A transição da Total Quality Management (TQM) para a Quality 4.0: percepção de gestores de empresas de grande porte no sul do Brasil

Abstract

In order to gain competitive advantage in the manufacturing industry and meet market requirements, the implementation of new technologies is an essential task in the routine of organizations. Quality Management can be a strategy to be adopted in the context of Industry 4.0. In view of this, it becomes necessary to analyze how quality, as well as its tools and skills, are aligned with the advances of Industry 4.0. New technologies are impacting the day-to-day, not only of managers in this area, but also of all employees involved in quality assurance in medium and large companies. The justification for this research theme is the fact that, as much as it is recurrent subjects related to this current industrial revolution, the last great creation in the area of quality was the 6 sigma in 1980 and, because of that, there is little theoretical reference that are aligned with the current 4.0 reality. This work aimed to research, in large manufacturing industries, how the transition from Total Quality Management (TQM) to Quality 4.0 is taking place. This research brought as a result how advanced the digitalization of quality tools is in the interviewed companies, which proved to be taking place slowly and far from what was expected by these organizations. Other answers found in this work were related to what are the main challenges found in this scenario, where the lack of investment resources in technology and qualified labor stand out, and what are the necessary skills involved in this change of scenario, which involve having a dynamic profile, adaptable to changes and developed for technology related aptitudes.