TQM practices in electric fan manufacturing industry of Pakistan

This study aims to descriptively analyse and rank the TQM practices, activities, critical success factors, barriers and business outcomes in electric fan manufacturing industry of Pakistan according to company size and on ISO-9000 certification basis. SMEs of electric fan manufacturing industry of two industrial cities of Gujrat and Gujranwala of Punjab province of Pakistan were selected as unit of analysis and both ISO and non-ISO certified firms were approached. An adopted/bilingual questionnaire was used for data collection using snow ball sampling technique, resulting in 89 completed questionnaires for data analysis. Data was analysed in terms of mean differences among firms both size wise and certification (ISO-9000) wise. The results demonstrate that large sized and ISO-9000 certified firms are more actively involved in TQM practices and activities. However, the small and medium sized firms do not differ significantly in different TQM practices and activities. Top management commitment is considered as the most important success factor by ISO-certified firms while top management training is considered as most important factor by non-certified firms. Lack of resources is the most crucial barrier for both certified and large firms. However, all type of firms consider profit making and decrease in unit cost as desired business outcomes in manufacturing industries. Large companies/ISO-9000 certified companies observed high business outcomes from their counterparts.