Supply Chain Management,TQM and Project Management

In this section, we explain the concepts of supply chain management, total quality management and project management.

Supply Chain Management
Supply Chain Management refers to a management system in which all activities performed by supply chain members are coordinated and integrated into a seamless process, from the source to the point of consumption. Supply Chain Management is the process of managing operations control, resource and inventory acquisition and purchasing, and thus improving overall efficiency and effectiveness (Fig).

Supply Chain Management

Operations Management can be used as a control by coordinating it with other organizational functions to ensure that the system focuses on the elements that are most crucial for goal attainment.Purchasing Management is controlling the buying of the materials and resources are at the heart of effective supply chain management.

Inventory Management essentially signifies inventory control or materials control which is managing the organisation’s raw materials, work-in process,finished goods and products in-transit.Just-in-time (JIT) Management is an inventory system that has necessary materials arriving as soon as they are needed (just in time) so that the production process is not interrupted.

Total Quality Management (TQM)
TQM signifies strategic commitment by the top management to change its entire approach to business and to make a quality-guiding factor in everything that the organisation does (Fig.).

Total Quality Management

There are eight important dimensions of quality (Fig).

Eight Dimensions of Quality

Let us briefly explain each of these.

1. Performance: A product’s primary operating characteristic. Examples are automobile acceleration and a television’s picture clarity.

2. Features: Supplements to a product’s basic functioning characteristics, such as power windows on a car.

3. Reliability: A probability of not malfunctioning during a specified period.

4. Conformance: The degree to which a product’s design and operating characteristics meet established standards.

5. Durability: A measure of product life.

6. Serviceability: The speed and ease of repair.

7. Aesthetics: How a product looks, feels, tastes, and smells.

8. Perceived quality: As seen by a customer.

Total Quality Management implies adherence to:

• ISO 9000 − a set of quality standards created by the International

Organization for Standardization by which firms can be certified;

• Statistical Quality Control (SQC) − a set of statistical techniques that can be used to monitor quality; includes acceptance sampling and in-process sampling.

• Benchmarking

− The process of learning how and what other firms do in an

exceptionally high-quality manner.

− TQM Tools and Techniques.

•Outsourcing

− Subcontracting operations/services to those who can do them cheaper and/or better.

− Speed the time needed by the organization to get something accomplished.

Quality

− The totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs.

− Quality is both a relative and absolute concept.

− Quality is relevant to both products and services.

•Productivity

Quality enhancement programmes decrease the number of defects,reduce resources dedicated to rework, and reduce the need for
inspectors as employees become responsible for quality.

Costs

Improved quality reduces costs from customer returns, warranty, and lawsuits for faulty products, and lost sales to future customers.

Project Management
Project management in the modern sense began in the early 1960s, although it has its roots much further back in the latter years of the 19th century. The need for project management was driven by businesses that realised the benefits of organising work around projects and the critical need to communicate and co-ordinate work across departments and professions. Project management essentially comprises continuous tracking of tasks and accomplishments from the beginning to end using tools like Grantt charts and PERT charts. Projects frequently need resources on an ad-hoc basis as opposed to organisations that have only dedicated full-time positions and Project management reduces risk and increases chances of success.Project management is often summarised in a triangle. The three most important factors are time, cost and scope. These form the vertices of a triangle with quality as central theme.

Project Management Triangle

Now-a-days, we speak of project management dimension, with time, cost, scope and quality as the four vertices of a rectangle/square and customer expectations as central theme. No two customers expectations are the same.So you must ask what their expectations are.

A project goes through four phases during its life:

• Project Definition: Defining the goals, objectives and critical success factors for the project.

• Project Initiation: Everything that is needed to set-up the project before work can start.

• Project Control: Ensuring that a project stays on track and taking appropriate action to ensure it.

• Project Closure: Disbanding of all the elements that were required to run the project.

The role of the project manager is one of great responsibility. It is the project manager's job to direct, supervise and control the project from the beginning to the end. Project managers should not carry out project work; managing a project is enough! The project manager must:

• define the project, reduce it to a set of manageable tasks, obtain appropriate resources and build a team to perform the project work;

• set the final goal for the project and motivate his/her workers to complete the project on time;

• inform all stakeholders of progress on a regular basis;

• assess risks to the project and take steps to mitigate them; and

• learn to adapt to change as no project ever goes cent per cent as planned.

A project manager must have a range of skills:

•Leadership

•People management (customers, suppliers, managers and colleagues)

•Communication (verbal and written)

•Negotiating skills

•Planning

•Contract management

•Problem solving

•Creative thinking

Many things can go wrong in project management. These things are often called barriers.

Some possible barriers are:

•Poor communication

•Disagreement

•Misunderstandings

•Bad weather

•Union strikes

•Personality conflicts

•Poor management

•Poorly defined goals and objectives Change in state policy.

A good project management discipline will not eliminate all risks, issues and surprises, but will provide standard processes and procedures to deal with them and help prevent the following:

1. projects finishing late, exceeding budget or not meeting customer expectations;

2. inconsistency between the processes and procedures used by projects managers, leading to some being favoured more than others;

3. successful projects, despite lack of planning, achieved through high stress levels, goodwill and significant amounts of overtime;

4. project management seen as not adding value and as a waste of time and money;

5. unforeseen internal or external events impacting the project.

In sum, project management is about creating an environment and conditions in which a defined goal or objective can be achieved in a controlled manner by a team of people.