Genichi Taguchi: Total Quality Management Guru
Name:
Institution:
Course Code:

Introduction
Every person has had an experience with quality and every person can give his own reflection on what he perceived to be of poor or high quality. Not until the early 1950’s did total quality management emerge at the top of firms’ schemata hence making quality improvement as the highest priority in any institution, firm or business. Based on the fact that quality comes from integrated efforts of teams, employees and each level in an organization, total quality management was introduced and applied in all businesses as a means to enhance total quality by working on each level and stage in the service delivery or production.

TQM in History
It is vitally crucial before one dwells into the work offered by Taguchi to observe the timeline in which prominent gurus of quality management placed to build a scaffold on which TQM, Total Quality Management, was evolved.

Figure 1: Table displaying the differences between new and concepts of quality

Looking at Figure 1 above, it is illustrative that a major shift happened in the 1970’s in the concepts of quality. The old concept of quality meant solely inspection after production, where the new concept of quality involves a corrective and preventive approach by building quality in the process of production and service delivery by identifying and correcting the causes of quality problems.
Before the swing in quality concepts could happen, many experts tried to define quality, quantify it and relate it to the overall performance of a firm. The timeline below summarizes the work done by who we know as quality management gurus:

Figure 2: Quality Gurus and their Contribution to TQM
Genichi Taguchi and his Contribution to TQM
Dr. Genichi Taguchi argument states that product design is the main factor that determines TQM. The quality of a product or service starts to count from the design phase. It is at this stage that managers can evaluate the end products’ projections and amend the required alterations for total quality output. The designing stage is crucial in the production process, since manufacturers can easily make alterations on the products without using much resources and costs. According to Taguchi, 80% of the products produced end up being of low quality due to lack of proper product design. It is therefore significant for companies to put much effort during the designing period before coming up with the final product or service.
Taguchi came up with a design of experiment theory, which states that it is better to create a design module that can easily adjust to a variety of changing environmental constraints and resources. The design of experiment theory deems to be significant in the concept that producers cannot control external environmental factors to suite their production process, but they can design the production channels and methods to match with the external factors. Such steps lead to effective TQM. (Bendell, T. 1990).
Taguchi Methods
Taguchi produced different approaches to address TQM. The methods looked at both offline and online quality TQM control. The offline aspect refers to the design phase while the online aspect refers to the processing process.
Quality Loss Function
In this approach, it states that a quality loss is incurred when there is a shift away from the target value. A target value is the maximum possible value of a quality characteristic. Quality loss is considered to affect the society as a whole (both the producers and the consumers). The loss includes all the production costs incurred by the company as well as poor quality and poor performance of products and service offered to the customer.
A quality Loss Function curve can be generated from the information given by customers. The performance of a curve is determined by the rate of deviation from the target value. When the deviation of a curve from the target value is low, the product’s quality becomes better. On the other hand, when the curve’s deviation from the target value is higher, the society experiences greater loss due to poor product quality.
Managers can use the Quality Loss Function to design a product that meets the required quality levels and within a cost effective bracket. The total quality and cost factor can be achieved by cutting costs of inputs that are out of the specifications of total quality achievement. (Logothetis, N. 1995).
Signal to Noise Ratio
Taguchi’s Signal to Noise Ratio method states that it is wise for producers to measure and utilize the total quality aspect. He compared the method to an engineering approach used by electricians to find the strength of electrical signals. Dr. Genichi Taguchi used this method to assess the total quality standards and tools that could easily adapt to the changing external environment and conditions.
Product Design Improvement
Taguchi came up with three product design and product processing phases. 1. System Design - This phase involves creating a sample of the end user product or service. It further aids in putting together the required materials for assembly, costs and other resources required for the production process. 2. Parametric Design - Coming up with the most appealing production methods and cost effective channels to suite favorably with the changing external conditions. 3. Tolerance Design – This design looks at a particular external factor that is crucial for total quality management in case the factor changes from its previous state. (Bendell, T. 1990)
Invest Last and Not First
Taguchi emphasized the need to focus much into a product’s total quality before releasing it to the market. He further stated that it is crucial to use low cost materials and optimize quality levels on the same products. High amount of money should only be spent on materials that are necessary to enhance the products’ quality.
Conclusion
W.E Deming was the first person to realize the importance of TQM. He enhanced product inspection for quality to the process control method. W.E Deming used Statistical Process Control (SPC) for evaluating the process control method. Taguchi came in and made it better by suggesting the product design exercise, making the Total Quality Management cycle complete and more effective (Belavendram, N.1992).

Work Cited
Bendell, T. Et al. Taguchi methodology within total quality. Kempston, IFS Publications, 1990
Logothetis, N. Managing for total quality: from Deming to Taguchi and SPC. New York: Prentice Hall, 1992
Belavendram, N. Quality by design: Taguchi techniques for industrial experimentation. Hemel Hempstead: Prentice Hall, 1995