Reference no: EM133323735

Case Study: Lente Nueva is a manufacturer of eyeglass lenses that began operations in Madrid in 1992. Lente Nueva makes a wide range of prescription and sunglass lenses that are ordered by opticians from all over the world. Lente Nueva is known for its good quality lenses that are sold at a lower price than those available from some of its competitors. The company has a competent quality control department; the lenses that leave its factory are free of noticeable defects.

Lente Nueva has decided that in order to improve profitability it must further improve its quality in order to sell its products at the high end of the market at higher prices. It is evaluating the implementation of a Total Quality Management program. As part of its move towards TQM, Lente Nueva would reduce its dependence upon the quality control department in favour of quality assurance, whereby quality would become a priority for every single employee. Employees would be trained in the importance of quality and introduced to the philosophy of kaizen, or continuous improvement. Quality circles would be created in order to maintain enthusiasm and participation in the project.

As part of the plan, Lente Nueva has hired Miguel away from Adlerauge, a leading competitor based in Germany. Lente Nueva would like to use benchmarking in order to improve its processes by taking inspiration from those used by Adlerauge. Lente Nueva is counting on Miguel to share his knowledge of these practices. Eventually, Lente Nueva's objective is to obtain ISO 9001 certification.

Miguel's first days on the job are worrying. He observes a friendly but bureaucratic role culture where employees do their jobs but take few initiatives. Management reinforces this culture by viewing their engineering education and know-how as uniquely qualifying them to determine processes and procedures in the factory. They do not solicit or value input from employees.

Question 1) Define quality control.

Question 2) In the context of Lente Nueva, suggest one advantage and one disadvantage of benchmarking.

Question 3) Explain two advantages to Lente Nueva of meeting ISO 9001 and other international quality standards.

Question 4) To what extent would the implementation of TQM be advantageous for Lente Nueva?