Compliance with Standards in Total Quality Management
While our world is moving from the industrial age to the information age, Total Quality Management has been the only way to achieve success in all enterprises, public and private organizations, non-profit organizations and non-governmental organizations that produce goods and services, and each enterprise tries to implement it in accordance with its own principles and objectives. Today, in the face of intense competition, constantly developing technology world and constantly changing customer needs and expectations, businesses must be dynamic at all times and keep up with the changes. Product lifetimes 10-20 has been reduced from 3-4 to years. In parallel, new product design times have gone from 2-3 to almost 6-12 months. Previously, there were factories capable of producing everything, while today there are enterprises focused on specific production areas with the use of advanced technology. Customer loyalty is more important than ever.
Total Quality Management is a management philosophy that is widely applied all over the world with the aim of establishing a solid relationship between today and the future and facilitating changes.
Establishing honest, consistent and open relationships within the enterprise, having a data-based, participatory and collaborative management style is a requirement of Total Quality Management and ensuring this is not only the top management but also the priority of all employees. Revealing innovative ideas, supporting and encouraging them, benefiting from the potentials of the employees, catching the improvement opportunities for the enterprise and using the tried and tested quality tools to solve the problems are the jobs that enable enterprises to look at their future with confidence.
Many definitions of quality can be made. But the common point of all definitions is the customer. Customer satisfaction should be increased and customer complaints should be reduced. The customer decides on the quality of the product or service. Quality is an ongoing improvement. It never ends. What is essential in quality systems is to make a job error-free, otherwise the cost of correcting errors later is higher. Quality is always on time. And quality means compliance with standards.
Quality, as a technical concept, means that products or services conform to established standards and are reliable. Reliability refers to the protection of compliance with standards under certain conditions and for a certain period of time. In other words, the basis of quality is reliability and reliability. Technically, these two concepts define quality.
The history of standardization is as old as the history of humanity. The size of the stones used in the construction of the pyramids in Egypt and the measure that the Romans used to build the water channels were the first standard examples. Water taxes were calculated based on the diameter of the water channel.
In today's sense, the first published standard in the world is the edict named Bursa Municipality Law issued by Sultan Bayezit II in 1502 (Kanunname-i İhtisab-ı Bursa). This is the first example of today's standard understanding in the world.
However, the history of the formation of standards and production according to these standards in the current sense in the industry is not very old. The first steps in this direction began in England after the industrial revolution.
It is possible to consider the standards in two groups: product standard and quality system standard. The product standard states that a product complies with the specifications described in the standard set for that product. The quality system standard refers to the quality management that a company follows to ensure that the products it produces comply with the standards and requirements.
The advantages of standardization can be summarized as follows:
- Operating standards save labor, materials and other resources at the highest level
- Consumer interests are taken into consideration by producing consumer goods and services with satisfactory quality.
- The health and safety of people is protected
- The exchange of information between the relevant groups is facilitated
Standards Compliance Tests
There are many standards for the production of goods and services by domestic and foreign organizations. In our country, Turkish Standards Institute (TSE) publishes many foreign standards in accordance with the conditions of our country, both within the framework of the integration of our country with the world and within the scope of harmonization studies with the European Union. Enterprises establish and apply the standards they need in order to obtain TSE Certificate or TESK Certificate both during the establishment of management systems and for their products. At the same time, in order to prove their status, they apply to a certification body and pass audits and request documents.
Certification bodies carry out audits in the enterprises on the basis of the authorization they have received from domestic or foreign accreditation institutions and, if they deem appropriate, issue the certificate of the related standard to the enterprise.
Audits performed by certification bodies are generally two-tier. The first stage is realized through the documentation work prepared by the enterprise within the scope of the related standard. However, the most important is the on-site inspections to be carried out in the offices and production facilities of the enterprise.
During these audits, the extent to which the company acts in accordance with the processes related to its field of activity, the ownership of senior management and employees, the sustainability of standards and similar criteria are audited. During the audits, measurements, tests, analyzes, evaluations and examinations are carried out when necessary in terms of the field of activity of the enterprise.
Certification bodies must be accredited according to the TS EN ISO / IEC 17025 standard (general requirements for the adequacy of the TS EN ISO / IEC 17025 Test and calibration laboratories) in order to carry out such conformity tests.
This standard covers the general requirements for the recognition of the competence of laboratories providing testing and calibration services, including taking test samples. The requirements for the adequacy of non-standard testing and calibration services performed by methods developed by the laboratory are also covered by this standard.
The authorized accreditation institution in Turkey is TÜRKAK, the Turkish Accreditation Agency. TURKAK was established under the Law on the Establishment and Duties of the Turkish Accreditation Agency published in 1999. According to the Law, TURKAK was established for the following purposes:
- Accreditation of local and foreign institutions that will provide laboratory, certification and inspection services
- To ensure that these organizations operate in accordance with local and foreign standards
- To ensure that product or service, system, personnel and laboratory documents are accepted in domestic and foreign fields
