Quality Management

**3**

**Chapter 1**

**Abstract**

**1. Introduction**

Indian SMEs

in SMEs to focus on improving their performance.

**Keywords:** quality management, SMEs, tools and techniques, survey, India

globalized market is of vital importance for long-term success.

Quality initiatives have long been part of organization strategy. Conventional way of quality initiatives such as ISO series, quality assurance, statistical quality control, zero defects, and total quality management has been the key initiatives for many years. The objective is to overcome challenges and survive in global competitive market [1]. The ability of business to adapt to new customer requirements in a

Literature suggests that quality management practices are critical for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to gain a competitive advantage. Intriguingly, the systematic application of quality management practices in SMEs, despite the wideranging effort that has been invested and the long-term benefits that may be achieved, remains mostly uncommon [2]. Some possible causes which may account for the low usage of quality initiatives in SMEs have been publicized in previous studies. According to quality management literature [3, 4], the reasons vary from difficulty in differentiating between different initiatives such as International Organization for Standardization (ISO), Total Quality Management (TQM), Six Sigma, and Lean to lack of clarity about the advantages of one initiative over other. SMEs also feel that

*Ayon Chakraborty*

Quality Management Practices in

The purpose of this chapter is to provide an insight on the status of quality management practices in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) of South India. A survey-based approach was adopted to understand the established quality management practices in the SMEs. A short survey instrument was designed by reviewing the literature on quality management initiatives in SMEs. Sample of 270 manufacturing SMEs across Southern India was selected through stratified random sampling technique. Projects with small teams, management commitment and involvement, communication, and culture change have high influence as success factors in implementing quality initiatives. Overall equipment effectiveness, root cause analysis, bottleneck analysis, and PDCA are often used tools and techniques by the organizations. High cost of training and limited knowledge were the reasons cited for not implementing quality initiatives. The study is an attempt to understand the quality management practices application in SMEs from a specific geographic location. The strength lies in bringing a different perspective from the present studies, whereas specific context of the study limits its generalizability. The findings of this chapter will help the industry to identify current quality management practices

#### **Chapter 1**
