From left to right: Federico Neussner, José E. Prieto,
Antonino Martínez and Enrique Llorente.

The authors of the QC100 TQM Model
Total Quality Management

The engineers Federico Neussner, Antonino Martínez and Enrique Llorente, along with the President of Business Initiative Directions, José E. Prieto, direct BID's permanent council in charge of continuous improvement of the QC100 model, in collaboration with a highly qualified team of engineers whose experience allow constant update of the TQM. This highly technical tool for management of models of communication among the clients, suppliers and employees of a company, aids general managers of companies awarded by BID, to manage the areas of Customer Satisfaction and Human Resources. It also permits improvement of company systems and processes and helps focus on the most profitable areas.

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The QC100 model outlines the criteria for voting for Business Initiative Directions (BID) awards. BID carries out continuous polls among companies who vote for those companies considered leaders as result of attention to quality. The International BID Awards are presented on the basis of the criteria of the QC100 TQM (Total Quality Management), the contents of which serve as guidelines to business leaders to improve processes and systems.




Basic steps to successfully implement a TQM program in companies:

- A quality-driven organization.
- A customer-minded approach.
- Job satisfaction.
- System efficiency.
- Technological renewal.
- Leadership in society.
- Concentration on the most profitable areas of business.

The BID QC100 TQM allows company managers to consolidate and strengthen their position on the market.
The QC100 TQM Total Quality Management model is a management approach that aims for long-term success by focusing on customer satisfaction. TQM is based on the participation of all members of an organization in improving processes, products, services, and the culture in which they work. 

The QC100 model allows the application of quantitative methods and human resources to improve the materials and services supplied to and by an organization and all the processes within the organization and the degree to which the needs of the customer are met. The integration of fundamental management techniques, existing improvement efforts, and technical tools, under a disciplined approach to focus on continuous improvement.


What is QC100?
The QC100 Total Quality Management model is a management style model based upon producing quality service as defined by the customer which incorporates an award symbolizing commitment to quality. TQM is defined as a quality-centered, customer-focused, fact-based, team-driven, senior-management-led process to achieve an organization’s strategic imperative through continuous process improvement. TQM principles are also known as total quality improvement, world class quality, continuous quality improvement, total service quality, and total quality leadership.

The QC100 TQM associated with the WQC International Star Award is designed for easy understanding of the principles and rapid assimilation into the company culture. QC100 means Quality Commitment to the 100 points of quality contained in the model, which are divided into 10 areas covering all of the levels of company operation.

What is Total Quality Management?
The word "total" in Total Quality Management means that everyone in the organization must be involved in the continuous improvement effort, the word "quality" shows a concern for customer satisfaction, and the word "management" refers to the people and processes needed to achieve the quality.

Total Quality Management is not a program; it is a systematic, integrated, and organizational way-of-life directed at the continuous improvement of an organization. It is not a management fad; it is a proven management style used successfully for decades in organizations around the world. TQM is not an end in itself; it is a means to an organizational end. Total Quality Management must not be the primary focus of an organization; it should merely be the means to achieve organizational goals.

Total Quality Management differs from other management styles in that it is more concerned with quality during production than it is with the quality of the result of production. Other management styles have different concerns.

Other Management models
Management-by-Objectives (MBO) emphasizes achieving specified objectives, under the control of individual managers. This approach works against multi-functional process performance and interferes with teamwork and quality. TQM is not objective-oriented, except for its one goal of achieving continuous quality improvement.

Management-by-Results (MBR) is management by viewing past results as an indication of future results. It has been compared to driving an automobile in a forward direction while looking in the rear view mirror. In today’s fast-paced, quick-changing business environment, managers cannot rely on past results as a predictor of future performance. In contrast, TQM is only concerned with current results and ways to improve them.

Management-by-Exception (MBE) is management by identifying specific targets for management attention and action. It produces short-term results by reacting to immediate problems, but there is no analysis of the processes that produced the problems, so long-term benefits are lost. On the other hand, TQM is more concerned with correcting processes that produce problems than it is with responding to individual problems.
Total Quality Management is very different from these and other management systems. It recognizes that quality as determined by the service provider might be much different from quality as perceived by the service receiver. If the customer is not satisfied with a service, then the service does not have quality and the processes that produced the service have failed.

Understanding TQM
Total Quality Management requires an organizational transformation, a totally new and different way of thinking and behaving. This transformation is not easy to achieve; it is not for the weak or the statistically untrained. At first glance, many TQM techniques may seem simple and based on common sense, but they must be understood and used correctly for TQM to function properly. Knowing the history of Total Quality Management may help in understanding its techniques.

The Beginnings of TQM
Total Quality Management was developed in the mid 1940s by Dr. W. Edward Deming who at the time was an advisor in sampling at the Bureau of Census and later became a professor of statistics at the New York University Graduate School of Business Administration. He had little success convincing American businesses to adopt TQM but his management methods did gain success in Japan.

After World War II, General MacArthur took 200 scientists and specialists, including Dr. Deming, to Japan to help rebuild the country. While working on the Japanese census, Dr. Deming was invited by the Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers to give lectures on his statistical quality techniques. One of the attendees was a past professor to many of Japan’s CEOs. After attending the lectures, the professor told his CEO students that, if they wanted to turn Japan’s economy around in five years, they should attend Dr. Deming’s lectures on using statistics to achieve quality at a reduced cost. Many of the CEOs took the professor’s advice and attended the lectures. Eventually, many Japanese manufacturing companies adopted Dr. Deming’s theories and were able to produce quality products at reduced costs.

While the Japanese business world was concentrating on producing quality products, businesses in the United States were more concerned with producing large quantities of products. Their emphasis on quantity at the expense of quality let the Japanese, with their inexpensive, high quality products, gain a substantial foothold in American markets.
In the 1970s and 1980s, many American companies, including Ford, IBM, and Xerox, began adopting Dr Deming’s principles of Total Quality Management. This gradually led to their regaining some of the markets previously lost to the Japanese. Although Total Quality Management gained its prominence in the private sector, in recent years it has been adopted by some public organizations.