Quality management system in manufacturing industries in Bangladesh : a critical analysis and improvement strategies

Abstract

Continuous technological improvement IStransferring the global scenario almos1 dramatically. In the context of free market economy, there has been a repaid growth in trade and international capital flows all over the world. As a member of the World Trade Organization, Bangladesh IS now open 10 the world traders-- its local market is also an international markeL A manufacturer in Bangladesh is, therefore, to realize thai if he wants to slay in business, he must produce quality goods With competitive price. His products must respond and materials and processes must conform to constantly changing needs and expectation of the consumers, During the last few decades there had been a remarkable transformation of qualily function in industries. The conception of age-old statistical method has been complemented by Company -Wide- Quality-Control (CWQC) Many developed and developing countries of the world have been using the modern quality management techniques. But in this respect Bangladesh falls far behind. So to face the challenge of the fierce competition In the present business world, it has to quickly Implement modern quality Improvement tools. The present research work conducts a survey through a set of queslionnalres the quality management systems of the various industries both in the Large and Medium scale industries (LMI) and Small and " Cottages industries {SCI}. It then studies, examines and analyzes their current status and finally suggests specific recommendations. As regards the Industnes in the lMI sector, a methodology has been developed for analysiS of the existing status On the basis of the quaiity management philosophies and conceptual modeis found in the literature, a set of quality determinants has been identified. Some factors (Indicators) have been selected to objectively quaiify each determinant. Each quailfYlng factor is assigned a score. On the basIs of the survey findings, scores are assigned to the selected quailty determinants of ail Industries. According to the total scores obtained by different industries, they are classified or ranked. Specific quality improvement strategies on them suggested for each level. Unlike the lMI sector, no specific sCOring method is applied for the SCI sector. In view of the findings of survey work, the quality determinants are studied and examined and accordingly speCific recommendations are prOVided to enhance the quality management systems.