Rolls Royce
Rolls Royce is one of the most popular brands that are associated with high-quality products. The company manufactures engines for defense, aerospace, marine and energy industries. The business approach implemented by the outfit is focused on quality which is the most significant component of the brand. Notably, the quality of a good or service is the potential or capability of the good to suffice or exceed the expectations of a customer. Total quality management is a continuous management system that comprises the values, methodologies, and the purpose of augmenting customer satisfaction with limited amounts of resources (Sadikoglu & Olcay, 2014). The paper aims at comprehending tools and methods of quality management by combining theory and a case analysis of Rolls Royce.
Methodology
The data used in the study is collected from on-line sources, the Rolls Royce official website, and books. The empirical data about Rolls Royce was gathered from the website and other case studies on the company. Theories were utilized and related to the Rolls Royce outfit.
Background
Rolls Royce was established by Charles Rolls and Steward Royce as an organization purposed at assembling autos. Nonetheless, it saw potential after the discovery of the pioneer jet engine in 1914. It can be denoted that the outfit is a global entity based in Westminster London, United Kingdom. Basically, the company offers integrated power solutions. Currently, the company is regarded as a world leader in the manufacture of jet engines alongside General Electric with manufacturing plants in about 46 countries with 50500 employees (Rolls Royce, 2016). In retrospect, the company is organized into five segments: Civil aerospace, Defense Aerospace, Power Systems, Marine and Nuclear (Rolls Royce, 2016). It has 626 registered patents (Rolls Royce, 2016).
The underlying profits of the company stand at 13, 354 million pounds which was 14 percent lower than in 2014 which reflected the low gross margins (Rolls Royce, 2016). This was attributed to research and development charges. The civil aerospace business segment accounted for 52 percent of the underlying revenue mix which shows the significance of the segment to the outfit. The company can be said to place the customer at the center of the organization and fashions their products in accordance with their needs.
Rolls Royce and Quality management systems
The philosophy of the company underlies not only engineering excellence but also quality standard in all their undertakings. The quality management systems by Rolls-Royce include a diverse list of process that covers local controls and business operations (Sadikoglu & Olcay, 2014). The process controls are implemented in internal operations and supply chain. The systems apply to supply chain, business, service, design and manufacturing across Rolls-Royce. The supply chain and external connections are supported through SABRe (Supplier Advanced Business Relationships and GSP (Global Supplier Portal). SABRe is a standard set of procedures and framework where Rolls- Royce and their suppliers are agreed on, while GSP facilitates automation and the acceleration of the purchasing business functions.
The civil nuclear business segment of the Roll-Royce brand is ISO90001: 2008, ISO14001:2004 and TickIT guide Issue 5.5 certified (Rolls Royce, 2015). The organization is accredited for MO N, NS, NPT, and ASME activities accrued to the design, procurement, manufacture, inspection and certification of nuclear apparatus and components. A quality management system can be connoted to be a framework where the organizational structure, resources, and processes are designed so that they facilitate executing quality management. The ISO 9000 family is utilized in assisting institutions to ensure that they meet their client’s and investor’s requirements. It addresses quality management systems that comprise eight management principles: a systems approach, process approaches, leadership, customer-centered, accurate methods to decision making, continuous improvement, people involvement and beneficial supplier connections. Similar to ISO 9000, ISO 14000 is attributed to the environment and how the adverse effects of organizational operations are reduced.
It can be highlighted that process management is definable as the set of planning activities and the monitoring of performances of a process, whether the process is business or manufacturing. Therefore, continuous improvement is usually a necessary effort. In this light, companies implement continuous improvement to remain up-to-date with the general global development, competitor performance and take the lead in their industries.
Continuous process improvement
The outfit has made milestones as regards process improvement since the year 2000.
2001: Rolls Royce production system
2005: Process Excellence
2008: Improvement journey to process excellence
2011: Process flow
2013: Process capability
Lean Production
The lean philosophy is a production practice that is intended to meet the demand of the customer with a perfection in quality (Jasti & Kodali, 2012). The purpose of the practice underlies the minimization of waste and non-value activities. Continuous improvement can be highlighted to be integral or primary in the lean philosophies. It helps companies in reducing inventory levels through the provision of Just in Time (JIT) (Jasti & Kodali, 2012). The exclusion of waste improves the quality by a reduction of costs and production times.
Six Sigma
The approach is a tactical initiative aimed at the reducing the costs of poor quality and the dissatisfaction of customers. It is used to emphasize quality improvement and the minimization of variation. The most central element of the methodology is the DMAIC (define, measure, analyze, improve and control). It is a cyclic process
Discussion and conclusion
The current success experienced by Rolls Royce can be attributed to the close relationship with suppliers and partners. The company provides them with training and development purposed at augmenting their productivity and in line with creating a strong supply chain. It can be highlighted that the review of the continuous improvement for the Rolls-Royce brand shows their inclination to increasing continuous improvements.
Lean production is indicative of a multi-faceted approach which is composed of a broad range of management practices. The Rolls Royce uses the approach in the civil nuclear facility of the company to gain the benefits of lean production in order to reduce lead times. In applying the six-sigma common to many businesses, Rolls-Royce puts its clients at the center of the organization and attempts to significantly improve its product to meet the needs of the customer. The outfit utilized the six-sigma principle in her factory designs to ensure all the benefits accrued to the method are derived.
It can be highlighted that the lean’s cost effective procedure and massive investment in modernizing information technology systems are measures that assist an organization to maintain reasonable prices as compared to those of competitors.
The tools and the methodologies of quality have been highlighted and contextualized to the Rolls Royce case. The company works perpetually with quality management from a sustainability angle, and continuously work towards the improvement of products and processes. It is plausible to highlight that the company pays high attention to quality and specified standards as they are ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certified. Other standards include SABRe and GSP as mentioned. The utilization of lean and six-sigma can be connoted to have opened a multiplicity of opportunities to heighten the level of service quality awarded to their customers.
References
Jasti, K. & Kodali, R. (2012). Lean production: Literature review and trends. International Journal of Production Research, 867-885.
Rolls Royce. (2015). Rolls Royce Annual report.
Rolls Royce. (2016). Rolls Royce. Retrieved from rolls-royce.com: http://ar.rolls-royce.com/2015/
Sadikoglu, E. & Olcay, H. (2014). The Effects of Total Quality Management Practices on Performance and the Reasons of and the Barriers to TQM Practices in Turkey. Advances in Decision Sciences, 1-17.