10/25/2024

Quality
Management
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What is Quality
Quality means different things to different people:

Quality of Product: client satisfaction, ‘value for money’ and ‘fit for purpose’

Quality of Production: satisfaction of the internal needs

Quality of Process: zero defects, get it right the first time

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Quality in construction?
Quality in construction refers to the degree to which a building or infrastructure project meets
specified requirements, standards, and expectations.

key aspects:
i. Materials
ii. Workmanship
iii. Design and Planning
iv. Compliance
v. Project Management
vi. Inspection and Testing

Why quality management is important?

Cost implication

Time implication

Environment implication

Reputation

Client satisfaction

Repeated work

Market share

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Result of Quality failures

Requirements for the Quality

Legislative requirement for quality of
construction works

Contractual Basis for managing quality

Key clauses in JCT/NEC/FIDIC on Quality of

construction work

Contractual Implications for defective work

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Why is quality so difficult in

construction?
Multiple stakeholders
One-off product vs. mass production – complexity and uniqueness
Temporary vs. permanent workforce
In situ vs. factory production
Moving goal post
Subcontracting
Long production period
Expensive elements

Cost of Quality

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Quality Management in construction

Quality planning - identifying quality requirements and expectations for the project.

Quality assurance - assessing and improving quality management processes to ensure quality
objectives are met.

Quality control - monitoring and evaluating products and services to ensure they meet quality
requirements.

What is Quality Planning

The concept of quality planning in construction projects is to guarantee efforts to accomplish the
necessary level of quality for the outcome which are well planned and organized

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What is Quality Control

Operational techniques and activities that are used to fulfill requirement for quality It involves
monitoring specific project results to determine if they comply with relevant standards and
identifying ways to eliminate causes of unsatisfactory results.

What is Quality Assurance

Quality assurance encompasses all the planned and systematic activity implemented in a quality
system to provide confidence that the project will satisfy the relevant quality standards.

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Total Quality Management (TQM)

The concept of Total Quality Management (TQM) aims to improve the organization's ability to
achieve quality and deliver the desired output to the client on a continuously improving basis

Core Principles of TQM

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Success factors for TQM

Success is recognized

Continuous training is at the heart of TQM

Group-based improvement

A quality strategy (long-term goal of a TQM Programme)

Top management support

External support (clients and supply chain)

The improvement process is never ending

Barriers to TQM
Lack of a quality definition

Lack of a strategy to change towards quality

Lack of customer focus (internal and external)

Lack of communication and integration of processes

Lack of employee participation and empowerment

Lack of trust on top management

Vision of quality as a short cut with fast business returns

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Quality management approaches

Quality Management Tools

Design of experiments: is a statistical method that helps identify which factors might influence specific
variables.

Inspection: includes activities such as measuring, examining, and testing undertaken to determine
whether results conform to requirements.

Statistical Sampling: involves choosing part of a population of interest for inspection.

Trend Analysis: involves using mathematical techniques to forecast future outcomes based on results. It
is often used to monitor technical and cost/schedule performance.

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Pareto diagram
A diagram that shows the types of problems and the frequency of their occurrence in order to
figure out which problem occurs more frequently and should be prevented.

Fishbone diagram
The diagram illustrates how various causes and sub-causes relate to create potential problems. (Cause-
and-effect)

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Control chart
Graphic displays of the results, over time, of a process used to determine if the process is in control.

Benchmarking
Benchmarking is the process of learning from others. It involves comparing one’s own
performance or methods against other comparable operations.

Its rationale is based on the ideas that:

◦ Problems in managing processes are almost certainly shared by processes elsewhere
◦ There is probably another operation somewhere that has developed a better way of doing things

It involves answering the questions:

◦ Who performs better?
◦ Why are they better?
◦ What actions do we need to take in order to improve our performance?

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Types of benchmarking
Internal benchmarking

External benchmarking

Non-competitive benchmarking

Competitive benchmarking

Performance benchmarking

Practice benchmarking

Setting performance targets

Historically based targets: targets that compare current against previous performance

Strategic targets: targets set to reflect the level of performance that is regarded as appropriate to
achieve strategic objectives

External performance-based targets: targets set to reflect the performance that is achieved by similar,
or competitor, external operations

Absolute performance targets: targets based on the theoretical upper limit of performance

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KPI
Client Satisfaction
Sickness Absence
Defects
Working Hours
Construction Time & Cost
Qualifications & Skills
Productivity
Impact on Environment
Profitability
Whole Life Performance
H&S
Waste
Employee Satisfaction
Commercial Vehicle Movements
Staff Turnover

KPI chart

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Benefit / Cost Analysis

Benefit / Cost Analysis: involves estimating tangible and intangible costs and benefits of
various projects and product alternatives, and then using financial measures to assess the
relative desirability of the identified alternatives. The costs related to quality include:
◦ Prevention cost: cost of planning and executing a project so it is error-free or within an acceptable error range
◦ Appraisal cost: cost of evaluating processes and their outputs to ensure quality
◦ Internal failure cost: cost incurred to correct an identified defect before the customer receives the product
◦ External failure cost: cost that relates to all errors not detected and corrected before delivery to the customer
◦ Measurement and test equipment costs: capital cost of equipment used to perform prevention and appraisal
activities

Quality Assurance
ISO 9000 is a quality system standard that helps organisations to better organise and
synchronise their operations by:

◦ Documenting processes

◦ Defining duties and responsibilities among employees and departments

◦ Key: introduce a preventive way of managing quality, rather than error detection and correction

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Principles of ISO9000 Standard

Quality management should be customer focused.

Quality performance should be measured, and relate to products and services themselves.

Quality management should be improvement driven.

Quality management should stress top management commitment

ISO9000 Standard
Positive views:
Well-structured tool to start with quality management
Decrease the gap between quality management and TQM
Shift in focus from final product to its production process
Improves communication and employees’ awareness of quality
Increase customer satisfaction
Encourage continuous improvement
Impact on cost and finance performance

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ISO9000 Standard
Negative views:

Focus on a quick and easy certification

No real commitment to quality

Systems that increases bureaucracy, reduces flexibility and innovation

No real continuous improvement and customer satisfaction

Standards cannot guarantee efficiency since processes are not necessarily evaluated before being
documented

Cost and financial performance are questionable

Participants’ role in quality

management
Client: is primarily responsible for specifying and funding QA/QC activities. Client works closely with the
designer to develop a QA/QC process that focuses on project objectives.
Designer: is responsible for formulating, implementing and administering the design QA/QC plan.
Contractor: develops and implements the construction QA/QC plan for owner’s review and approval.
QA/QC processes involve mutual understanding among participants of their respective concerns and
accomplishments, as well as a commitment to resolve problems equitably and quickly.
How can BIM impact on quality management?

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Course Work ideas

The challenges in quality control / assurance in construction projects

How to implement TQM in construction / SME companies?

How to implement TQM in supply chain?

How can BIM support quality management?

How does communication / skill shortage / teamwork / stakeholder impact on construction quality
management?

Q &A
Questions?

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Thank You

nila nka. pat h i ran a @h or iz onc a mp u s .e d u. l k

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