The Future of Engineered Quality

Abstract

Total quality management (TQM) has not yet been successfully applied or recognized for any industry-wide improvements within the engineering and construction professions. In today's litigious climate, legal dependencies by entities involved in the development, design, and construction of a project have prolonged and even prevented the making of trust relationships among project participants. Without the open communications and mutual support that derive from trust-based relationships, it will be an uphill battle to effect substantive quality improvement industry-wide. The answer lies in the establishment of long-term project team relationships. Rather than work together on a single project, with only a compressed time in which to develop a mutually productive professional relationship, participants in a long-term partnering relationship work together project after project, enabling them to achieve quality improvements through repeated interaction. In addition, subcontractors and suppliers must be brought into the team relationship from the earliest project concept stages—a bottom-up approach to total quality management (TQM) implementation.