The impact of design management and process management on quality: an empirical investigation

Design management and process management are two important elements of tota l quality management (TQM) implementation. They are drastically different i n their targets of improvement, visibility, and techniques. In this paper, we establish a framework for identifying the synergistic linkages of design and process management to the operational quality outcomes during the manu facturing process (internal quality) and upon the field usage of the produc ts (external quality). Through a study of quality practices in 418 manufact uring plants from multiple industries, we empirically demonstrate that both design and process management efforts have an equal positive impact on int ernal quality outcomes such as scrap, rework, defects, performance, and ext ernal quality outcomes such as complaints, warranty, litigation, market sha re. A detailed contingency analysis shows that the proposed model of synerg ies between design and process management holds true for large and small fi rms; for firms with different levels of TQM experience; and in different in dustries with varying levels of competition, logistical complexity of produ ction, or production process characteristics. Finally, the results also sug gest that organizational learning enables mature TQM firms to implement bot h design and process efforts more rigorously and their synergy helps these firms to attain better quality outcomes. These findings indicate that, to a ttain superior quality outcomes, firms need to balance their design and pro cess management efforts and persevere with long-term implementation of thes e efforts. Because the study spans all of the manufacturing sectors (SIC 20 through 39), these conclusions should help firms in any industry revisit t heir priorities in terms of the relative efforts in design management and p rocess management. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.