Total Quality Management

 KOCAELI CHAMBER OF INDUSTRY and the ROAD TO PERFECTION

In 1995 the KCI, permanently attentive to self-development and improvement, entered the period of Total Quality Management with the slogan "Institutionalisation". The watchwords of this process may be: Standardisation, Productivity Expansion and A Period of Change.

Having evaluated itself within the framework of the EFQM (European Foundation for Quality Management) “Model of Perfection ", and having completed over the years the establishment of the requisite Strategic, Process and Human Resources Systems, the KCI continues to extend the process of development and improvement with the inclusion of employees, customers and suppliers.

MAJOR STEPS ALONG THE ROAD TO PERFECTION:

1996: First establishment in the Turkish Sector to receive the ISO 90001 Quality Management System Certificate.

Proclaimed “Most Successful Institution Giving Direction to the Turkish Economy” in Dunya Gazette, (one of the major financial publications in Turkey).

1997: Initiated the “KCI Structural Renewal” process.

1999: First and only establishment in the Turkish sector to receive the ISO14001 Environmental Management Certification.

2000: Became “Local Quality Chamber” and, by means of the “Model of Perfection”, undertook Self-evaluation.

2002: First establishment in the public-sector to acquire the Major National Quality Award

2003: First Turkish public sector institution to acquire the European Quality Success Award.

2004: First public-sector establishment to be presented with the Major European Quality Award; first Turkish public-sector establishment to participate in the aforementioned awards schemes.

2005: To date the KCI has achieved the highest grades in the Turkish Chambers Accreditation Process, the highest achieved by any Chamber of Commerce/Industry in any such scheme worldwide.

Using the experience it has gained on the national and international platform and staging presentations at home and abroad, the KCI propagates understanding of Perfection worldwide, and continues activities geared towards quality-application in the public sector. Amongst the local institutions to benefit thus are: Gölcük Naval Hospital, Kocaeli Treasurer’s Office, the Department of Health and Social Security (Kocaeli branch), Kocaeli Police Department, Kocaeli Health HQ and Kocaeli Religious Affairs offices.

 

    ISO 9001:2000 Quality Management System

 

In 1996, as a front-runner in Turkey, the KCI was the first Chamber to receive the ISO 9002 Quality Guarantee and Management System Certificate from the Turkish Standards Institute. The Turkish President Süleyman Demirel in person made the award at a special ceremony on 30 Nov of that year.

In the current climate of globalisation and intensifying competition attending Turkey’s entry into a Customs Union with the EU, the KCI has assumed responsibility in applying an international quality system to answer its members’ needs. As the first institution to receive such certification, it supports similar public service bodies prioritising the implementation of such systems.

Due to the revisions in the ISO 9002 Quality Guarantee and Management System Standards, the KCI renewed its system too and in 2002 received certification for a successful transition to the ISO 9001:2000 Quality Management System

The KCI has thereby received recognition for meeting the requirements of its customers, the standing legal conditions and of the ISO 9001:2001 Quality Management System itself. A system is applied which acknowledges customers’ stipulations, develops customer-satisfaction and observes its own influence. All the processes involved, together with the strictly defined performance-measurement criteria, are scrutinised carefully for a defined period. Thus the needs and expectations of customers, employees and society generally are identified from various angles and, within the framework of the Strategic Management System, targets for the forthcoming term are planned and applied.

Restructuring in the KCI:

In 1997 the KCI, after a cross-examination of its management style, began the process of root-and-branch restructuring in adopting Total Quality Management, a contemporary system which makes full recognition of global quality consensus, the need for sustained change and development.

In order to initiate the implementation and application of Total Quality Management as a way of life, the mission, vision, policies, strategies and establishment culture of the Chamber were determined with the participation and cooperation of all the senior management, employees and the representatives of industrial institutions operating in the chamber. The overall working ethics of the KCI are reviewed and updated annually with the participation of the shareholders.

In order to establish, publicize and review strategies and policies, the Strategic Management System was established and target-based management was adopted.

Since the first year of operation, the KCI has endeavoured to maintain the principle of self-development and renewal, always bearing in mind the current and foreseeable needs and expectations of its industrial-institution customers. By attending every year to the expectations of the shareholders and establishing short- and long-term goals, it guarantees sustained improvement and development.

KOCAELI CHAMBER OF INDUSTRY

ESTABLISHMENT CULTURE

"By being open to global developments and ready to share and implement the fruits of learning and experience, prioritising the expectations of shareholders, and showing responsibility towards society at large, the KCI is a leading model of establishment culture"

 
         OUR MISSION

               To be a creative and valuable institution to employees, industrialists, society and the nation equally.

                             OUR VISION 

                                         To sustain leadership in our sector by creating variety.

QUALITY POLICY

The KCI aims to present the sustained image of an exemplary, front-running establishment, which continuously seeks to improve its Quality Management System, and develop its services with the needs and expectations of its members in mind. By providing timely and quality services to customers and production partners alike, and placing great emphasis on the training, education, motivation and participation of its members, officials and employees, the KCI will thereby make an invaluable contribution to the development of the national economy.

ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY

In order to promote development and the sustainable exploitation of natural resources whilst simultaneously maintaining a healthy environment, the Chamber undertakes to educate its members and employees in environmental consciousness and the propagation thereof, and to involve itself in waste-reduction, recycling of all descriptions, environmental protection and any other projects orientated towards the protection of natural resources , and to act in accordance with standing rules and regulations concerned with this matter.

 
      
COMMUNICATION POLICY 

 In order to guarantee effective communication, the KCI aims to establish and develop systems and distribute  knowledge via the media and other means

                                 HUMAN RESOURCES POLICY

                        Our principle aim is to bring our workforce to a permanent state of globally recognised superiority.


SOCIAL POLICY

Our fundamental principle is to remain aware of social responsibility and to act in accordance with the law, to be open and reliable and to abide by our ethical code. The KCI wishes to promote overall improvement in the quality of life by supporting any work directly concerned with sharing knowledge and experience, with the development of the arts and culture, of scientific or social undertakings

 

KOCAELI LOCAL QUALITY FOCUS & KCI SELF-EVALUATION PROCESS

  

The KCI underwent a self-evaluation process in 2000 under the guidelines set out in the EFQM (European Foundation for Quality Management) ‘Road to Perfection’ model.

In the same year it became the KalDer (Turkish Quality Society) ‘Local Quality Focus’. Such foci, in cooperation with KalDer, are involved in creating a series of local quality bodies designed to expand participation in the National Quality Movement by familiarising their areas with the EFQM Model of Perfection. By organising the annual Kocaeli Quality Day, institutions achieving exemplary standards within the scope of the Model of Perfection are given the opportunity to share their achievements. Self-evaluation may be defined as a comprehensive and systematic review of work results and establishment activities by comparing them to a model based on work perfection. The model adopted in Turkey for these purposes is the TÜSIAD- (Turkish Industrialists & Businessmen’s Assoc.) KalDer Model of Perfection.

 With the application of a self-evaluation process, the given establishment tries to identify its strengths and areas that will play to its strengths, initiates activities geared towards improvement and reviews its plans while periodically monitoring developments.

  • BENEFITS OF SELF-EVALUATION

    A comprehensive and structural approach to improving and developing the establishment’s activities

    Objective evaluation rather than reliance on individual perceptions

    A means to determine what needs to be done via the cooperation of everybody in the establishment, employing a consistent approach and conciliation of differences

    A means to educate the workforce in how TQM may best be applied and what is needed to achieve this

    A means to show how daily activities may be combined with quality enterprises

    A powerful tool for all manner of identification processes

    An objective means of evaluation which keeps in focus the criteria agreed upon in western societies

    A tool whereby progress over time, resulting from the periodic application of self-evaluation, may be measured

    A process whereby areas open to improvement may be determined and work on them initiated

    A systematic approach demanding application at every level of all or any of a given institution’s departments

    A means of revitalising the company by demanding wholesale participation, via encouragement and motivation, in the general move towards Work Perfection

    An environment facilitating the sharing and achievement of the desired level of perfection amongst the departments of one establishment, or amongst different establishments

    Recognition of successes so far achieved, and guarantee of progress through presentation of awards

    A means of comparison within the establishment itself, or between establishments

    In short, self-evaluation entails:
    Identifying and playing to a given company’s strengths
    Comprehending TQM by its application to one’s own company
    A tool whereby a company can assess its own progress down the road to quality, and compare itself to other companies in the same field

2002 MAJOR NATIONAL QUALITY AWARD: PRESENTED TO KCI

The third National Quality Symposium was held in Ankara June 6 2002, when the results of the KalDer-organised Public Institutes and Establishments National Quality Awards Competition were announced. The Jury awarded the KCI the Major National Quality Award in the Public Sector Category.

    The Model of Perfection presents to institutions a management methodology whereby companies can guarantee achievement of sustained perfection. The KCI received the above award in recognition of their success, in the opinion of KalDer inspectors, in applying the criteria of the EFQM Model of Perfection to their services, and of the subsequent success it brought to their members.  

NATIONAL QUALITY AWARD

     

The National Quality Award is a scheme whereby companies seeking perfection can share accumulated experience within a globally recognised evaluative framework and thereby promote national development. It has been awarded by KalDer annually since 1993, and is based on the 9 criteria of the EFQM-prepared “Model of Perfection”, concerning itself with the successes of company management achieved in the given period. Together, the European Quality Award and the National Quality Award continue to confer the highest prestige on those companies distinguished enough to obtain them, indicating an enviable level of perfection. Finalists in the National Quality Awards Competition also receive the Quality Success Award and the Major Quality Award.

KalDer may be visited on the following website: http://www.kalder.org

 

 2003 EUROPEAN QUALITY SUCCESS AWARD: PRESENTED TO THE KCI

 

     

Fresh from its success at the national level, the KCI applied in the following year to participate in the EFQM Forum-organised European Quality Awards Competition, hopefully to consolidate its position as a leading public-sector institution in the continental arena. The establishment duly became the first Turkish organisation to receive European recognition with the European Quality Success Award presented at the Helsinki Fair Centre in the presence of the Finnish President Tanja Halonen, October 8 -10 2003, an honour not only for the institution but for the country as well; the President of the Executive Committee (Yilmaz Kanbak) and the General Secretary (Hamdi Doğan) received the awards personally from Anssi Vanjoki, CEO of a previous winner of the European Quality Award, Nokia Phones

 2004 MAJOR EUROPEAN QUALITY AWARD: PRESENTED TO THE KCI

 

     

In the Berlin “German and European Quality Awards” ceremony, November 16, the KCI received two awards simultaneously in the public-sector category. The organisation achieved the highest points in both the coveted Major European Quality Award and in the European Quality Success Award, given in recognition of employee participation and development.

     

 

  EFQM (EUROPEAN QUALITY AWARDS)

These awards, recognised as the most prestigious in the field of Institutional Perfection, are presented by the European Foundation for Quality Management. This body was founded in 1988 with the purpose of stimulating sustained perfection within European establishment culture and creating a global benchmark of perfection. The Foundation’s goal is the propagation of the Model of Perfection amongst companies and institutions. The Model is based on eight principles: employee development and participation; customer cooperation; on-going learning improvement and renewal; process and data management; social responsibility; cooperation development; leadership and targets consistency; results-orientated direction. Thus the successes achieved via the managerial style of one company may be communicated as an example of good practise and hopefully be adopted generally.

Evaluations of a company’s performance are made within the framework of the EFQM Model of Perfection by the Foundation’s own inspectors. The Model itself comprises nine criteria: Leadership; Policy and Strategy; Employee Management; Partnership and Resources; Processes; Customer-concerned Results; Employee-concerned Results; Societal Results; Basic Performance Results.

The European Quality Awards are the most respected of their kind in Europe; open to every high-performance institution in Europe, they focus on introducing the ‘route to perfection‘, and at the same time guarantee independent and detailed feedback to progressive institutions.

EFQM Web site: http://www.efqm.org

KCI: TO DATE THE HIGHEST POINTS IN ACCREDITATION FOR A CHAMBER WORLDWIDE,AS AWARDED UNDER THE TURKISH CHAMBER-ACCREDITATION PROCESS

 

 

Thus, from 1996 onwards, the KCI has proceeded sure-footedly along the road of progress, most recently (2005) adding the above superlative achievement for a professional body to its distinctions in the aforementioned European Quality Awards schemes.

 

In 2002, with the express goal of “Service Quality Improvement in Turkish Chambers”, the EU Commission Representative in Turkey, TOBB and Eurochambers developed a “Chamber Accreditation Model” and cooperated on the “Turkish Chambers Development Programme.” A system was implemented aiming to integrate the Turkish Chambers with their European counterparts. This may be seen as a spearhead campaign to ensure that Chambers implement and fulfil basic service requirements, to be self-evaluated annually and submitted to the scrutiny of TOBB inspectorates once every three years.

Under this scheme, ten chambers initially participated in 2002, expanding to fifteen in 2005. Thus, twenty-five Chamber Accreditation Projects are currently in effect. Inspections are undertaken by English Union of Chambers experts and consultants under the aegis of TOBB; it was as a participant of just such a scheme that the KCI managed to obtain 67 from a possible 68 points, thereby gaining the distinction announced in bold above.

KOCAELI CHAMBER of INDUSTRY