Continuous Improvement In Total Quality Management

Chapter 1.

Introduction

1.1. Background

Continuous Improvement (herein after referred to as CI) represents the management approach towards a high quality of products, services and processes on a sustained and continuous basis. Nowadays many organisations and companies strive to improve their services and reduce failures in order to remain competitive in the modern marketplace that has a tendency to change very fast due to the advanced technologies development and many other external factors. Originally CI has derived from the recently new management theory such as quality management. The latter term can be defined as a new way of thinking in organisational management, an alternative option to management by control, a broad-based way to improve entirely organisational performance by minimizing waste and resources and enhancement of financial profitability, and finally as a framework for competitive management (Foley, 2004)

Oakland (2003) stated that in those times back to 1988 when he published the first edition of his work on Total Quality Management (herein after referred to as TQM) there were not many other works published by academics on this subject. Nowadays in the twenty first century there are many texts and works have been published on TQM and its numerous aspects such as CI, business process re-engineering, Six Sigma, Lean manufacturing, Kaizen and Business Excellence.

At the beginning of the nineties the quality aspects have been considered basically as assuring product or service quality, nowadays quality is widely applied to the new way of managing organisations, a new breakthrough philosophy, which primary purpose is to enhance an every aspect of the organisational performance both internally and externally...

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...complex production operations and considering in what conditions the energy is being produced. Moreover production companies have to operate in some of the most sensitive, complex and severe environments within the globe that varies from deserts and mangrove forests, tropical rainforests in Africa, sea offshore areas and wetlands to frozen tundra in Siberia. It varies from rural areas inhabited by indigenous communities to densely populated urban terrains.

To get the energy from the depth of the oil wells a highly developed modern technology is strongly required. Therefore the oil and gas companies have been pioneers in developing and utilising new technologies and in implementing management systems to mitigate and minimize the environmental impact of production operations to local communities and terrains and maximise the value from an every singe oil well.