quality audits,
corrective action will be necessary to the tools, processes and procedures used to ensure quality
is reestablished. Part of the audit may include a review of the project staff understanding of the
quality parameters or metrics, and skills expertise and knowledge of the people in charge of
producing or delivering the products or services. If corrective actions are needed, these must be
approved through the change control processes.
The PDCA Cycle:
The most popular tool used to determine quality assurance is the Shewhart Cycle. This cycle for
quality assurance consists of four steps: Plan, Do, Check, and Act. These steps are commonly
abbreviated as PDCA.
The four quality assurance steps within the PDCA model stand for
Plan: Establish objectives and processes required to deliver the desired results.
Do: Implement the process developed.
Check: Monitor and evaluate the implemented process by testing the results against
the predetermined objectives.
Act: Apply actions necessary for improvement if the results require changes.
The PDCA is an effective method for monitoring quality assurance because it analyzes existing
conditions and methods used to provide the product or service to beneficiaries. The goal is to
ensure that excellence is inherent in every component of the process. Quality assurance also
helps determine whether the steps used to provide the product or service is appropriate for the
time and conditions. In addition, if the PDCA cycle is repeated throughout the lifetime of the
project helping improve internal efficiency.
The PDCA cycle is shown below as a never-ending cycle of improvement; this cycle is
sometimes referred to as the Shewart/Deming3 cycle since it originated with Shewart and was
subsequently applied to management practices by Deming.

26

Plan

Do

Act

Check

Figure: The Shewart/Deming Cycle

Quality assurance demands a degree of detail in order to be fully implemented at every step.
Planning, for example, could include investigation into the quality of the raw materials used in
manufacturing, the actual assembly, or the inspection processes used. The Checking step could
include beneficiary feedback or surveys to determine if beneficiary needs are being met or
exceeded and why they are or are not. Acting could mean a total revision in the delivery process
in order to correct a technical flaw. The goal to exceed stakeholder expectations in a measurable
and accountable process is provided by quality assurance.
Assurance vs. Control:
Quality assurance is often confused with quality control; quality control is done at the end of a
process or activity to verify that quality standards have been met. Quality control by itself does
not provide quality, although it may identify problems and suggest ways to improving it. In
contrast, quality assurance is a systematic approach to obtaining quality standards. Quality
assurance is something that must be planned for from the earliest stages of a project, with
appropriate measures taken at every
stage. Unfortunately far too many development projects are implemented with no quality
assurance plan, and these projects often fail to meet quality expectations of the donor and
27

beneficiaries. To avoid problem the project must be able to demonstrate the consistent
compliance with the quality requirements for the project.
Quality Control:
Quality control is the use of techniques and activities that compare actual quality performance
with goals and define appropriate action in response to a shortfall. It is the process that monitors
specific project results to determine if they comply with relevant standards and identifies
different approaches to eliminate the causes for the unsatisfactory performance. The goal of
quality control is to improve quality and involves monitoring the project outputs to determine if
they meet the quality standards or definitions based on the project stakeholder expectations.
Quality control also includes how the project performs in its efforts to manage scope, budget and
schedule.
Acceptance:

The beneficiaries, the donor or other key project stakeholders accept or reject the
product or service delivered.
Acceptance occurs after the beneficiaries or donor has had a change to evaluate the product or
service.
Rework;

is the action taken to bring the rejected product or service into compliance with the
requirements, quality specifications or stakeholder expectations. Rework is expensive that is why
the project must make every effort to do a good job in quality planning and quality assurance to
avoid the need for rework. Rework and all the costs associated with it may not refundable by the
donor and the organization may end up covering those costs.
Adjustments;

correct or take the necessary steps to prevent further quality problems or

defects based on quality control measurements. Adjustments are identified to the processes that
produce the outputs and the decisions that were taken that lead to the defects and errors. Changes
are taken to the Change Control processes of the project.
Quality Control Tools:
There are a couple of good tools that can be used to control quality on a project, these are cause
and effect diagrams, Pareto charts and control charts:
Cause

and Effect Diagram, also known as fishbone diagrams or Ishikawa diagrams (named
after Kaoru Ishikawa, a Japanese quality control statistician, who developed the concept in the

28

1960s, and is considered one of the seven basic tools of quality management) It is named
fishbone diagram because of their fish-like appearance, it is an analysis tool that provides a
systematic way of looking at effects and the causes that create or contribute to those effects. The
Ishikawa Diagram is employed by a problem-solving team as a tool for assembling all inputs (as
to what are the causes of the problem they're addressing) systematically and graphically, with the
inputs usually coming from a brainstorming session. It enables the team to focus on why the
problem occurs, and not on the history or symptoms of the problem, or other topics that digress
from the intent of the session. It also displays a real-time 'snap-shot' of the

Cause A

Cause B

Cause A-1

Cause A-2

Cause B-1

Cause C
Cause C-1
Cause C-2

Cause B-1

Major Defect
Quality Error

Cause D-2
Cause D-1

Cause D

Cause E-2
Cause E-1

Cause E

CauseF-2
Cause F-1

Cause F

Figure: Fishbone diagram

collective inputs of the team as it is updated. The possible causes are presented at various levels
of detail in connected branches, with the level of detail increasing as the branch goes outward,
i.e., an outer branch is a cause of the inner branch it is attached to. Thus, the outermost branches
usually indicate the root causes of the problem.
Pareto

Charts; based on Paretos rule, which states that 80 percent of the problems are often
due to 20 percent of the causes. The assumption is that most of the results in any situation are
determined by a small number of causes and helps identify the vital few contributors that account

29

for most quality problems. The chart is a form of histogram that orders the data by frequency of
occurrence; it shows how many defects were generated by a type of category of identified cause.
For example to determine the errors in the collection of beneficiary data the project team
identified five causes and for each cause the frequency they contained errors, the data is plotted
as shown in the chart below, the bars represent each category and the line the cumulative
percentage of the errors, the
chart allows to identify that 80% of the errors could be reduced just by improving the collection
of data in two categories instead of focusing efforts to correct all categories.
120%

Freq
uenc
y

100%

Perce
ntage
of
error

80%
60%
40%
20%
0%

Baseline data errors

Figure: Pareto Chart
Control

Charts; is a graphical display of data that illustrates the results of a process over
time, the purpose of a control chart is to prevent defects, rather than detect them or reject them,
the chart allows the determine whether a process is in control or out of control over specified
length of time. Control charts are often used to monitor the production of large quantities of
products, but can also be used to monitor the volume and frequency of errors in documents, cost
an schedule variances and other items related to project quality management. The figure below
illustrates an example of a control chart for the process of controlling the weight of products
manufactured by the beneficiaries for sale in international markets. The customer has a limit
tolerance for defects; these are the upper and lower control limits in the chart. Random
examination of the products reveals data that once charted on the graph identifies the times when
30

the production process created items that were outside the control limits, this helps the project
determine actions to help the beneficiaries improve the quality of their work.

Upper limit
i
gh
t
W
e
i
g
h
t

M
e
a
n

Lower limit
i
gh
t
3
4
5

10

Time Scale
Figure: Control charts
Control charts can also be used to the project management areas, such as schedule and budget
control, to determine whether the costs variances or schedule variances are outside the acceptable
limits set by the donor.
Quality Improvement:
It is the systematic approach to the processes of work that looks to remove waste, loss, rework,
frustration, etc. in order to make the processes of work more effective, efficient, and appropriate.
Quality improvement refers to the application of methods and tools to close the gap between
current and expected levels of quality by understanding and addressing system deficiencies and
strengths to improve, or in some cases, re-design project processes. A variety of quality
improvement approaches exists, ranging from individual performance improvement to redesign
of entire project processes. These approaches differ in terms of time, resources, and complexity,
but share the same four steps in quality improvement:

31

Identify

what you want to improve; the project using the data found in the quality control
process identifies the areas that need improvement.
Analyze

the problem or system, the team then investigates the causes for the problem and its
implications to the project, the causes may be internal or external to the project.
Develop

potential solutions or changes that appear likely to improve the problem or system,
the team brainstorms ideas and potential solutions to the problem, taking in consideration its
impact to the project schedule and budget. After careful considerations the team decides and
chooses the best alternative.
Test

and implement the solutions. The team may decide to test the solution on a small scale to
verify that it is capable of fixing the problem, it testes for the initial assumptions made about the
problem and once it confirms that the solution is a viable alternative, it then proceeds to
implement in a full scale the solution.
Cost of Quality:
The cost of quality is the sum of costs a project will spend to prevent poor quality and any other
costs incurred as a result of outputs of poor quality. Poor quality is the waste, errors, or failure to
meet stakeholder needs and project requirements. The costs of poor quality can be broken down
into the three categories of prevention, appraisal, and failure costs:
Prevention

costs: These are planned costs an organization incurs to ensure that errors are not
made at any stage during the delivery process of that product or service to a beneficiary.
Examples of prevention costs include quality planning costs, education and training costs, quality
administration staff costs, process control costs, market research costs, field testing costs, and
preventive maintenance costs. The cost of preventing mistakes are always much less than the
costs of inspection and correction.
Appraisal

costs: These include the costs of verifying, checking, or evaluating a product or

service during the delivery process. Examples of appraisal costs include receiving or incoming
inspection costs, internal production audit costs, test and inspection costs, instrument
maintenance costs, process measurement and control costs, supplier evaluation costs, and audit
report costs.

32

Failure

costs: A project incurs these costs because the product or service did not meet the
requirements and had to be fixed or replaced, or the service had to be repeated.
Leadership:
Joseph M. Juran, one of the leading experts in Quality management said that it is most
important that management be quality-minded. In the absence of sincere manifestation of interest
at the top, little will happen below 4 What this means is the main cause of quality problems is a
lack of leadership. In order to establish and implement effective quality projects, senior
management must lead the way. A large percentage of quality problems are associated with
management, not technical issues, it is the responsibility of the development organizations senior
management to take responsibility for creating, supporting, and promoting quality programs.
Quality problems should be taken as an opportunity for improvement; problems can help identify
more fundamental or systemic root causes and help develop ways to improve the process.
Unfortunately projects do not have a culture that promotes the identification of problems for the
fear that making improvements is an admission that the current way of doing things is flawed or
that those responsible are poor performers. Improved performance cannot occur unless the
project team feels comfortable that they can speak truthfully and are confident that their
suggestions will be taken seriously.
Maturity Models:
Another approach to improve quality is the use of maturity models, which are frameworks for
helping organizations and projects improve their processes. The model includes a method for
assessing the projects maturity levels as a first step to determine the improvements needed to
increase the capacity of the project to deliver the project outputs as promised.
The use of the word "maturity" implies that capabilities must be grown over time in order to
produce repeatable success in project management. The Random House College Dictionary
defines "maturity" as full development or perfected condition. "Maturity" also indicates
understanding or visibility into why success occurs and ways to correct or prevent common
problems. "Model" implies change, a progression, or steps in a process.

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Project management maturity is the progressive development of an organizations project

management approach, methodology, strategy, and decision-making process. The appropriate
level of maturity can vary for each organization based on specific goals, strategies, resource
capabilities, scope, and needs.
The proper level of maturity to which an organization should strive is determined during a
detailed assessment conducted by a professional project management consulting team. The
organization has achieved full project management maturity when it has met the requirements
and standards for project management effectiveness and it is capable of demonstrating
improvements such as on-time project delivery, cost reductions, organizational efficiency, and
quality outcomes.
A project quality maturity usually consists of five levels:
Level

1. Informal level, there is no defined processes for quality practices or standards. The
organization may be in the initial stages of considering how projects should define quality, but
most efforts are informal and had-oc.
Level

2. Defined level, the organization has defines some basic quality standards and project
quality policies that are being adopted. But not all projects are using it in a consistent manner.
Level

3. Repeatable level, the quality process is well documented and is an organizational

standard. All projects are using it and producing consistent and repeatable results.
Level

4. Controlled level, all projects ire required to use quality planning standard processes.
The organization has a unit or roles that coordinate quality standards and assurance and quality
audits are done on a regular basis.
Level

5. Optimized level, the quality process includes guidelines for feeding improvements
back into the process. Metrics are used as key criteria for quality decisions and quality results are
predictable. The model helps an organization identify were they stand and were they should
strive to reach, it is a simple way to determine the level of maturity required for a project or
organization, some organizations may be comfortable with achieving a level 3 while others may
be encouraged to reach a level 4 due to the need to comply with legal or regulatory standards.

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Implementing a QMS:
For most organizations, the primary motivation for implementing a QMS is either management
need or customer demand. Managements motivation for implementing a QMS usually stems
from its need to improve productivity, improve product quality, and reduce time-to-market, thus
gaining a competitive advantage. Sometimes, managements motivation for implementing a
QMS is driven by competitive pressure, where the organizations competitors have established
(or are in the process of establishing) a formal QMS with the goal of registration to a recognized
QMS standard, such as ISO 9000. In such cases, registration to a quality management system
standard is perceived to be a valuable asset for marketing and soliciting new customers.
Customer demands on an existing supplier (or a potential supplier) to implement a QMS is
driven by the customers need of an assurance that the supplier is capable of meeting the
customers quality requirements. Often, such a demand may be made in response to continued
sub par performance of an existing supplier, or prior to approving a new supplier.
In certain industries, customers (including government agencies) also go to the extent of inviting
bids only from suppliers who have attained a particular quality registration. Because an
organization that does not have a QMS in place may be barred from bidding for potential
business, it is likely to translate into management motivation to implement a QMS.
It has been argued that the management-motivated approach will normally be more
comprehensive and fruitful than the model used for demonstrating the adequacy of the quality
system (i.e., the customer motivated implementation of a QMS). In other words, the likelihood
that a QMS will be adequate and effective is significantly improved if its implementation is
driven by internal motivation in the organization (management need) rather than external
pressures (customer demand). In fact, management commitment to quality is the most significant
prerequisite for a successful QMS implementation.
When management visibly demonstrates its commitment to quality, and promotes a qualityoriented and customer-focused mindset in the organization, it encourages the employees to strive
to realize the true benefits of the implemented QMS. On the other hand, a QMS that is
implemented solely with the objective of achieving a coveted quality registration to win new
business, or please potential customers, will serve merely as a short-lived marketing tool. This is
because the lack of an effective QMS eventually will manifest itself in poor product quality, late
product delivery, low employee morale, and dissatisfied customers.

35

Benefits of implementing a QMS:

Implementation of a QMS in an organization offers near-term and long term rewards:
Defined processes and supporting QMS documentation are the basis for repetition, and
help reduce (and eliminate) variation within process execution. As variation is reduced,
it results in improvements in operational efficiency.
With the implementation of corrective and preventive solutions that effectively address
the root causes of quality problems, permanent solutions are implemented. This results
in improvements in organizational effectiveness.
A QMS enables an organization to focus on how it executes its business processes.
Such process focus and awareness are essential in order to be able to monitor and
analyze process performance for continual improvement.
A QMS fosters continual improvement in the organizations productivity, rework costs,
on-time delivery performance, and within budget project execution. This enables the
organization to enhance its bottom-line revenue growth.
A QMS results in higher-quality products and services, as quality management practices
are continually improved.
As an organization improves the quality of products and services, it improves customer
satisfaction levels, which helps improve customer loyalty and customer retention.
A QMS enables the organization to gain a competitive advantage due to its being
perceived as a best-in-class supplier by its customers. This enables the organization
to retain customers, attract new ones, increase market share, and enhance top-line
revenue growth.
A QMS enhances an organizations competitive position by allowing it to present itself
as a viable supplier in situations where a customer requires its suppliers to have a
formal QMS in place (although in certain cases customers also seek registration to a
QMS standard).
A QMS enhances customer confidence in the ability of a supplier to deliver products
and services according to specified quality requirements (quality assurance).
A QMS reduces the organizations reliance on heroes to make projects a success,
because all employees are aware of the required quality management practices. In other
words, it enhances an organizations ability to achieve quality requirements because

36

employee competencies are augmented by a process infrastructure that helps achieve

the Identified requirements.
A QMS reduces (or eliminates) an organizations dependence on a few individuals for
information regarding critical processes, because such processes are now formally
documented. This reduces organizational vulnerability to employee turnover.
A QMS reduces waste of resources and loss of reputation resulting from rejection and
rework of inferior-quality products (referred to as Cost of Poor Quality). This enables
the organization to shift from a reactive mode of operation (performing corrective
action) to a proactive mode (performing preventive action).
A QMS promotes employee understanding that quality is everyones responsibility. The
realization that each employee contributes to the achievement of quality requirements
helps institutionalize quality improvements across the organization, at all levels.
Employee morale and satisfaction improve as employees participate in defining their
processes, and are empowered to own, monitor, and continually improve those
processes.
A QMS results in improved communication both internally and externally, which
results in improvements in efficiency and effectiveness, and improved customer
supplier relations.
Quality Management Systems Philosophy:
A system is an ordered set of ideas, principles and theories or a chain of operations that produce
specific results, and to be a chain of operations they need to work together in a regular
relationship. Shannon defined a system as a group or set of objects united by some form or
regular interaction or interdependence to perform a specified function.
Deming defines a system as a series of functions or activities within an organization that work
together for the aim of the organization. These three definitions appear to be consistent although
worded differently.
A quality management system is not a random collection of procedures, tasks or documents
(which many quality systems are). Quality management systems are like air-conditioning
systems they need to be designed. All the components need to fit together, the inputs and outputs
need to be connected, sensors need to feed information to processes which cause changes in
performance and all parts need to work together to achieve a common purpose.

37

ISO 9000 defines a quality management system as a set of interrelated or interacting processes
that achieve the quality policy and quality objective. But the word quality gets in the way of our
thinking. It makes us think that quality management systems operate alongside environmental
management systems, safety management systems, and financial management systems. In ISO
9000 it is stated that the quality management system is that part of the organizations
management system that focuses on the achievement of outputs in relation to the quality
objectives, therefore the quality management system must exist to achieve the organizations
quality objectives. This concept was unclear in the 1994 version with the result that many quality
systems were focused on procedures for their own sake rather than on serving objectives. It
would appear therefore that other parts of the management system are intended to serve the
achievement of specific objectives. For example, we could establish:
Safety systems to serve safety objectives
Environmental systems to serve environmental objectives
Security systems to serve security objectives
Human resource systems to serve human resource objectives
Marketing systems to serve marketing objectives
Innovation systems to serve innovation objectives
Financial systems to serve financial objectives
Many organizations have appointed specific managers to achieve each of these objectives so that
we have for instance an Environmental Manager, fulfilling Environmental Objectives through an
Environmental Management System and a Quality Manager fulfilling Quality Objectives through
a Quality System. Do the same for the others and you would have multiple management systems.
This is what functional management produces and as a result puts the managers in potential
conflict with each other as each tries to achieve their objectives independently of the others.
Many of these objectives are in reality not objectives at all but constraints that exist only by
virtue of the organizations necessity to satisfy customers.
However, several questions arise: Are quality objectives, objectives of the same kind as the
other objectives or are these other objectives a subset of quality objectives? and Is the quality
management system just one of a series of systems or is it the parent system of which the others
are a part?

38

To find the answer it is necessary to go back a step and ask: Which comes first, an objective or a
need? We dont set financial objectives because we think its a good idea; there is a need that has
its origins in the organizations mission statement.
The mission statement tells us what our goal is and where are we going. Without customers there
is no business therefore the basic purpose of a business is to satisfy a particular want in society
and so create a customer. Its mission is related to these wants and is expressed in specific terms.
To be effective, a mission statement should always look outside the business not inside. For
example, a mission that is focused on increasing market share is an inwardly seeking mission
whereas a mission that is focused on bringing cheap digital communication to the people is an
outwardly seeking mission statement. From the mission statement we can ask, What affects our
ability to accomplish our goal? The answers we get become our critical success factors and it is
these factors that shape our objectives:
If our success depends on the safety of our products, we need safety objectives.
If our success depends on securing the integrity of information entrusted to us by our
customers, we need security objectives.
If our success depends on the impact our operations have on the environment, we need
environmental objectives.
If our success depends on capital investment in modern plant and machinery, we need financial
objectives.
This list is incomplete, but if we were to continue, would we find a reason for having quality
objectives? Business will only create customers if they satisfy their needs; therefore success in
all businesses depends on fulfilling customer needs and expectations.
Quality is defined in ISO 9000 as the degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfils
requirements. Note that the definition is not limited to customer requirements and the inherent
characteristics are limited to products. It could apply to any set of requirements internal or
external, technical or non-technical including health, safety and environmental requirements. It
could also apply to any process outcome: products, services, decisions, information, impacts, etc.
It extends to all those with an interest in the business.
Quality is therefore a term that describes the condition of business outcomes. Everything a
business does must directly or indirectly affect the condition of its outcomes and therefore all
business objectives are quality objectives. Therefore we do not need quality objectives in

39

addition to all the other objectives because all objectives are quality objectives and the quality
management system is not part of the management system it is the management system. We
can therefore describe the relationship between the management system and the organization
diagrammatically as shown in Figure.

All the objectives only arise as a result of the organization seeking to create and satisfy
customers. There is no environmental objective, impact or anything else if the organization does
not have customers. Objectives for the environment, safety, security, finance, human resources
etc. only have meaning when taken in the context of what the business is trying to do, which is to
create and satisfy customers. While many might argue that the purpose of business is to make
money for the shareholders or owners this is different from the purpose of a business, which is to
create and retain customers and do this in a manner that satisfies the needs and expectations of
all stakeholders. Without a customer there is no business at all, therefore customer needs must
come first. Satisfying customers becomes the only true objective; all others are constraints that
affect the manner in which the organization satisfies its customers. It may help therefore if we
view any objective that serves a stakeholder other than the customer as a constraint or a
requirement that impacts the manner in which customer objectives are achieved.
The management system is the way the organization operates, the way it carries out its business,
the way things are. Its purpose is to enable the organization to accomplish its mission, its
purpose, its goals and its objectives. All organizations possess a management system. Some are
formal, some are informal. Even in a one-person business, that person will have a way of
working a way of achieving his or her objectives. That way is the system and comprises the
behaviors, processes and resources employed to achieve those objectives. The system comprises

40

everything that affects the results. It only has to be formalized when the relationships grow too
large for one person to manage by relying on memory.
It is unlikely that you will be able to produce and sustain the required quality unless you organize
yourselves to do so. Quality does not happen by chance, it has to be managed. No human
endeavor has ever been successful without having been planned, organized and controlled in
some way.
Scope of the System:
As the quality management system is the means by which the organization achieves its
objectives, it follows that the scope of the system (what it covers) is every function and activity
of the organization that contributes to these objectives. This should leave no function or activity
outside the system. The system must also include suppliers because the organization depends on
its suppliers to achieve its objectives. The chain of processes from the customer interface and
back again includes the suppliers.
Including every function and activity within the system should not be interpreted as compelling
every function and activity to certification to ISO 9001 far from it.
Design of the System:
Imagine you are designing an air-conditioning system. You would commence by establishing the
system requirements, then design a system that meets the requirements, document the design and
build a prototype. You would then test it and when satisfied it functions under the anticipated
operating conditions, launch into production. If problems are detected during production,
solutions would be developed and the design documentation changed before recommencing
production. If problems were experienced during maintenance, the design documentation would
be consulted to aid in the search for the fault. If improvements are to be made, once again the
design documentation would be consulted and design changes made and the documentation
revised before implementation in production.
This traditional cycle for products therefore has some redeeming features:
Design does not commence without a specification of requirements if it does, the wrong
product is likely to be designed.
Designs are documented before product is manufactured if they are not documented, it is
likely that the product cannot be manufactured or will not fit together or functions as intended.

41

 Designs are proven before launching into production if production commences before design
proving, the product will probably fail on test or in service.
Design documentation is changed before changes are implemented in production if
documentation is not changed before implementation, the product will be different each time it is
made; solved problems will recur and no two installations will be alike.
If we apply the same logic to the design and implementation of a management system, we
would:

Define the requirements before commencing management system design, i.e. we would
establish the objectives the system is required to achieve (The vision, mission,
corporate goals etc.)

Document the management system design before implementation.

Verify that the management system meets the requirements before commitment to full
operation.

Document changes to the management system before implementation in practice.

But what often happens is:

Management system development commences without a specification of requirements or a clear
idea of the objectives is need to achieve; often the system exists only to meet ISO 9000, or some
other standard.

The management system is documented before it has been designed.

The management system is made fully operational before being verified it meets the
requirements.

Changes are made to practices before they are documented.

Improvements are made to the management system without consulting the

documentation because it is often out of date.

As the management system is the means by which the organization achieves its objectives, the
management system delivers the organizations products. (This includes hardware, software,
services and processed material including information products.)
If we analyze the factors on which the quality of these products depends we would deduce they
include:

42

The style of management (autocratic, democratic, participative, directive etc.)

The attitude and behavior of the people (positive, negative etc.)

The capability of the available resources (capacity, responsiveness, technology)

The quantity and quality of the available resources (materials, equipment, finance,
people)

The condition and capability of the facilities, plant and machinery

The physical environment in which people work (heat, noise, cleanliness etc.)

The human environment in which people work (freedom, empowerment, health and
safety)

It follows therefore that a management system consists of the processes required to deliver the
organizations products and services as well as the resources, behaviors and environment on
which they depend. It is therefore not advisable to even contemplate a management system
simply as a set of documents or if we do go some way towards ISO 9000:2000, a set of processes
that simply converts inputs into outputs. Three out of the seven factors above relate to the human
element, we therefore cannot afford to ignore it.
QMS Planning Phase:
The QMS planning phase entails the specification of the QMS implementation goal, and lays out
the roadmap that the organization will follow to achieve the defined goal. Plans devised at this
stage may be revised later (as needed), but for the most part, decisions made in this phase will
have a profound effect on the pace and thoroughness of the QMS implementation effort, and
quality of the resulting QMS. It is therefore important that there be adequate forethought and
meticulous planning in this phase. These items are summarized below
Implementation prerequisites: Identify prerequisites for success, and ensure that they have been
secured. Doing so helps maximize the chances of success and helps mitigate risks from the
beginning of the QMS implementation.
Implementation goal: Establish a clear goal statement that satisfies the SMART criteria.
Implementation team: Plan for an implementation team with adequate cross-functional
representation and clearly defined roles and responsibilities that are communicated to all
implementation team members.

43

Implementation strategy: Brainstorm the implementation strategy and ensure that it is clearly
communicated to all implementation team members and staff members.
Implementation process: Define an implementation process that lays out the high-level roadmap
for implementing the QMS. This includes main phases of QMS implementation and key
activities within each phase.
Implementation schedule, needed resources, and cost: For the implementation roadmap defined
in the previous step, estimate the resources for each activity and establish an implementation
schedule. Ensure that an adequate contingency is included within each phase. Also, estimate the
major expenses for the implementation and budget for the anticipated implementation costs.
Mechanisms to manage the implementation, communicate progress, and encourage employee
participation: Identify the mechanisms that will be used to track and control implementation
progress to ensure that the project progresses according to plans. Identify means that will be used
to communicate progress, especially to senior management, and to facilitate timely management
intervention in case progress lags. Identify means that will be used to encourage employee
participation and recognize employee contribution.
QMS documentation: Ensure that the key elements of a sound QMS documentation management
system are in place. Ensure that the process for creating, reviewing, and approving new QMS
documentation is defined and communicated to all employees.
QMS Definition Phase:
The QMS definition phase entails the definition and documentation of the organizations QMS.
If the organization has selected a quality management system standard for use, this phase entails
the definition of the QMS in accordance with the standards requirements. Activities in this phase
include but are not limited to:
1. Requirements analysis (if applicable): Analyze each requirement in the QMS standard to
clearly understand what is required and how the requirement can be satisfied.
2. Gap analysis: Assess the current state of the system (processes and procedures) against best
practices in the given industry, or against requirements in the QMS standard (if one was
selected). This exercise is intended to obtain answers to the question Where are we right now?
With a better understanding of where one is and where one is headed (project goal), one is better
able to plan future action. The gap analysis may reveal that processes and procedures are already
in place in certain areas of the organization. When appropriate, reuse all or part of the current

44

implementation as opposed to beginning from scratch. The gap analysis may also reveal critical
quality discrepancies requiring immediate attention; these should be planned for immediate
rectification.
3. Revise implementation plan: As is obvious from the foregoing explanation, the gap analysis
typically will cause the implementation plan to be fine-tuned as per the insight gained into the
current state of the system.
4. Correct critical quality (or process) deficiencies: Act upon the results of the gap analysis to
correct critical quality (or process) deficiencies that can be fixed relatively easily. Doing so
provides immediate return on investment for initiating the quality implementation effort. It also
provides an opportunity to cite the success stories to sustain management commitment and
encourage employee participation.
5. Perform high-level process mapping and create supporting process documentation: Perform
process mapping for high-level organizational processes, and create supporting process
documentation, as needed.
6. Perform low-level process flowcharting and create supporting process documentation:
Perform process flowcharting for lower-level organizational processes, and create supporting
process documentation as needed.
7. Create additional QMS documentation: In addition to QMS documentation in the form of
process maps, create additional documentation as needed, such as procedures, templates, and
forms.
QMS Refinement Phase:
The QMS refinement phase involves a final verification of the entire QMS to ensure that all
processes interact as originally planned and, further, that all processes are mutually consistent
and correctly defined. This phase also involves a final validation to ensure all elements of the
QMS comply with the organizations quality requirements (and, if applicable, requirements of
the QMS standard in use). Deficiencies identified during this phase are addressed by requesting
corrective action from the respective process (or document) owners.
QMS Deployment Phase:
The QMS deployment phase involves institutionalizing the QMS across the organization.

45

In this phase, the QMS is rolled out incrementally so that it gradually is adopted and becomes the
new way of working. As each process is defined, documented, and approved for use by
employees, it enters the QMS deployment phase. In this phase, employees are trained on the
defined processes, and execution of the processes is monitored by the quality assurance
personnel (and by QMS implementation team members, as appropriate) who participate in or
observe activities as they are executed.
They verify that processes are being executed correctly and that they are adequate and effective.
Process execution also is verified by means of internal quality audits performed during or after
process execution.
This does not imply that during QMS deployment, all old processes are thrown out and replaced
with new high-quality processes. However, establishment of a QMS will cause the organization
to examine all its existing processes, and it is safe to assume that most of them would be
impacted to some extent during QMS implementation (mostly in terms of needed
improvements). This examination also may reveal some inadequate and inefficient processes that
need to be discarded and replaced with new ones. For the most part, however, implementation of
the QMS generally will result in changes to existing processes, with some processes undergoing
major change and others undergoing minor change. It is important to plan for a certain amount of
time (typically, months) between completion of employee training and commencement of
internal quality audits. This time period, referred to as the process establishment period, is
required for two reasons: first, some amount of time is required to adequately promulgate a QMS
throughout an organization such that it becomes well entrenched in the organization by becoming
an inherent part of how the organization conducts everyday business.
Second, some amount of time is required to build sufficient amount of evidence of use of the
QMS that then can be audited. Starting an internal quality audit program too soon might not
provide internal auditors sufficient evidence that is necessary to assess adequacy and
effectiveness of the QMS. The process establishment period varies from one organization to
another and depends on factors such as:

Lead time to develop the products (in order to allow all product development processes to
be exercised at least once);

Extent of change to current processes;

Amount of QMS training provided to employees.

46

It is to be expected that, beginning with the process establishment period, the organization will
encounter growing (maturing) pains because the natural human tendency to resist change will
begin to surface once the QMS begins to directly affect how everyone does their work. Further,
employees and management personnel unaccustomed to the new and/or refined processes in
certain cases will attempt to circumvent the process when operational and schedule
considerations overtake quality considerations.
The QMS implementation team will need to address the aforementioned challenges by
continually educating management and personnel (and managing their expectations),
emphasizing benefits already realized, monitoring process execution, and reasoning with
personnel and working cooperatively with them to overcome resistance to change.
Continuous Improvement:
With the completion of the QMS deployment phase, an organization effectively transitions to a
state where compliance with the defined QMS needs to be continually monitored and the defined
system needs to be continuously improved and optimized. This is the final and never-ending
phase of QMS implementation the continual improvement phase. It entails the use of
mechanisms necessary to facilitate continuous improvement of the QMS.
Mechanisms for continuous improvement are not necessarily established in this phase only.
Some of them may have been defined in the QMS definition phase and deployed in the QMS
deployment phase. Others may have been defined but their deployment deferred until the
continuous improvement phase. Yet other continuous improvement mechanisms may remain
undefined until this phase. For example, an organization typically does not start collecting
customer satisfaction data until a few months after completion of the QMS deployment phase,
else it would be too early for its customers to realize benefits from the implementation of the
QMS. Moreover, collecting customer satisfaction data too soon might not provide readily
actionable information because many of the known deficiencies might be attributed to causes
that the organization already is addressing under the QMS implementation underway.
Quality is not something that is done at the end of a phase or at the end of the project, is a
continuous process to ensure quality is performed in all aspects of the project. The goal is to
continuously improve based on the lessons learned and new insights provided by the project. To
be effective it should happen during all activities of the project.

47

Continuous improvement, in regard to project quality always focuses on improving stakeholder

satisfaction through continuous and incremental improvements to processes, including the
removal of any unnecessary activities. By applying a process that continuously improves every
element of the project can achieve better results than trying to wait until the end of a phase or a
mid term evaluation to start making adjustments and improvements to the work. It requires little
effort and by doing small incremental improvements the project can reach significant levels of
quality.
To implement continuous improvements, it necessary to have a culture of reflection that allows
the project team to learn from mistakes and apply the lesson on the next phase or cycle and not
spend time and effort trying to put blame, otherwise, the team will fear reporting any problems
with quality and it will be too late to do anything once the donor or the beneficiaries find out.

48

Objectives of the study:

The main objective of the study was to find out the following: To study the effectiveness of Quality Management System in
Vardhaman.
Employee attitude towards present Quality Management
System.
Investigate about the leading policy of Vardhaman.
To find History of Vardhaman.
To identify areas where there can be scope for improvement
in Quality Management System.
For partial fulfillment of MBA.
To give suitable recommendations.

49

Scope of the Study:

This project is done within the Vardhaman.
To know about the Quality Product strategies of Vardhaman industries.
To know Quality Management System that has changed over a period of time.
To know the requirement of in Quality Management System on an organization.
To know Pros and cons of in Quality Management System.
To know practical application of Quality Management System in Vradhaman.
To identify Quality Management System behind public sector industry.
Sample taken from around 100 people.

50

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The study was descriptive in nature and except for a few instances where statistical analysis of
considerable region was used, the researcher tried to present the findings in a simple format.
The respondents were selected through simple random sampling. The method of contact was
through personal interview as it was the most versatile amongst the alternatives. This helped
provide clarification to the respondents and also had the advantage of recording additional
information and opinion.
Research Design:
Research design refers to framework or plan for a study that guides the collection and analysis
of data. A typical research design of a company basically tries to resolve the following issues:
Determining Data Collection design.
Determining Data Methods.
Determining Data Sources.
Determining Primary Data Collection Method.
Developing Questionnaires.
Determining Sampling Plan.
Explorative Research Design:
Explorative studies are undertaken with a view to know more about the problem. These studies
help in a proper definition of the problem, and development of specific hypothesis is to be tested
later by more conclusive research designs. Its basic purpose is to identify factors underlying a
problem and to determine which one of them need to be further researched by using rigorous
conclusive research design.
Conclusive Research Design:

51

Conclusive research studies are more formal in nature and are conducted with a view to eliciting
more precise information for purpose of making decisions.
These studies can be either Descriptive or Experimental.
Thus, it was mix of both the tools of Research Design that is, Explorative as well as Conclusive.
Data collection:

Primary and Secondary data.

Primary data:

Questionnaire, Direct interview,

Interaction with the present staff within the
organization.

Secondary data:

Internet, Journal/Magazines.

Data collection procedure:

Survey.

Research Instrument:
Sampling Plan:

Structured Questionnaires.
Sample size: 100
Sample area: Within Nagaon . Guwahati and nearby
areas.
Sample procedure: Random Sampling.

Data representation:

Tabulation and graphical

Representation method will be
adopted.

Data analysis:

For analyzing data, statistical projections and sampling

methods will be used.

Limitations:-

The study being very extensive might be very difficult to complete within the stipulated
time of two months.
The project may suffer from financial constraint.

52

 It may suffer from biasness & ignorance of the respondents.

Data Analysis:
QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN:
The questionnaire method of survey was undertaken due to its main advantages of versatility,
speed and cost. The questionnaire helps to get accurate point of view of personnel.
In order to learn the awareness of persons working at Vardhaman about quality management
system as well as to collect other relevant information. The questionnaire intended broadly
covered the following areas:
Workers awareness
Comparative statements
Satisfaction level

QUESTIONNAIRE:
In survey made of data collection, questionnaire is by far the most popular means of data
collection instrument. A questionnaire uses a structured standardized format of data collection to
record verbal responses to questions. Particularly, when the sample is large and the study wishes
to collect data about specifics of consumers attitude.
I have chosen the questionnaire technique, to collect the primary data because of its obvious
advantages which are as follow:(a) Versatility-The unique advantage of using a questionnaire is its versatility.

Respondents can

be probed on a wide diversity of issues by questioning.

(b) Speed and cost- questionnaire method is usually cheaper and faster than observations.
53

(c) Ease of communication- since the questions are formulation in advance, all the required
information can be obtained in an orderly and systematic manner. The exact wording of the
questions can be carefully worked art to reduce the possibility of ambiguity and
misunderstanding.
(d) Control- since same questions are put before all respondents in the same order, it offers
maximum control on the interviewing process and information content.
For this project on workers and outsider peoples awareness & profile, only one questionnaire
was designed and used. It was for both those working in the company and the prospective
personnel.
The questionnaire was designed in such a way that the respondent would have no hesitation in
fully expressing his/her views. Moreover, care was taken in the sequencing of questions. Again
care was taken in the wordings of questions direct, simple and unbiased wording were used.

Analysis & findings:

The data collected through questionnaire are suitably arranged in table for the purpose of
effective and in-depth analysis and interpretation. Use of percentage, pie-diagram, bar-diagram
etc is also made for the study whenever necessary.
Only the management, worker and related personnel are targeted respondents of the
questionnaire.
This questionnaire deals with all the analysis and findings related to quality management system.
Three different types of analysis are done covering almost all the objectives that are need to be
found.
The questionnaire was divided into two segments so that correct information is achieved when
conducting the survey.

54

First type of the questionnaire was designed to gather information regarding the general concept
of the respondents.
Second type of questionnaire was specially designed to collect information regarding the
technical solution.
Questionnaire Analysis:
The first question of the questionnaire was asked- What does the term ISO stand
for? What standards make up the ISO 9000 2000 series?
The findings are mentioned below:
The respondents simply share with me and they suitably give me their view:
The term ISO stands for the International Organization for Standardization. You would
reasonably assume that it ought to be IOS, but it isn't. Apparently, the term ISO was chosen
(instead of IOS), because ISO in Greek means equal, and ISO wanted to convey the idea of
equality - the idea that they develop standards to place organizations on an equal footing.
Tabulation of Respondents Perception:
Respondents

Management

Worker

Other

Percentage

View
Able to Define

Personnel
45

43

95

Unable to Define

00

5%

95%

Percentage Wise Respondent

The second question asked to the respondents to find out the Total Quality
Management (TQM) helps business because it

55

The findings are mentioned below:

Says that every person in the business must work together to make excellent quality products.
Excellent product increase sales and profits or lowers a businesss costs because making
excellent products means it does not waste money on repairs and refunds.
Tabulation of Respondents Perception:
Respondents View

Management

Casual Worker

Percentage %

Agree

45

40

85

Disagree

05

06

11

No Response

00

04

Total

50

50

100

Percentage Wise Respondents View:

The third question asked to the respondents to find out the benefits of quality
management system.

56

The finding of the above question is:

Improvement in internal quality (reduction in scrap, rework and nonconformities in the shop)

Improvement in external quality (customer satisfaction, claims of non-conforming

products, returned products, warranty claims, penalty claims etc.)

Improvement in Production reliability (number of break downs, percentage down time

etc)

Improvement in Time performance (on-time delivery, time to market etc. Reduction in

the cost of poor quality (external non-conformities, scrap, rework etc)
Above 100 respondents we collect the appropriate data as shown in the table:
Respondents

Number of Respondents

View
Perfectly

Describe
Partially Describe

73
22

Ignorant
5
Total
100

Percentage Wise Respondents View:

57

5%

22%
%

73%

The fourth question asked to the respondents to find out, where most of the quality
problems occurs.

Finding of the question is:

Originate on the shop floor because of waste and product rework. Number of respondent, their
view etc. are listed below in the table
Respondents

Management(

Technical

Casual

Number of

View

M)

Worker (T)

Workers(C)

Respondents %

Strongly agree
Agree
Disagree
No Response
Total

20
10
0
1
31

30
10
0
2
42

15
5
3
4
27

65
25
3
7
100

Percentage Wise Respondents View:

58

The fifth question asked to the respondents to find out, quality should generally be of
priority with ?
Finding of the question is:
Among 100 respondents from 70% of them are agree with that quality should generally be of
equal priority with cost & schedule and 25% of them believe equal priority with cost, but higher
priority than schedule and 5% express their ignorance.
By putting the above data in a pie diagram then we can find the visual representation of the
respondents view-

Percentage Wise Respondents View:

59

5%

25%

70%

The fifth question asked to the respondents to find out the concept of quality is based
on?
The findings are given below:
The respondents view are 20% of them believes producing excellent products that are superior
to other similar items, 15% of them believe conforming to the requirements specifications,
5% of them believe maintaining uniformity of design and 60% of them thought the concept of
quality is based on all of the above points.
The visual representation of the above findings is-

60

Percentage Wise Respondents View:

The sixth question asked to the respondents to find out Is the quality of Vardhaman
water tank is fulfilling the requirements of this generations need?
Finding of the question is:
Out of 100 respondents from Nagaon and out side of the firm I found the view about the
Vardhman product quality. There are people from Vardhaman they believe the product from
Vadhaman is latest i.e. the paper of can fulfilling this generations need. But few of believe
SYNTEX produces the best quality. Also from out side of the firm given the mix reaction as
shown in the table:

61

Resp. view

From NPM

Outsider of

Percentage of

Percentage of

(50)
35

the firm(50)
20

NPM
70%

Outsider
40%

10

10

20%

20%

15

10%

30%

best(B)
No knowledge

00

0%

10%

Total

50

50

Product of
Vardhamn is
best(B)
Product of
Vardhaman is
Medium(M)
Product of
SYNTEX is

Percentage Wise Respondents View:

62

The 7th question asked to the respondents to find out Is the technology using in
Vardhaman is the latest? Explain with example?
The 8th question asked to the respondent to find out the advantage of quality of tank
base production?
Finding of the question is:
When I present the above question they proudly said that their process is latest such as tank
production, which began in Vardhaman industries from the last month. When I visit the tank
section then I found the newly designed machine purchased from German, which they believe
technologically the latest. Here they said the life plastic products is several times more than the
other features of the production. We can draw a visual representation of respondents view as
followsTech. using in

Management

Vardhaman is

Technical

Casual

Worker

Worker

latest
Strongly agree
Agree

20
10

15
15

15
5

50
30

Weak response

15

No answer

Total

35

35

30

100

Percentage Wise Respondents View:

63

The 9th question asked to the respondents to find out if they have knowledge or
not about PDCA cycle?
Finding of the question is:
Amanzingly maximum of the personnel can explain PDCA cycle- The most popular tool used to
determine quality assurance is the Shewhart Cycle. This cycle for quality assurance consists of
four steps: Plan, Do, Check, and Act. These steps are commonly abbreviated as PDCA.
The four quality assurance steps within the PDCA model stand for:
Plan: Establish objectives and processes required to deliver the desired results.
Do: Implement the process developed.
Check: Monitor and evaluate the implemented process by testing the results against the
predetermined objectives.
Act: Apply actions necessary for improvement if the results require changes.
If we put the view of the respondent in a visual representation we found-

Percentage Wise Respondents View:

64

3% 7%

90%

The 10th question asked to the respondents to find out where

the most

quality problems are occurs?

Finding of the question is:
The maximum respondents are strongly agrees with the view Originate on the shop floor
because of waste and product rework.
We get the following visual representation by putting the respondents view with percentage wiseRespondents

Management

Technical

Casual worker

Percentage

view
Strongly agree
Agree
Weak response
No response
Total

persons 40
30
5
5
0
40

persons 40
35
3
2
0
40

20
10
5
3
2
20

75
13
10
2
100

65

Percentage Wise Respondents View:

The 11th question asked to the respondents to find out What have to do the
manufacturers to prevent the majority of product defect in most of the processes.
Finding of the question is:
The technical workers view

Increase the use of acceptance control charts instead of standard three-sigma control
charts.

Make a concerted effort to eliminate the potential for product defects in the design
stage.

But in the base level the answer is not acceptable.

Respondents view
Suitable answer
Acceptable answer

Technical persons
70
10

Base worker 20
5
7

Percentage
75%
17%

Not acceptable

8%

Total

80

20

100

Percentage Wise Respondents View:

66

The 12th question asked to the respondents to find out if any effect of raw
materials on final product?

Percentage Wise Respondents View:

67

The 13th no. question asked Are the customer satisfied with the new quality of
Tank ?
Finding of the question is:
Tech. using in

Management

Vardhaman is
latest
Strongly agree
Agree
Weak response
No answer
Total

20
10
5
0
35

Technical

Casual

Worker

Worker

15
15
5
0
35

15
5
5
5
30

50
30
15
5
100

Percentage Wise Respondents View:

68

The 14th question asked to the respondents to find out if they know the quality
tools?
Finding of the question is:
Tabulation of Respondents Perception:
Respondents View

Management

Casual Worker

Percentage %

Agree

45

40

85

Disagree

09

06

15

No Response

00

00

00

Total

50

50

100

Percentage Wise Respondents View:

15%

85%

The 15th question asked to the respondents to find if they familiar with the zero
defect concept?

69

The 16th question asked to the respondents to find if they familiar with 80-20
rules.
Finding of the question is:
Resp. view

Yes

No

No Response

Percentage

Management

35

10

50%

Technical

40

10

00

50%

Percentage Wise Respondents View:

70

The 18th question asked to the respondents to find if they have knowledge
about QMP?
The 19th question asked to the respondents to find if they think that QMS
has help Vardhaman?
The 20th question asked to the respondents to find what are the Quality
Improvement activities going on in Vardhaman?

71

Finding of the question is:

Respondents

Management

Technical

Casual worker

Percentage

view
Agree
Disagree
No response
Total

persons (MNG)
35
5
0
40

persons (TP)
38
2
0
40

(CW)
15
3
2
20

%
88
10
2
100

Percentage Wise Respondents View:

72

RECOMMENDATIONS

To maintain quality maintaining proper parameter during process operation is essential.

Also for production of quality plastic, if the raw material in proper parameter it may
give law cost and with minimum errors.

There is need for Quality improvement tool to be implemented in Vardhaman.

To make employees more aware of QMS by organising seminars, providing training on
a continuous basis.
To make sure that the awareness programme covers as many workers as possible.
To teach the workers how to make efficient utilization of the existing Quality
Management Tools & Techniques.
Before starting the trails their must be strong commitment from management which
should be a commitment for time, money and total backup for the project.

73

CONCLUSION
Vardhaman is a largest plastic producer which is popular among Education Sector and the
product quality is acceptable in India and out of India.
Vardhaman Ltd has large number of employers skilled and unskilled, line and staff, flexible and
inflexible work in a network of domestic foreign facilities. Formal and informal system, good
and bad practices and old and new cultures co-exist production consists of a mix of low volume
of high engineered, customized products. Sometimes medium columns of high performance
products with short life cycles and sometimes high volume of high quality low cost commodities.
Vardhaman ltd product process is as varied as the products they produce. Vardhaman ltd has
taken a new Manufacturing Strategy or Plan to bring structure or order into the complex
environment. The optical properties are one of the vital criteria beside the competitive price for
product (paper / board) selection by the customer.
Though management personnel are fully aware of the above mentioned systems, there seems to
be ignorance among the support staffs and casual workers to some extent.
The feedback generated during the study helps to identify the areas where needs managements
attention to increase the effectiveness of ERP and TPM systems in Vardhaman, and provides an
opportunity for improvement

74

CHAPTER-4
OTHERS
QUESTIONNAIRE:
Dear Respondent,
I am a student of management undergoing MBA from PVI computer training
centre under Sikkim Manipal University. A part of my curriculum I am undergoing my summer
project on A analytic study on quality management system of Vardhaman.

Your kind

cooperation in this regard will help me in the ultimate fulfillment of my project and its
objectives.
I assure that all the information provided by you are meant for academic purpose
and will be kept strictly confidential.
Thanking you
Yours faithfully
Akash Srivastab

75

Bibliography:

BOOKS
Quality Control Handbook

AUTHOR
(1951)

SUCCESSFUL TRIAL OF OPTIMIZATION

OF ASA SIZING

Joseph M. Duran
TYAGI MOHIT,
BHANDRA, K.GOSWAMI
S AGARWAL

NEWSPAPER
COMPANY WEBSITE OF VARDHAMAN
TIMES OF INDIA
TELEGRAPH
ASSAM TRIBUNE

76

Reference:
FERGUSON L D DEINKING CHEMISTRY I TAPPI J 75 (7) , 75 (1992).
FERGUSON L D DEINKING CHEMISTRY I TAPPI J 75 (8) , 49 (1992).
RANGAN S G SANTASARKKA MATTI, RANGAMANNAR G IPPTA J,
CONVERSION ISSU, 129 (DEC 1998).
STC

TATA HONEYWELL LTD,

IPT

(IITR)

SECONDARY

FIBRE

PROCESSING AND DEINKING (NOV 2001).

JAIN R K NATHUR R M, AND KULKARNI A G, IPPTA J 13 (3), 21 (2001).
TECHNIDYNE CORPORATION, NEW ILBANY, U S A.
www.google.com

77

Glossary:

PPC Precipitated Calcium Carbonate.

QMS Quality Management System.

BOM - Bill of Material.

QC Quality Control.

QMP Quality Management Planning.

MD - Managing Director.

ED - Executive Director.

GM - General Manager.

78