Coca-Cola's Quality Management System - Term Paper Example

The paper "Coca-Cola's Quality Management System and Its Tools" is a wonderful example of a case study on management. The quality management system can be referred to as the organizational structure, resources, processes, and procedures required to execute quality management effectively. The BS EN ISO 9000 2000 defines the quality management system as “a system to establish quality policy and quality objectives and to achieve those objectives” (as cited in Williams & Buswell, 2003, p.148). This paper will analyze the Coca-Cola Company’s current quality management system.

Tools of quality management

In the words of Saxena (2009, p. 294), major quality management tools include process control tools such as Pareto analysis and Control Charts; acceptance sampling; and six sigma. Process control tools are necessary to manage various processes associated with quality management operations. The acceptance sampling technique is used to determine whether or not to accept materials coming from the production line or suppliers. Finally, the six sigma method is of great importance in eliminating possible defects related to product, process, and transactions.

The quality management system of Coca Cola

The Coca Cola Quality System (TCCQS) is the Coca Cola Company’s branded quality management system. This system was introduced in 1995 with the intent to meet local tastes and preferences, and keep quality consistency while quickly launching new products. The TCCQS is being developed continuously so as to keep in line with new regulations, industry practices, quality management methods, and market conditions. Currently, TCCQS-Evolution 3 is the company’s quality management system. This system specifically focuses on customer and consumer satisfaction. A simplified and modular structure, ‘alignment with externally recognized standards’, and ‘a provision to leverage external resources such as training and auditing’ are the notable features of TCCQS (The Coca-Cola Company, 2004).  This system greatly assists the organization to fix quality as its core strength.

The TCCQS Evolution 3 pyramid model represents four layers including;

• Promise
• Policy
• Assurance
• Control

(Source: The Coca-Cola Company, 2004)

The promise: Coca Cola Company offers supreme quality to all its customers and benefits and refreshes its target audience. Each of the other three layers supports the company to fulfill its promise. 

Policy: as the pyramid indicates, a policy statement is the major component of this layer. The policy statement includes three sub-statements such as environmental policy, safety policy, and quality statement.

Assurance: this layer constitutes different management systems structured to make sure that compliance activities are in line with preset management policies. Such systems assist the organization to ensure that all performance requirements are effectively met.

Control: This layer contains tools like testing and inspection to evaluate the firm’s performance standards. However, controlling activities vary from location to location and process to process.

As compared to the previous Evolutions, it seems that TCCQS Evolution 3 has increased scope. This quality management system looks beyond manufacturing and testing operations. The most fascinating feature of this system is that it can be applied to any organizational unit despite its size, type, and level of output. Business planning and system planning are the major goals of this framework. In addition; management commitment, resources, quality statements, quality system champion, communication, and management review are the necessary ingredients required for making this quality management system effective (The Coca-Cola Company, 2004).  

(Source: The Coca-Cola Company, 2004)

The above figure illustrates the ECCQS Evolution 3 process model. While developing, executing, and maintaining the potentiality of the quality management system, TCCQS Evolution 3 supports the adoption of a process strategy. This strategy greatly assists the organization to exercise great control over the linkage between individual processes within the Coca Cola’s system of processes, and their combination (The Coca-Cola Company, 2004). Thus, the company can effectively promote customer satisfaction.

Competitiveness of the system

The quality assurance system is Pepsi’s quality management system. While comparing the competitiveness of the Coca Cola’s ECCQS Evolution 3 with Pepsi’s quality assurance system, Evolution 3 seems more effective. Pepsi’s quality management system is not much comprehensive as that of Coca Cola. The Coca Cola Company timely modifies and sometimes restructures its ECCQS in order to keep in pace with the changing global business environment. Furthermore, Coca Cola’s quality management system is more developed as compared to Pepsi.

Conclusion

From the above discussion, it is obvious that there are a number of quality management tools including six sigma and acceptance sampling. ECCQS Evolution 3 is the current quality management system of Coca Cola. This framework has three layers including the promise, policy, assurance, and control. Each of these layers is interconnected and performs varied functions to meet customer satisfaction. Evolution 3 greatly assists the company to fulfill its promise by setting quality as the core feature. Evidently, the ECCQS is more competitive than Pepsi’s quality assurance system.