SAE’s Approach to Total Quality Management

Total Quality Management (TQM) is an organizational approach to customer satisfaction involving customers, people, and the continuous improvement of processes. There are many other good definitions that all have one primary objective: achieving customer satisfaction by involving customers. In addition, they all operate on the basic principles of:

• Involving and respecting people—everyone associated with the organization. At SAE, this includes members, customers, suppliers, and staff.
• Involving the processes used to prepare and deliver SAE’s products and services to our customers—continuously improving everything we do.
• Preventing problems, not waiting for them to occur.

TQM is not an end in itself. It is an ongoing process. SAE recognizes the need for TQM since its members operate in a world of continuously evolving products and a rapidly changing global economy.

To download SAE’s Approach to Total Quality Management, an Orientation by the Quality Improvement Committee, click here, then click on “tqmbookv2.doc.doc”.

More information on quality at SAE is available at these links on the site:

• Quality Improvement Committee (QIC)
• Quality Process Map
• Performance Review Institute (PRI)
• Books
• Professional Development Seminars
• Standards
• Papers
• American Society for Quality