ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates corporate strategies aimed at both insuring product quality and implementing computer-based manufacturing technologies to advance corporate productivity. Allen-Bradley, a subsidiary of Rockwell International, is a manufacturer of controls for automation, and offers communications expertise and equipment needed for users to create a fully integrated automation system. Total Quality Management System (TQMS) made quality a strategic objective—as important as financial performance—and it gave the firm the means to measure quality as precisely as they measure financial performance. Management makes TQMS an important part of management performance reviews, with quality objectives incorporated into job descriptions and quality improvements tied directly to compensation packages. This management commitment gives Allen-Bradley people the backing they need to focus the entire organization's efforts on the persuit of zero defects. Customers noticed improvements and purchased more products, helping Allen-Bradley to more than double their programmable controller market share.
