Masonry Magazine April 1993 Page. 18
vary. They provide an operational
definition of quality, assist in the cul-
tural change, outline the financial im-
pact of quality, identify the method
for improvement, and provide the
catalysts necessary for sustaining the
process.
Every job activity is a process that
has input and output, suppliers and
customers.
Work activity begins with a set of
"inputs" (e.g.. (e.g., materials, machinery.
equipment, information, capabilities,
rules, or limits) that are used in a pro-
customers. Consequently, communi-
cation between the supplier and cus-
tomer is absolutely essential in order
to achieve quality.
People, for example, refer to the
Lexus as a high quality automobile. A
Yugo, in comparison, is not given
very high marks. Both the Lexus and
the Yugo, however, may have quality
if they meet the respective require-
ments for which they were designed
and built. One would not expect the
Yugo to provide a comfortable ride for
hundreds of miles of travel but one
would expect it of a Lexus. However,
Continuous impovements of customer
satisfaction, employee satisfaction,
safety and productivity not only makes
sense, but are essential given the present
economic state of the construction industry.
cess (e.g., procedure or operation) to
produce an "output" (e.g.. product, re-
port, or service that has added value).
The person(s) receiving the product.
report, or service is referred to as the
"customer" and the individual(s) fur-
nishing the set of inputs is the "sup-
plier".
Everyone in the company engages
in work processes which have inputs,
outputs, suppliers and customers.
Therefore, there are many internal
suppliers and customers as well as
many external suppliers and custom-
ers. No employee's work is too im-
portant or too insignificant to be de-
fined as a process and analyzed for
possible improvements.
Quality is compliance with the
agreed upon requirements of the cus-
tomer. The requirements are error-
free work.
The dictionary defines the noun
quality as follows:
Any of the features that make
something what it is; a characteristic
element or attribute; basic nature.
A degree of excellence; superiority
in kind.
Another way of stating this is to say
that each object, task, or function is
defined by inherent characteristics
and features, and that quality is de-
termined by whether these features
match the agreed upon requirements
of the customer.
Quality starts by identifying what
the customers, both internal and ex-
ternal, expect. If the expectations are
not clearly understood and agreed
upon, then there will be unhappy
the customer expects both the Lexus
and Yugo to be error-free when they
are driven off the new car sales lot.
The methods of achieving zero er-
rors is prevention.
It is always less expensive to do
work right the first time. Errors,
waste, or mistakes are avoidable;
properly designed processes and the
correct behavior to use them can pre-
vent defects and simultaneously
lower costs. This is what TQM is all
about: looking at the work process as
it is now being done, measuring the
quantity of errors, establishing a pre-
vention plan for the errors, im
plementing the preventive plan, and
monitoring to determine if the new
process meets a higher level of per-
fomance.
The cost of quality is measurable.
The cost of quality is equal to the
cost of errors plus the cost of preven-
tion. Errors in the construction indus-
try include waste, defects, failures,
idle time, accidents, rework, litiga-
tion, etc. Preventive activities in the
construction industry include plan-
ning, training, meetings, process
tests, etc.
FMI has been measuring these er-
rors in the construction environment
for years and they cost companies an
amount equivalent to twenty to forty
percent of sales. Consequently, TQM
constitutes the largest source of in
creased profits in any construction
organization. By investing more in
preventive activities, significant re-
turns on investment may be realized.
Quality, productivity, and safety
are inseparable.
For a given work process, the cus-
tomer requirement is that the process
be accomplished with zero errors.
This means that the work process
should be accomplished efficiently
(i.e., with no delays or rework) and
safely (i.e., with no accidents). Con-
sider, for example, the activity of ini-
tiating primary work in the morning.
If this activity is accomplished with
great efficiency but an accident oc-
curs, it definitely will not meet the
supervisor's requirements. On the
other hand, if this work activity is
performed with zero accidents, but
inefficiently, it will still not meet con-
scientious supervisor's requirements.
Thus, it is impossible to separate
quality, productivity, and safety for
any given work activity or process.
The keys to continuous improve-
ment are commitment and teamwork.
Continuous improvement of cus-
tomer satisfaction, employee satisfac-
tion, safety, and productivity (e.g..
TQM) not only makes sense, but are
essential given the present economic
state of the construction industry.
This is easy and admirable to say, but
it requires a tremendous amount of
hard work on the the part of every em-
ployee in in the company. No one can be
excluded because any chain is only as
strong as its weakest link.
Quality is a result of people com-
mitted to their customers (internal
and external) and continuously im-
proving their work processes. Man-
agement must determine that quality
improvement is the key to the
company's survival and commit the
necessary resources to make it hap-
pen continuously.
The team process is an essential
factor in the TQM process. Improve-
ment is accomplished through struc-
tured team problem-solving. Every
company which has achieved the
highest levels (world class) of quality
standards has organized into teams.
These teams have enabled employees
to take greater responsibility for their
own work.
REPRINTED, with permission from FMI
Corporation, management consultants to
the construction industry. The authors are
members of FMI's Quality and Productiv-
ity Improvement Group.
18 MASONRY-MARCH/APRIL, 1993