Total Quality Management in the Switching Systems Business Unit (original) (raw)

1994, AT&T technical journal

AT&T' s Quality Policy is based on two fundamental axioms-unqualified customer satisfaction and continuous quality improvement. The Switching J. DiMario Systems Business Unit implements its quality policy through Total Quality momas c. pingel Management (TQM) , which ensures improvement in those areas most Michael J. Urban important to our customers. This paper includes:-An overview of the TQM system, idenbfying eight system elements and-How TQM produces products and services that exceed customers'-How the Malcolm Baldrige criteria and IS0 9000 standards support con-Following are two examples of process quality improvements, root cause analysis and product quality assessment. The paper concludes with a look at the evolving concept of customer value added. Ronald 0. Basinger focusing on policy deployment and process management, expectations, and tinuous improvement.