A practical tool for small and medium enterprise quality performance improvement

Abstract

Quality performance in manufacturing may be assessed in several different ways. The aim of this paper is to present a practical tool that can be used by manufacturing companies, especially Small and Medium-sized Enterprises to assess and improve their quality performance through self-assessment practice. By means of two case study companies, the authors demonstrate the effectiveness of the self-assessment tool. Self-assessment tool offers the company to develop and maintain their own quality practices more clearly, setting their own pace, identifying constraints, strengths and weaknesses for business strategy improvement and excellence. A ‘before-and-after’ result of two manufacturing companies is presented. The results suggest that the self-assessment as a practical tool for quality performance improvement is suitable for companies to enhance progress on their quality journey. Conclusion and suggestions are also made for further research.