Minister of Development (seated C) and other guests at the opening ceremony of the Total Quality Management (TQM) Forum.
Culture, communication and commitment are vital in enabling Total Quality Management (TQM) practice in an organisation.
These three components must be combined to show an effective system and process in upgrading and maintaining quality services to customers as well as trust between heads of departments and personnel in the capabilities of implementing responsibilities, roles and jobs they had been entrusted with.
This was stated by the Minister of Development, Pehin Orang Kaya Hamzah Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Awg Hj Abdullah Begawan Mudim Dato Paduka Hj Bakar in his opening remarks at the launch of the Total Quality Management (TQM) Forum organised by the Construction Planning and Research Unit (CPRU), Ministry of Development and the Japanese Standards Association (JSA), yesterday.
The opening ceremony was held at the Keruing Hall of the Ministry’s Training Centre at Jalan Airport Lama.
The Minister was referring to the 3 ‘C’s of TQM.
According to Pehin Dato Hj Abdullah, culture maintains the provision of quality services and products to consumers, while good communication between all parties – customers, the organisation, management and staff – ensures proper dissemination of updates on issues as well as on methods to upgrade and maintain quality in the organisation.
Commitment towards quality, he further said, needs to be practised by all in the respective organisations.
The minister added that trust must not only be limited to the two parties – department heads and personnel – but should also include customers and the general public so as to give them the confidence and trust that those entrusted with the work are able to make decisions and find solutions without having to refer to their heads of department
.
Supported by the Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources, the event is held under the Brunei-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (BJEPA) corporation chapter projects sponsored by the Governments of Japan and Brunei Darussalam.
The JSA brought in two lecturers, Mr Kawamura and Mr Kaneko, to facilitate the forum.
Among those present at yesterday’s opening ceremony was the Ambassador of Japan to Brunei Darussalam, Mr Hirose Noriki, who in his speech expressed his hope that the forum will be a meaningful step towards further promoting TQM activities in Brunei, which then contributes to Brunei’s overall social and economic development.
Mr Hirose said that several Japanese companies have incorporated TQM in their management strategies, setting out to practise the “quality first, customers first” concept.
“As a result, Japanese products became synonymous with high quality and have contributed to the improvement of the quality of products throughout the world,” he said, adding that such experiences set a good example for the industrial development of Asean countries.
It is for this reason also that the JSA has since 1968 been offering various training programmes continuously to Asean countries in the fields of TQM and Standardisation.
Here in Brunei, the local experts fostered by the Asean-Japan Scheme TQM Project under the guidance of the CPRU have been promoting TQM to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), said the Japanese ambassador.
“For the past 25 years, Japan and Brunei Darussalam have been strengthening their relations in various fields such as trade, economy, culture, environment and personal exchanges. I am sure that Japan has been a very reliable partner,” he added.
The Brunei-Japan TQM project is soon to be completed, but the TQM committee led by the Ministry of Development will continue to run the programme, starting with the selection of the sixth intake of model companies in 2010. The TQM programme is expected to run till 2013.
The project that began in October 2008 and ends this month promotes intellectual exchange between the two countries.
Brunei’s TQM programme, meanwhile, was implemented in 1995. Among the major milestones of the programme in its first five years was the TQM instruction and training scheme in which 12 TQM model companies were selected from seven Asean member countries (two from each of five countries and one each from Brunei and Singapore), with Brunei selecting Interline Roofing for the implementation of the TQM 21 Handbook.
Galfar Sdn Bhd and Suriajaya Furnishing Sdn Bhd made up the second group of Brunei TQM model companies (1999-2001), while another six local firms – Duadua Apt Waste Management Sdn Bhd, GHK Auto Assembly Sdn Bhd, Seiwa Corporation Sdn Bhd, Wanwi Sdn Bhd, Zainab Utama Enterprise and BIACC – were selected from 2002 to 2004 for the third group.
The fourth group of TQM model companies (2005-2007) were BIACC (continuation with new staff members), Supasave/Ben Food (B) Sdn Bhd, Berakas Power Management Co Sdn Bhd, TGT Sdn Bhd, St George’s School, Adinin Hardware Sdn Bhd, Mashor Group of Companies, RBA, PDS School, L&L Engineering Corp Sdn Bhd, Sha-Zan Sdn Bhd, Linda & Lydia and BVQI.
Finally the fifth group, selected from 2008 to 2010, comprised United Engineers, BMC Food Industries, Big Papa’s Restaurant, Airecool Building Services, SKF Florist & Nursery, SDR Enterprise, Ideal Hatchery (B) Sdn Bhd, LSL Sdn Bhd, Sopan Enterprise Sdn Bhd and Ken Travel Sdn Bhd.
In all, about 30 local companies have learned about TQM and its implementation.
Meanwhile it is hoped that more SMEs will participate and benefit from the implementation of TQM within their organisation in the near future.
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