| |
Total
Quality Management
Sheep safety and quality can be achieved through the application of
the principles of total quality management (TQM). Total quality management
helps the industry to meet the needs of its customers. Sheep producers
cannot expect those at the next stage of the production system to fix
safety or quality problems; success is achieved when those in every
sector do whatever is necessary to meet the needs of the final customer.
Total quality management does not provide a quick fix for sheep safety
and quality problems and it is a long-term business concept in which
returns for doing things right may not be direct or immediate. Dr. W.
Edwards Deming, among others, developed the TQM philosophy, and he described
the process as being one where things are done right the first time.
According to Deming, TQM is achieved through application of 14 key principles:
1) Create constancy of purpose toward improvement of product and service
with a plan to become competitive, stay in business and provide jobs.
2) We can no longer live with commonly accepted levels of delays, mistakes,
defective materials and defective workmanship.
3) Cease dependence on inspection to achieve quality, build quality
in the first place.
4) End the practice of awarding business on price. Instead, depend on
meaningful measures of quality along with price. Move toward a single
supplier for any one item based on loyalty and trust.
5) Constantly improve the system of production and service to increase
quality and decrease costs.
6) Institute modern methods of training for all employees.
7) Institute leadership. Focus supervisors on helping people do a better
job.
8) Drive out fear so that everyone may work effectively for the company.
9) Break down barriers between departments and encourage problem solving
teamwork.
10) Eliminate arbitrary goals, posters and slogans that seek new levels
of productivity without providing methods.
11) Use statistical methods for continuing improvement of quality and
productivity.
12) Remove barriers that rob workers of their pride of workmanship.
13) Institute a vigorous program of education and retraining.
14) Take action to accomplish transformation. Transformation is everyone's
job.
Quality, according to Deming, can be defined in two ways: (a) A product
that conforms to a set of standards, and (b) a product that meets consumer
wants and needs. Once standards have been set in order to provide a "quality"
product, suppliers then need to assure that products are manufactured
in a manner such that they conform to these standards. The International
Organization of Standardization (ISO) has developed a system to do just
that. These systems or standards (ISO 9000, ISO 9001, or ISO 9002) are
models for quality assurance in design, development, production, installation
and servicing of products.
Food
Safety Management
In 1959, Dr. Howard Bauman developed the Hazard Analysis Critical Control
Point System (HACCP) in order to guide the preparation of safe, high
quality food for use in the U.S. space program. The HACCP program gained
approval of the FDA and USDA and, through regulation, all U.S. packing
plants have developed and implemented the HACCP system for meat inspection.
The philosophical approach and principles used in the HACCP system are
the basis for the essential elements of the SSQA program. The Sheep
Safety and Quality Assurance (SSQA) Program is not a HACCP program per
se, but both programs involve use of a systematic approach for preventing
problems or defects from occurring and for documenting the elements
by which processes are controlled. USDA's HACCP program focuses on control
of physical, chemical and biological hazards, with much of its emphasis
on prevention of contamination of meat with bacterial pathogens. The
SSQA program emphasizes minimizing physical, chemical and biological
hazards in sheep products but also optimizing the quality of meat, wool,
and milk.
Means of Implementing
Safety and Quality Assurance Programs
While HACCP and ISO systems are the pillars upon which the SSQA program,
as described in this manual, was constructed, neither of those systems
can be implemented in animal production systems. The philosophies of each
of these systems are included in the foundation for the SSQA program;
however, the SSQA program will be implemented by focusing producers' attention
on the development of objectives and procedures which will, in turn, result
in the production of safe, high quality sheep products.
Objectives are used to describe general tasks which may be comprised of
many jobs and which guide the development of procedures. Procedures detail
specific sequences of events that are required to perform a task. Safety,
ergonomics, processing costs, facility design, animal/product flow, environmental
issues and personnel management affect procedures. Procedures include:
(a) who is doing the task, (b) why it is done, (c) what is the person
going to do, and (d) how, specifically, is the person going to do it.
|
