[This article is excerpted from a draft of an upcoming book. It is the second in a series on the establishment and implementation of lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, ISO 9000 and Baldrige criteria to enhance company survival and to provide direction for companies seeking success and excellence. If you missed the first two parts: Part 1 Part 2]

Reflections on TQM, CI, survival and success
Readers of this article series have emailed me to say that the overall direction of the series appears to be a return to Total Quality Management, which burned brightly in the 1980s then flamed out in our industry ten or so years later. These readers suggest that TQM is not likely to be easily resurrected in our industry given the negative feelings that remained in its wake. Here is my reply.

When TQM was first introduced in our industry in the late 1970s, it was not adopted with a long-term focus in mind. It is common in American business – and the printing industry is certainly no exception – for executives to seek higher short-term gain over more modest long-term payback. This is understandable considering the tremendous pressure to show a profit, but tends to bypass key components of success and excellence and thus compromises achieving them.