Quality Management in Green Valley Bakers - Research Paper Example

Quality Management in Green Valley Bakers Introduction Quality Management is something that all companies aspire to, but only the best achieve. But to manage quality, we will first have to achieve a certain quality standard in what we are doing. Furthermore, that quality standard will not only have to be verifiable and proved, but based upon some measure that people or professional organizations can rely upon or vouch for. For Green Valley Bakers in San Francisco, the quality of their breads, cakes and confectionaries will most likely be ratified by the Bread Bakers Guild of America. This organization was formed in 1933 and dedicates itself to making the perfect loaf. It has more than 1300 members across the USA. Membership indicates that the bakers are themselves masters at their craft and meet the quality standards set by the Guild in terms of baking prowess. The Importance of Quality We may all have heard it a hundred times or more, but it is nevertheless worth repeating that Quality is never an Accident; rather it is the result of concentrated effort directed towards achieving a certain purpose, depending on what we are doing. Quality means better than average, certainly not run of the mill or mediocre. Thus we can be sure that we have been given among the best in the world when we get a Cross pen, or a Rolex watch, or a Ferrari car. These brands are renowned for their quality and finesse. They have climbed the long hard road to the top, and their quality consciousness shows in every product they produce. One can be sure that they have the best quality control and improvement procedures in place, and are also on the cutting edge of technology. Once one has achieved a name and fame, it is all the more important to maintain the standard and that is done by a meticulous dedication to quality control principles and procedures. In essence, a reputation for quality ensures a dedicated and loyal group of clientele who will always choose you as their first choice (and maybe only choice) when it comes to a certain product, e.g. DeBeers for diamond jewelry. They are convinced that they are getting value for their money and will keep on coming back to you as long as your product offerings are consistent in value and price. Three Areas of Quality Focus for Green Valley Bakers Taking into account the practices and procedures followed in the baking industry and particularly those used by Green Valley Bakers, it is recommended that materials management is one area where quality control should be implemented. The Japanese concept of JIT or Just-In-Time Inventory can be implemented to save the cost of carrying inventory as well as re-ordering costs. By establishing particular trigger points for re-order and preventing the costs of storage to get exorbitant, we will be following the concept of Economic Order Quantity (EOQ). The second thing to look at is the reputation of our suppliers and the ongoing costs of materials. We should always make sure that we have a backup plan just in case something happens that can interrupt supply from one main supplier. There may be transportation or delivery problems, cost and profitability can be affected and thereby threaten the profitability and survival of the bakery. All this must be planned for in case of unforeseen problems or eventualities. For instance, a natural disaster could disrupt supply lines for weeks. Another quality measurement tool that could be used is demand forecasting and anticipation of inventories of materials and labor etc. to meet peak and off-season demand hikes and slumps. This could be done by tracing the demand per week or per month and relating it to particular events that might have caused its occurrence. For example, Easter and Christmas are festive occasions in which demand is at a peak because of Easter eggs, bunnies, cakes and other confectionaries as well as Christmas cakes, chocolates and other goodies in December. New Year, Independence Day and other memorable national and regional events can also trigger demand at levels higher than the normal- and astute businesses plan for them in advance. By matching supply with anticipated demand, Green Valley Bakers can not only take full advantage of increased business but also try to reach out to more customers in this season. An additional shift can be instituted if needed to keep up with the increased demand. Error proofing the bread making process is another way that the bakery can make an improvement in its quality. This will save both time and money by reducing the possibilities of overcooked, undercooked or bad batches of bread and other items. The way to do this is to hire qualified graduates from baking schools and then train them in the way Green Valley Bakers likes to bake bread, cakes, pastries etc. Once they get used to the proper mix of ingredients and processing times etc. they can make better judgments about the readiness of the products. This would not only help ensure consistency and taste but would also contribute to Green Valley’s name and fame as a reputed quality bakery (Besterfield et al, 2011). Reengineering processes or procedures might be necessary and to this end a process or efficiency expert can be called in to evaluate the current processes and make the needed recommendations and corrections. Some processes can be combined with others having no detrimental effect on quality to reduce production and packaging time. In this way it is hoped that Green Valley Bakers will definitely be able to institute and ensure a better quality control over its defined processes and procedures. Quality Tools and Techniques that Could Be Used Being a bakery, Green Valley Bakers could institute quality control and quality improvement programs to ensure the taste and consistency of its breads, cakes and other items. This could be done by having the recipes committed to memory by the bakers handling the processes. In case of confusion they could revert to a written copy of the process kept in a handy place which is secure as well. Men should be rested when tired so that they come back to work suitably refreshed. Working them beyond reasonable capacity would increase the likelihood of mistakes and errors that could prove costly. The setting of proper times for opening and closing shop, time to run the automated processes and time to package and deliver the completed goods should be worked out to a T. There are customers depending on deliveries from Green Valley Bakers who would not like to be let down. As a mark of its reputation, Green Valley Bakers owes them this consistency and dependability as well. The number of defective pieces per day could be tracked and the reasons for them traced, from incorrect mixing of ingredients to incorrect timing of processes leading to undercooking or overcooking of breads and other items. A quality control and inspection process could also be started, selecting an item at random from every batch and testing via taste and consistency. The proper dates of manufacture, batch number and best date to use by, as well as instructions for proper storage should be printed on each package. Types of Quality Programs that Could be Initiated Looking at the requirements of a bakery and the perceived needs of its customers, it is worthwhile to institute quality control and improvement programs along the lines of maintaining consistency and taste, storage and usability, varieties of use for example with snacks, curries, jams, jellies, butters and other spreads. Times of use could also be expanded from breakfast to lunch to tea and dinner. One is limited only by the imagination. Brown bread and fortified breads for different groups such as health conscious or younger or older consumers could also be considered in the light of their different needs or digestive capacities. As indicated above, the emphasis should be on improvement in quality based on customer feedback and recommendations of quality and efficiency experts. In fact after attaining these standards Green Valley Bakers should aim for the ISO standard in baking. At the very least it should also consider taking membership in the Bread Bakers Guild of America. The standardization of procedures and processes and elimination of waste as a result of aspiring to ISO standards will set Green Valley Bakers on the road to baking breads and other products that meet not only regional and national but in fact international quality standards (ISO 9000). Which is the Best? Taking into account all the process and quality control improvements that could be possible, I would say that listening to the customer’s feedback and incorporating their suggestions in the production process would go a long way in ensuring that Green Valley Bakers never runs out of clientele. It is repeat customers as well as new customers that are the basis of all good business relationships and the bakery would do well to abide by this rule. Error proofing the process would also result in less wastage and overall quality improvement for the bakery (Quality Management Principles). Conclusion We have covered in this paper the importance of quality improvement and control procedures and looked at how Green Valley Bakers can institute and implement various quality control and improvement procedures in order to ensure the consistency and taste of their bakery products. References Besterfield, D; Besterfield, C; Besterfield, M; Besterfield, G; Urdhwareshe, H & Urdhwareshe, R. (2011). Total Quality Management, 3rd Revised Ed., Pearson. International Organization for Standardization (n.d.). ISO9000 Essentials. Retrieved on 05 Oct 2011 from http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_9000_essentials Quality Management Principles (n.d.). International Organization for Standardization, Retrieved on 05 Oct 2011 from http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/management_standards/iso_9000_iso_14000/qmp.htm Read More