SKEDSOFT

Introduction:

The use of tools and techniques is essentially intended to dissect processes, understand them better, know about the activities involved and propose solutions which can be implemented, controlled and monitored. TQM is about the control of processes business wide.

Measurement:

Measurement is therefore a necessary continuous activity if a good understanding of business strengths and weaknesses is to be established. And even more importantly, measurement is the vehicle by which customer requirements can be achieved. As explained by Juran, 2 measurements is ‘the mission of establishing customer needs in units of measure’. Juran has defined measurement from two perspectives:

1.        unit of measure:A defined amount of some quality feature which permits evaluation of that feature in numbers;

2.       A sensor:A method or instrument, which can carry out the evaluation and state the findings in numbers, in terms of the unit of measure.

• Tools and techniques are therefore the sensors which can be used in every process of business to establish the standard of quality at each stage of each process by ensuring that there is total compliance with customer requirements.
• The word measurement defined below,3 is essential to every employee of every organisation because it leads to the generation of information which is vital for enabling managers to make the right decisions for the achievement of positive competitiveness.

’Measurements are the yardsticks that tell us how we’ve done and motivate us to perform.’

1.   The purpose of measuring, recording, analyzing, implementing and controlling within processes is to achieve superior performance.
2.   Tools and techniques generate data which can be analyzed to provide valuable information that can help managers make much more accurate decisions.
3.   In a sense, for businesses to be managed well, their operations have to be managed well. For the latter to happen, information has to be available.