Globalization has intensified the competition affecting the business environment. This change due to the deregulation has made total quality management (TQM) an important strategy for organizations to meet the needs, requirements, and expectations of their customers. Organization-wide commitment, continuous improvement, and customer-centric approach are what make TQM an excellent strategy. By identifying the set of common TQM principles and practices, manufacturing industries can enjoy the benefits of TQM. However, before identifying the principles and practices of TQM, it is important to first understand what total quality management means to the manufacturing industry and why is it important.

What is Total Quality Management (TQM)?    

Total Quality Management (TQM) is one of the most effective management approaches that most organizations, especially the manufacturing and service industries practice. It helps the manufacturing industry to focus entirely on improving their performance when it comes to delivering products and services of the highest quality to meet the needs and requirements of their customers and maximize their satisfaction with the products and services provided. It is an organization-wide effort that engages the employees of the organization to improve their performance and ability to understand, differentiate, and offer on-demand products and services to the customers that not only satisfy their needs even if they change but also add value to the customer services.

Importance of Total Quality Management (TQM)

Total Quality Management (TQM) is crucial for the manufacturing industries as it helps both the employees and the organization to improve its performance. TQM helps organizations to establish organizational cultural values. These established values guide the employees to build their ability to improve their performance and focus on quality management. It will benefit the employees by developing their skills, the organization by creating long-term successes, and its customers by satisfying their needs respectively. Apart from these benefits, TQM also helps the organization to reduce cost and increase profitability, enhance productivity, help in improving the innovation process, and in practising clear, transparent, and effective communication.

Principles of Total Quality Management (TQM)

Customer Focus: Without the customers, the existence of the businesses would have no meaning. Therefore, the basic principle of total quality management is to offer products and services of the quality that satisfies the needs and requirements of the customers.

Leadership: When it comes to creating a productive and progressive business environment, leaders play a key role in motivating the employees, strengthening their skills, and improving their performance. Therefore, the successful implementation of total quality management in organizations is due to the organizational leader’s effort to build the environment required for the employees to improve their performance.

Employee Engagement: Employees are the most important asset of an organization as they are the ones that get the work done. Without employee engagement, organizations will never be able to its organizational goals or serve their customers. Therefore, it is important for organizations to implement effective employee engagement strategies that will help the organization in only practice quality management but also retain employees for long-term future organizational success.

Process Approach: Implementation of total quality management is meaningless without a process. For organizations to improve their quality, implementing a strategic process is mandatory. Following a process not only helps in achieving the goals successfully but also minimizes the scope for mistakes and errors.

Continuous Improvement: The only way manufacturing industries can get an idea of their growth is by measuring their improvement. To perform better in quality management, constant improvement is a must. At any point, the manufacturing industries feel stagnant in terms of quality management, which means it is not improving their performance. Therefore, to cope with the competition in the industry, it is crucial for the manufacturing industry to continuously improve its performance.

Communication: Practicing effective communication is equally important for quality management. Having a common and shared idea of what is to be done and how to do it will help the employees collaborate and work in a team to improve their performance and maintain the quality improvement to meet the needs of the customers even when they change.

Decision-making: Making the right decision is all that matters in maintaining service quality and it also makes the organization unique and different from the others. Therefore, the quality management of an organization reflects the power and ability of the organization to make the right choices and decisions.

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The Cost of Initial Investments

Digital transformation can cost a fortune and organizations may not always have the financial capabilities to invest in new technologies. This is the reason most organizations are struggling to cope with the competition and move ahead in the era of digitalization. However, considering the big picture, not having the digital advantage can be more devastating. What manufacturers need is to have an investment plan and a few effective strategies to focus on the ROI. They must know where to invest, when to invest, and how much to invest. With a planned investment, the digital transformation can lead to ROI such as improved operational efficiency and agility, reduction in downtime, increase in profitability and revenue, and the ability to predict and adjust to the facility and supply changes better. One of the most effective solutions that manufacturers can implement is using cloud-based software and cost-effective hardware or Internet of Things sensors that can predict the maintenance required and measure the ROI. An unplanned investment in digital transformation will only surge the cost without any ROI. Therefore, it is better to plan the investment rather than squander money struggling to compete with the competitors.

Cybersecurity Challenges​

The challenges of cybersecurity are one of the most consequential problems that the manufacturing industry can face which can hinder organizational growth in terms of digital transformation. This is why having a plan that includes cybersecurity is crucial for the organizational safety of the manufacturing industry. Cybersecurity not only allows manufacturers to identify the current problems and solve them but also the ability to manage future risks. Research identifies that more than 60% of manufacturers face cybersecurity issues at least once, out of which 43% of manufacturers face system outages that last for more than 4 days. To mitigate the issue of cybersecurity, manufacturers must set foundations or a roadmap on how the company would identify and address the risks of cybersecurity. This will allow the manufacturers to protect the critical information by mapping out how the information flows through the organization and determining the severity of the risk if the information gets lost or compromised.

Lack of Digital Expertise

Being a digitally advanced organization in the face of stringent competition is a challenge most manufacturing industries face. This is due to the lack of knowledge and understanding of the right technologies that the industry requires. Investing in digital transformation alone would not make any difference until manufacturers understand how to leverage those technologies. Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Automation, and cloud computing are some of the tools that can transform the manufacturing industry provided they are used in the most proper way or else they can hold back the progress of the organization. There are various consultancies that can help and guide the manufacturing industries in their journey of digital transformation.

Inflexible Legacy Infrastructure/Employee Pushback and Resistance​

Organizational infrastructure is closely related to the implementation of digital technology and the ROI. Along with investing in digital transformation, manufacturers will also have to make certain changes to the infrastructure of their organization starting with employee training. Organizations that are rigid to change management reflect a workforce that is not ready to accept new changes. Resistance from the employees can be a major pullback from being a digitally advanced organization. Therefore, manufacturers must focus on investing in digital technologies along with modifying their infrastructure to maximize their ROI.

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Even though sustainability and manufacturing are diverse areas of research individually, both are intricately connected. Sustainability is important for organizations as it is a crucial key for modern manufacturing that opens opportunities for the organizations to build visibility and competitive edge. Paradigms such as lean manufacturing, circular economy, clean and green production, industrial sustainability and more are all the result of sustainability. In developing companies, manufacturing is looked upon as a source of economic growth creating employment opportunities even though it comes with an environmental cost. However, when it comes to sustainability management, manufacturers have the obligation to look at both environmental adversities and social responsibilities. Here are some of the challenges related to sustainability that the manufacturing industry is facing currently and what can the manufacturing industries do about it.

• Environmental degradation: Manufacturing industries alone causes more environmental impacts on the regional and global level than any other industry affecting both nature and human health. Air, water, and soil are constantly getting polluted due to the high demand and growth of the manufacturing industry. In fact, the manufacturing industry ranks second in terms of the largest contributor to direct GHG emissions and ranks third in terms of the largest contributor to CO2 emission. The manufacturing industry also contributes to the increase in greenhouse gases and global warming. Manufacture of paper, plastics, chemicals, and other harmful and toxic products is dangerous for humans, animals and nature yet there is a high demand for them only because they improve the standard of life and adds comfortability. However, companies in numbers are now considering sustainability as one of the most important organizational objectives and improving their performance to reduce their resource footprints. Some of the major steps that the manufacturing industries are taking are implementing a coordinated, integrated, and formal manner to address and solve sustainability issues. They are now focusing on a long-term collaborative work plan with the stakeholders. Manufacturing industries are using innovation, scenario planning and strategic ways to deal with sustainability issues.
• Product Design: One of the most important and conventional roles of the manufacturing industry is to design the products in a way that meets its objective based on the preferences of the customers. While deciding about the product design, manufacturing industries have to consider the performance, efficiency, ergonomics, and aesthetics of the product. However, due to the primary focus on the objective of sustainable manufacturing, the product designers are bound to take responsibility for the environmental impact of their decisions. Therefore, it is crucial for the product designer to first attune themselves to the issues related to sustainability before choosing the materials and the processes as they may have a significant impact on the environment. One of the best ways product designers can balance the product requirements and the potential environmental impact is by implementing Design for Environment (DfE) or Eco-design for the product design process.
• Product Lifecycle Management: Manufacturing is not just about producing goods but a cycle that is divided into five stages that are pre-manufacturing activities, manufacturing, delivery, utilization & recycling, and disposal. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a process that manufacturers use to incorporate sustainability. It helps them to design the product considering the raw materials and the waste generation that may affect the life of the product. LCA method helps manufacturers in minimizing waste and emissions and committing to sustainable manufacturing. To gain both economic benefits and minimize environmental degradation, manufacturers can combine the two methods of DfE and LCA.
• Production: Production is the main aspect of manufacturing that is linked directly to sustainability. With the right process of production, manufacturers can limit the usage of resources and cause minimal pollution. One of the ways is the Lean Principles that improves the production process by minimizing the elimination of wastes. Therefore, the implementation of this process will allow manufacturers to not only reduce waste, improve the quality, and increase the market share but also transform the production process into an environment-friendly method. Manufacturers can also focus on extending the life of the products by recycling, reusing, and remanufacturing to attain sustainable manufacturing.

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In the scurry of adopting new technologies and edifying workers with advanced manufacturing techniques, most leaders fail to count the importance of soft skills especially when it is critical for ushering in the awaiting era of advanced manufacturing. This is where transformational leadership comes into action. Transitioning is not easy but important! leaders must know what they need to do differently and why changing their behaviour is important for both organizational successes as well as their own. For the last few decades, transformational leadership has been one of the most critically examined topics among researchers. The differences between transformational leadership and other traditional leadership methods have kept the researchers hooked on this topic. The interest and curiosity among the researchers and scholars to research further about transformational leadership behaviour are due to its influence on the performance of the firm. In fact, in many organizations, leadership alone is the central factor that helps the organization in building its competitive advantage. However, before getting into any further details, let’s first understand what transformational leadership is and then focus on how it influences the manufacturing industry.

What is Transformational Leadership?

A transformational leader is a person who believes in creating a vision to add value and meaning to both organizational as well as personal growth of the employees. According to the theory of transformational leadership, effective leaders transform their way of leading by adjusting their leadership style and behaviour as per the given situation to meet its dynamic demand. As against any other leadership style, transformational leadership is more effective as it empowers the employees to uphold their individuality and collaborate as a team with a strong commitment and prioritize their focus on service, quality, profitability, and high returns. This helps the transformational leaders in improving the organization’s potential to innovate and show progress in its marketing performance. The activities and decisions of transformational leaders are the focal points of creativity as they not only offer organizational growth but also help in individual development.

Impact of Transformational Leadership on the Manufacturing Industry

Just like any other industry, the manufacturing industry is also exposed to a variety of short and long-term challenges. These challenges get further aggravated in organizations with poor leadership and management control. The influence of transformational leadership on the performance of the manufacturing industry has been extremely positive and effective. It exhibits the potential of the manufacturing industry to innovate. Since employees are considered one of the most important assets in the manufacturing industry, retaining skilled and talented employees who can be loyal to the company is always a challenge for the industry. Considering the fact that skilled and talented employees help the manufacturing industry in increasing its profits and revenues, transformational leadership uses employee engagement strategies to meet organizational goals while keeping the employees motivated and satisfied.

The increase in globalization has increased problems and challenges for the manufacturing industry that needs to be addressed. For example, inventory management is one of the challenges that manufacturing industries face due to expanded globalization. The pressure to meet the needs of diverse customers from around the world, keep up with the internal and external changes, manage data, maintain information security of the clients and the employees, track & keep a record of the products and services can be extremely gruelling. At the same time, motivating the employees, implementing employee engagement strategies, developing their skills and enhancing their knowledge to meet organizational needs is an important and big task for manufacturing leaders. Practising transformational leadership will allow the leaders to maintain a balance between organizational performance and retaining talents through employee engagement strategies. A transformational leader establishes a vision, creates achievable goals and challenges for the employees, and boosts confidence and optimism in the employees emphasizing team spirit and collaboration that helps the employees in performing their best even under work pressures.

Attracting skilled and experienced employees to improve the sales and revenue of the company is another major challenge that the manufacturing industry faces. The role played by transformational leadership in improving the performance of the employees is pivotal to long-term organizational growth and success. Now since the digital age is taking over the traditional ways in which the manufacturing industry used to work, organizations are introducing new technologies such as Automation, Machine Learning, Blockchain, Robotics, Augmented and Virtual Reality, cloud and edge computing in their organization and the strategic ways to leverage these technologies. However, the implementation of advanced technologies alone without proper employee training can be fruitless. A transformational leader minimizes the gap between the implementation of advanced technologies and the way it is used to obtain their full advantage. Transformational leaders do it by focusing on optimising the skills and talents of each employee, highlighting their uniqueness and using it as a strength, providing them effective training, and developing their skills. Transformational leaders build trust and honesty with their employees to gain their loyalty and commitment which acts as a key motivator in improving the performance of the employees. With competition at its peak, more and more organizations are now beginning to appreciate the importance and influence of transformational leadership on the growth and transformation of the manufacturing industry.

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