(1993). The critical organizational departments involved in any TQM effort include the procurement and sourcing, manufacturing and production, fulfillment, marketing, sales, and service, all of which form the value chain of how organizations produce, sell and service products. The major actors or participants in the process are first and foremost the purchasing and procurement, and supply chain departments of an organization, which must have a specific set of quality standards to inspect and measure the level of quality of raw materials and components used in production. Second, the manufacturing and production staffs must be completely aligned with the objectives of any TQM program for it to succeed according to Ishikawa, K, (1985). Marketing, Sales and Service all must be specifically aligned with the core values of TQM, have processes for setting and achieving expectations with customers, all the while keeping gross margins and profitability in check Of all functions however, the dual role of the supply chain is critical in that it must both enforce the highest levels of incoming inspect as possible but also quickly and accurately respond...

The attainable ROI of aligning supply chain planning, execution and fulfillment with sources of demand is explored in research provided by Manufacturing Engineer (2005) and shows the resulting impact on financial performance of companies who adopt this best practice to increase their quality, speed and flexibility while achieving quality as a lasting competitive differentiator.
References

Gilbert, G. (1992) - Quality Improvement in a Defense Organization. Public Productivity and Management Review, 16(1), 65-75.

Hyde, a. (1992) - the Proverbs of Total Quality Management: Recharting the Path to Quality Improvement in the Public Sector. Public Productivity and Management Review, 16(1), 25-37.

Ishikawa, K, (1985) - What is Total Quality Control? The Japanese way. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, Prentice- Hall.

Manufacturing Engineer (2005) - the goal of synchronized demand. IEE Manufacturing Engineer Magazine. August/September, 2005. Pages 32-35

Martin, L. (1993) - "Total Quality Management in the Public Sector," National Productivity Review, 10, 195-213.