Total quality: Out of reach or within reach?

In the recent past, Quality has increasingly gained in importance in the manufacturing sector on a global scale. Quality Standards like ISO-9000 series, QS-9000 series and Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award have brought on a movement that seems to be gaining momentum by the day. Development of a Total Quality Program for any manufacturing facility must take some key factors into consideration for the program to work. The key factors that need to be considered in a PVC Compounding or a Bottle Blow Molding setup are presented in a generic format to show the merit and applicability to other manufacturing industries. Introductions to some major concepts and tools in Quality Control including Variables. Attributes, Sampling Plans, Cause–Effect Diagrams, Quality Function Deployment, Statistical Process Control and Quality Auditing are presented to measure the efficacy of the Quality Program to achieve Total Quality.