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Ear to the Ground

Bill Lurz
Being around as long as I have gives me the benefit of having a vast network of contacts across the housing industry – 30 years worth. I’ve spent a lot of that time with one ear to the ground and a telephone growing out of the other. Now I’ll have the ability to share with you what I hear faster than ever before.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Gary Lewis Weighs In On Future Of TQM

Jul 14 2008 9:08AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (4) |
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Back in the early 1990s, F. Gary Lewis was director of quality programs for the NAHB Research Center, and he and I worked together to develop the National Housing Quality award co-sponsored by the Research Center and Professional Builder magazine. He certainly qualifies as a keen observer of the TQM movement in the housing industry, even though he has long since moved on to a position as marketing director for Tilson Home Corp. in Texas. So it was interesting indeed that he sent me an e-mail response to my blog about Fletcher Groves' ruminations on the possibility that this housing slump could kill the quality process control movement in the housing industry--because incremental process improvement is getting lost amid the constant crises heaped on all of us, every day, as the debacle continues to ravage companies and people.
     Gary says he thinks it's a bit early to herald a death knell for TQM, although he acknowledges it's hard to keep your eye on small improvements in business processes when survival of the company hangs in the balance every day. "If you do not survive as a building company," Gary writes, "owning the world's most efficient purchase order system is a pretty moot point."
     Still, Gary thinks this may change when competition, rather than survival, is once again the issue of the day. "Every builder's ability to understand, replicate and constantly improve the way they sell and build houses will move much higher on their 'heirarchy of needs'," he reasons.
     I hope he's right, but do you notice that his title is not "quality control director"...Gary's into marketing homes these days, as we all should be. Selling houses is priority one!


Reader Comments


at 7/14/2008 8:46:09 PM, Fletcher Groves said:
I would agree with Gary. But, I think there will be a lag between the start of a recovery and the willingness of builders to engage in improvement initiatives. In other words, I think the survival mentality will extend well beyond the start of the recovery. I am concerned about two things. First – I don’t know how long it will take to recover the momentum we have lost. Second – I am concerned that builders will fail to emerge from this debacle with the absolute resolve required to address their competitiveness (see the Epilogue in my process report). I think the implications of this particular housing recession will turn out to be more of a watershed than anything we can remember. And – I think if builders believe they will always face their traditional competition, they are being naive.

at 7/15/2008 6:20:35 PM, Bill H said:
The foundation of TQM is improved business performance through a customer-centric approach to operational excellence. Builders emerging from this debacle licking their wounds and vowing to do things differently, will need TQM more than ever

at 7/23/2008 2:38:55 PM, Ed Caldeira said:
The issue is not really about TQM or not TQM. Today, very few builders have anything to do with any method of operations improvement, be it TQM, lean construction, even flow, six sigma, ISO 9000, or first time quality. These are seen as long-term investments with future paybacks. Builders strapped for cash can not make the investment no matter what the payback is. On the other hand, some builders are out there streamlining operations to get at cost reductions. Their tactics have changed from a long-term “investment in the future” approach to “get results now”. These approaches throw off a positive cash flow from day one. If any operations improvement is going to see the light of day it must never ask for cash and still produce significant savings. That is the TQM challenge. More about me: FirstTimeQuality.com/bio

at 8/11/2008 5:36:16 AM, NK Sharan said:
Customer centicity is the most important aspect of TQM. When the market is bad companies need to focus more on their customer needs and expectations . This only can save them from further diasater. So TQM will always be very important.

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