**3. What are the implications for practitioners**

#### **3.1 Quality planning, assurance and control in context**

Quality does not occur by default; it has to be carefully built into the firm, the project and the service being provided. While there are differences between the three industry sectors we have discussed, each with its own challenges, there is much cross-pollination that can be derived from the TQM philosophies, which, if correctly adopted, will benefit the end customer. The importance of quality planning early on cannot be underestimated. There needs to be a culture of quality that pervades throughout the firm, be it a manufacturing, project firm or services firm. First, one must establish a quality culture, which will then set the foundation for quality planning, assurance and control. Quality assurance and control will not be successful without addressing quality planning at the initial stages. Quality assurance and control can be greatly enhanced through the adoption of TQM.

In terms of TQM, the importance of change management and leadership cannot be over-emphasized. Continuous worker training in quality techniques and quality management will also aid in creating a quality culture throughout the firm. Creating a culture of continuous improvement and a culture of innovation, specifically in terms of how to do things better and, in so doing, improve efficiency and effectiveness. The same goes for leadership and team building; this is an integral part of embedding a quality culture; this becomes critical in environments that are prone to high risk and high uncertainty, like the project environment. Notwithstanding the high-risk and uncertain environments, leadership and team building is also essential in the manufacturing and services industry. In quality management, leadership is key as this sets the tone for quality throughout the firm.

#### **3.2 Tools that can facilitate quality planning, assurance and control**

In the manufacturing industry, there are many tools, systems and techniques that can be used to enhance quality planning, assurance and control. The manufacturing

*Quality Planning, Assurance and Control in Manufacturing, Industrial Projects and Services… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.113995*

industry at large is fairly mature in this area. The manufacturing industry has embraced the ISO standards quite well in terms of ensuring that their quality systems conform to international standards, which are audited, monitored and controlled. In terms of quality control, tools like SPC are widely used and accepted.

In the projects industry, especially in construction projects, many firms have adopted the PMBOK as the Body of Knowledge to guide project management processes. Some project-driven firms have also adopted the ISO standards. We have, however, not seen much attention toward TQM as an approach to facilitate quality assurance and further to this, techniques for CPI can also be better adapted.

In the services industry, there does not appear to be any such standard that firms can use to guide the quality assurance function; however, it may be beneficial to look at capability maturity model integration (CMMI) for services. This will be a good toolset to use in terms of accessing a baseline maturity of services within services firms. CMMI creates the opportunity for continuous improvement and selfbenchmarking. CMMI also has a wider toolset that can be used for manufacturing and project management. It will be worthwhile to at least explore the CMMI options. We have also not seen widespread adoption of ISO standards in the services industry.

#### **4. Conclusions**

In this chapter, we highlighted the maturity of quality planning, assurance and control in the manufacturing industry. We also highlighted that the projects industry is prone to failure, and many failures can be attributed to poor quality management processes and procedures. Based on this, it is extremely important that quality be given a high priority and that more attention is devoted to quality. There is also a high focus in the projects industry on implementing risk process management in all the project phases. The importance of TPs was also emphasized. There is also an opportunity to address risk as part of the quality, planning and assurance functions. Similarly, in the services industry, quality needs to be integrated into the services culture and be an integral part of the services process, so it is therefore essential that quality planning be integrated early when first developing the service systems and processes.

Quality cannot be an afterthought; the high-level quality objectives must be linked to the overall firm's strategy. Quality management requires both a top-down and bottom-up approach. Higher quality does not mean a higher cost; it means better control and monitoring of the process whereby faults in the manufacturing, construction or service can be picked up early and reduce the cost of rework.

The importance of quality cannot be overemphasized. Customers demand quality products and services. Customers pay for the quality; it is not an option to sell poorquality products and/or services. To ensure that good quality products and services are delivered, it is essential that firms strive to integrate TQM philosophies within the wider firm. Finally, it must be recognized that people buy from people, and customers will come back if they are satisfied. There are different customer satisfiers in all three industry sectors; at the end of the day, it boils down to the customers getting what they paid for. Some questions to ponder:

