FedEx: Managing Quality Day and Night
Krisanna N Hall
Southern New Hampshire University
OL-324: Managing Quality
Instructor Troy Burrows
March 14,2021
FedEx: Managing Quality Day and Night
FedEx incorporates Total Quality Management (TQM) throughout the company daily by
ensuring their employees first goal is customer satisfaction. FedEx uses a universal language that
is applicable company wide, no matter what country they are in the message is consistent within
the company (OL-324: FedEx Quality Belongs to Everyone CC, 2018, 03:15-05:21). Customer
satisfaction is one of the main aspects of TQM, and at FedEx they have high expectations of
meeting customer satisfaction with their goals: "100% customer satisfaction, 100% on-time
delivery, and 100% accurate information available on every shipment to every location around
the world" (Foster S. T., & Foster S. T (2016) p. 21). The benefit of taking this approach towards
quality is that FedEx has proven to be one of the most reliable shipment companies in the world,
and by meeting customer demand they will continue to have a loyal and continuous customer
base.
The quality culture within FedEx is simple, "quality must not be a part of the way that
FedEx does business, not part of the time, but all of the time" (Foster S. T., & Foster S. T (2016)
p. 21). FedEx has quality "themes" such as "Make the first time you do it the only time anyone
has to" and "Q=P" (Quality = Productivity), these themes are reinforced by the "1-10-100 rule",
if a problem is caught and corrected as it happens, it costs to fix it, but if it is caught later it can
cost up to 10 times that much to correct it, and if caught by a customer, it could cost 100 times as
much to correct it (Foster S. T., & Foster S. T (2016) p. 21). This serves as a reminder to the
employees to keep quality at the forefront of their objectives, allowing them to take their quality
into their own hands and remain accountable.
FedEx: Managing Quality Day and Night
The two points that FedEx embodies the most of Deming's points are:
Top management's commitment: Each component of FedEx uses the same methods to
establish great quality management throughout their company to meet customer satisfaction
daily. This point is a clear connection to FedEx's commitments of improving their quality and
productivity with their strategic and continuous improvement plans (Neave, 1987).
Drive out fear: FedEx has a goal of providing 100% accurate information to its customers
regarding communication of their items. FedEx encourages and embodies effective
communication throughout their company globally by enforcing their "universal language"
approach throughout the company, this ensures that each component of the FedEx company
has the same communication. Because of this, they can "work effectively and more
productively for the company" (Neave, 1987)