Development of an Integrated Quality Management Conceptual Framework for Manufacturing Organisations

Abstract

In the last couple of decades manufacturing management models such as Six-Sigma, Lean Manufacturing and TQM have been implemented by many organizations to facilitate the production lines, hence improving the quality performance. However, none of these models have been able to solve all organisation problems when implemented alone; on the other hand, integrated management models such as Lean-Six Sigma, have empowered organisations to exceed the improvement rates and achieve as competitive advantage. This paper attempts to develop an integrated quality management conceptual frame-work for Six-Sigma, Lean manufacturing and TQM; to eliminate the quality issues in order to improve and modernize the quality system for manufacturing organisations. The aim is to simplify the implementation process, improve the operation performances and provide imputes and guidance for manufacturing organisations; thus attaining sustainable improvement and performance excellence. The paper reviews the literature relevance to the topic and the required tools to carry out this research. Furthermore, a questionnaire survey is designed to collect the required data and to validate the proposed framework. The research results concluded that the framework developed is applicable for manufacturing organisations and can assist to achieve competitive advantages if adopted and applied correctly.