Total Quality Management (TQM) in Hungary

In up-to-date manufacturing, industrial quality has proven to be a key competitive advantage. An active market position and profits are associated with high quality products and services. Like the optical properties of a natural crystal, quality reflects the state of the whole industry, its marketing, research and development, design, production methods, human resources, logistics, costing and pricing, and capital background. All advancement in the productive and commercial capability of a company relates somehow to the quality of the delivered goods. The holistic approach to industrial quality appeals to industrial policymaking and company leadership; quality improvement converted into an authoritative management issue. Active commitment and program implantation by the people at the top usually decides the whole quality image of the company. The outstanding role that quality plays in industry, obliges IIASA to follow closely the developments in international strategies of quality promotion. We highly appreciate the enthusiastic response of Hungarian industry. It has been proved that an advanced knowledge of comprehensive quality management, accumulated in leading industrial countries, is clearly compatible with the socio-economic environment of the Hungarian Republic. Encouraging results achieved so far invite other countries, with at least comparable societal structure, to follow the Hungarian example. IIASA would be pleased to provide an intellectual background for such breakthroughs in the challenging area of total quality movement