Quality Management Of VTI Auto Workshop Essay Improved.

VTI Auto workshop and car care

Discuss about the Quality Management Of VTI Auto workshop.

Examples of problematic issues facing VTI Auto workshop and car care’ in product and service delivery include: poor customer service, lack of professionalization, technical capacity, and ethics among the staff, and unhygienic working environment.

The company lacks standards that they can use to measure performance and regulate the service provided by the company. The standards should be based on continuous improvement and service provision.

Model of group decision making for the company: The best model that the firm can adopt in its group decision making is use of brainstorming that involves use of group thinking (Curtin, 2014).Brainstorming is a useful technique that allows employees to think in a group in order to identify and solve problems related to quality in workplace. In addition brainstorming enables creativity and participation among employees.

Ways to provide defect free of goods and services ate lower cost. In order to improve delivery of goods and services at lower costs the firm will implement a product and service recovery plan that follows ways to: identifying and anticipating any failure points, allowing customer feedback, undertaking customer research, and training employees to adopt recovery program (Wu, Shwu-Ing, & Ting-Ru Lin, 2014).

Data documentation and presentation method suitable to address customer complaints. VTI auto workshop and car care can adopt check sheets and parent analysis as part of its quality records. The two can be used for collecting, documenting and presenting data originating from customer complaints (LI, 2015). The check sheets records numbers of complains occurring at different events while parent analysis is useful in identifying major and minor quality problems facing the firm and ways to mitigate them.

What SIPOC model used? SIPOC (supplier, input, process, output, and customer) is a useful quality tool that the firm can employ in ensuring process improvements. SIPOC extract for the firm is presented in table 1.

‘VTI auto workshop and car care’ can improve, develop and maintain its quality systems by employing quality continuous improvement strategies.

1. Employee involvement: Employee will be involved through brainstorming activities and development of the company quality management system. Employees understand the kind of work they perform so it is ideal for them to develop standards for their work which will be documented. Quality improvement should include employee involvement that allows employees to participate in decision making, setting quality objectives and idea creation in improving quality in the work shop (Wirtz, Jochen, & Christopher Lovelock, 2016). If employees are involved it contributes to high motivation and satisfaction levels, and improved quality decisions.
2. Application of the PDCA model: The model will be applied by the company its quality management process. A systematic approach in solving the firm’s quality problems is the use of Deming’s PDCA (plan, do, check and action) cycle. The cycle involves identification of quality opportunities for improvement, designing a course of action, checking for compliance, and acting on critical decisions (Ye, Chen, Sanjeev Jha, & Kevin, Desouza, 2015). All activities of the company will begin with planning for quality and developing a standard of requirements and performance to be achieved. It will be followed by implementing the plans that were created by training the users on the quality  management systems. Audits and other assurance methods will follow to ensure compliance to the standards and performance set. It also involves the company obtaining conformities, non-conformities and areas of improvements through audit processes. Both stakeholders will later be given a grace period to corrective any minor or major non-conformities generated from audits.
3. Employee responsibility and initiative through empowerment schemes: Quality improvement can be made possible if employees are empowered. The company will ensure that each employee is given responsibility and necessary support to ensure that quality is achieved and maintained. That will be achieved by providing those necessary trainings and exposure that will allow them freedom to create ideas and innovation in their work environment. Each employee need to take a commitment that quality will be part of the work procedures. The  management role is providing employee’s opportunity to make own decisions, create standards, mitigate work related risks, learn from experiences, and embrace changes. Employee empowerment gives them responsibility and initiative to create quality related ideas (Armstrong, 2014).

1. Stakeholders: Stakeholder management is a critical component in quality improvement because it involves integrating every individuals affected directly and indirectly by the firm operations. The suppliers will be notified on the nature of inputs required by the company and it will be necessary for supplier involvement to take place. Customers focus will be the main goal of the quality process. Customer needs will be assessed continuously in order to keep update with them. In addition, every quality improvement process will require continuous learning that can be achieved by training employees on good quality management techniques (Dibrell, Craig & Neubaum, 2014).
2. Effective communication strategies: The firm will employ an effective communication technique which forms an integral part of a quality improvement process. It will ensure that information is shared and feedback provided to form part of corrective actions (Dibrell, Craig & Neubaum, 2014). A communication plan will be created that will indicate: the stakeholders to be communicated, nature of communication provided to them, means of communication, and frequency of communicating. Fast forward feedback strategies will be employed by the firm to establish potential problems, and correcting them before they occur. It will entail having feedback forms issued to customers occasionally for them to give their opinions and expectations from the products and services offered. Once any changes have taken place recognition and compensation of employees will become a critical component in enforcing and building relationship.
3. Strategies for monitoring the process: A suitable strategy will be formulated to monitor progress it will entail monitoring and compliance mechanisms formulated in form of periodic internal and external quality audits to ensure compliance. The company will employ an internal quality auditor or quality assurance person who will carry out surveillance audits to ensure that standards are met and followed by the responsible persons. In addition an independent external auditor will be contracted to periodically carry out an independent audit to ensure that the process of quality is not biased or compromised.
4. A method of recognition of the benefits to the organization: The firm will employ a feedback mechanism strategy that will obtain information from the users on performance and will be a useful tool in recognizing the benefits to the organization. Quality objectives achievement will form another technique that will outline if the benefits have been achieved in short or long run. In addition a reward mechanism will be implemented for any notable achievement regarding quality in the organization. The recognition reward will act as a motivating factor in case success is achieved in future.
5. Use of training methods: employees will be subjected on a skill needs assessment to establish the extent of their training needs. The trainings on quality will be conducted quarterly to ensure that employees are up to date with the current market trends on quality. The trainings will be in form of workshops, seminars and on/off job trainings. Focus groups will form part of work stations in order to ensure that quality is to be achieved and maintained. Findings of the skills assessment will be useful in choosing the type and nature of training for the employees.

1. Record keeping procedures for further continuous improvement: The firm will ensure that a quality management system (QMS) will be part of its record. The QMS will give guidelines on how quality will be implemented and followed in the firm. In addition quality policy and manuals will be maintained as part of the records. Quality policy is to remind the employees for their quality commitments while quality manuals will form part of the employees work procedures to be maintained in the work stations. Other registers for stakeholders, correspondences, audits and employee records will be part of the company records.

In order to achieve the goal of increasing productivity and customer measures the VTI auto workshop and car care need to

1. The first step to identify organizational functional issues relating in lower productivity than desired or customer satisfaction is by co-ordinate with team through a brain storming process in order to achieve continuous improvement strategies.
2. There are different types of continuous improvement techniques that matches sustainability requirements they include: A number of organizational quality issues identified to have lowed productivity of the firm include: employees lacking quality related trainings, lack of efficiency in operations, customers lacking accessory aiding facilities, poor customer care, and inappropriate working environment (Wirtz, Jochen, & Christopher Lovelock., 2016).
3. The process involves employing performance measurement management that ensures work performance is measured with standards to be set. Evaluation of work will then be achieved on the basis of employee performance. The people’s management philosophy in quality management is enhanced by carrying out performance appraisal of the employees (Wu, Shwu-Ing, & Ting-Ru Lin, 2014).

1. The other factor is to clearly define the job roles and clarity of experiences to be achieved among the employees. VTI auto workshop and car care will center on using ‘people management’ philosophy in order to achieve the intended quality goals. The philosophy will involve integrating employee’s efforts in committing to continuous improvement in their daily work. People management will entail aligning the Human resource policies with quality management designs in different employees work roles and experiences.
2. Rewarding and recognition of the employees performance is critical in work performance. A reward scheme adopted for good performing workers. The adoption of the methodology could enhance employee self-motivation, reduce wastages, lower costs, facilitate change implementation, and increase quality.
3. Training and development is important in ensuring that employees meet the required qualifications necessary for the jobs. The process entails evaluating and gathering information on how employees are effective and efficient at the work place by providing to them training and development schemes. Ownership of jobs roles is critical in ensuring that employees are responsible to the work performed. A skilled based pay and reward is the most appropriate compensation method that will be applied by the firm because it enhances skills development.
4. That can be achieved by having an effective recruitment, selection, compensation mechanism and mentoring schemes. Recognition of the needs of the employees is important in mentoring teamwork, creativity and motivating the employees. In addition total quality management awareness training will be adapted to change employee’s values, organization culture and attitude towards quality (Weigang, K. Flanagan, T. Dye, K & Jones, P, 2014).
5. Communication systems are important in management of customers and employees. A two way channel between firm and customers will be adopted to increase information sharing.

2. Action plan for implementing the stated strategies is important in ensuring the end results are met. The actual quality development plan is presented in table 2

The actual quality development plan summary is prepared to improve productivity and to ensure the business run efficiently.

Performance monitoring on customer feedback is important in a continuous improvement programme. The company will employ suggestion boxes and call lines for customer service query and complains. Findings to be communicated promptly to the customers and it will involve periodic inspections and audits to ensure compliance of customer reporting and management is achieved.

References

Armstrong, P. (2014). Quality management in business. Londong: Cengage publishers.

Curtin, M. (2014). Simple techniques win customers. Journal of analytical business studies, 45-87.

Dibrell, Craig & Neubaum. (2014). Linking the formal quality planning process, planning flexibility and innovativeness to firm performance. Journal of business research, 67(9), 2000-2007.

LI, Y. (2015, April 13). Design thinking approach as framework in the open innovation strategy for product development. Open innovation platform redesign for Electrolux, pp. 11-45.

Weigang, K. Flanagan, T. Dye, K & Jones, P. (2014). Collaborative foresight: complementing long horizon strategic planning in quality management. Technological forecasting and social change, 85(1), 134-152.

Wirtz, J and Lovelock, C. (2016). Services marketing: people, technology, strategy. Journal of historical business review, 1 (1), 12-14.

Wu, Shwu-Ing, and Ting-Ru Lin. (2014). "The influence of relational bonds and innovative marketing on consumer perception-A study of theme parks. Journal of Management and Strategy , 54.

Ye, C. Sanjeev, J & Kevin, D. (2015). Communicating the business value of innovation and quality management. International journal of innovation science, 45 (3), 1-12.