Total quality management is a widely known approach to long-term success through customer satisfaction, yet many organizations today still struggle to realize its promised benefits. Why? Because traditional total quality management efforts often fall short in addressing the real performance challenges modern businesses face.
In this article, we present a new perspective—Total Quality Management 2.0—which moves beyond the theory of TQM and offers a practical system, backed by the Integrated Enterprise Excellence (IEE) framework from SmarterSolutions.com, to overcome common pitfalls.
Total Quality Management Explanation
On the surface, TQM sounds simple: instill quality in every organizational process and build a culture of continuous improvement. But in practice, businesses often face:
- Unclear measurement systems
- Fire-fighting symptoms rather than solving root causes
- Misalignment between improvement projects and enterprise goals
- Inconsistent data interpretation
Traditional TQM lacks a strategic backbone. Leaders get caught in cycles of reacting rather than proactively managing quality. What’s missing is a system that translates quality ideals into measurable, sustained business improvement.
IEE provides this system. It extends traditional TQM by:
- Replacing siloed metrics with enterprise-aligned performance indicators
- Enabling predictive analytics at a 30,000-foot-level
- Aligning improvement initiatives with the big picture
Total Quality Management Program
Most organizations claim to have a total quality management program. But does the program actually deliver meaningful results—or just create activity?
Signs your TQM program may be failing include:
- Project overload with no prioritization
- Metrics that don’t reflect true customer satisfaction
- Internal audits that focus on compliance instead of performance
Total Quality Management 2.0, driven by the IEE system, addresses these issues through a structured, system-thinking approach. Instead of focusing only on tools like fishbone diagrams or Pareto charts, IEE creates an organizational rhythm that:
- Aligns metrics to enterprise goals
- Prioritizes improvement based on data—not politics
- Automates reporting and removes dashboard clutter
It’s not about more tools. It’s about smarter integration.
Total Quality Management Software
You may have invested in total quality management software, but is it enabling transformation or just automating broken processes?
Most TQM software platforms:
- Focus on compliance checklists
- Lack integration with enterprise reporting tools
- Provide overly complex or outdated interfaces
By contrast, Smarter Solutions’ software supports IEE-based TQM 2.0, enabling:
- Metrics that reflect process predictability
- Alerts based on actual process shifts, not arbitrary thresholds
- Visual management of cascading goals and performance
This isn’t about buying new software. It’s about applying smarter logic to your existing systems—or choosing solutions that support real quality transformation.
Total Quality Management Book
There are hundreds of total quality management books. They often outline quality principles and explain tools like PDCA, Six Sigma, or ISO 9001. But few provide a comprehensive methodology for turning these ideas into measurable enterprise performance gains.
Smartersolutions.com’s founder, Forrest Breyfogle, has authored more than 15 books, including the Integrated Enterprise Excellence series, which outlines how to:
- Create actionable metrics
- Avoid dashboard dysfunction
- Implement quality as a core business strategy—not just a department
The IEE-based TQM 2.0 framework described in these books helps organizations:
- Break down silos
- Apply analytics correctly
- Connect improvement work to financial impact
The following two books provide in a novel-written format a Total Quality Management 2.0 system.
- Management 2.0: Discovery of Integrated Enterprise Excellence (Management and Leadership System 2.0 Book 1): This book, written in an easy-to-access novel format, provides practitioners and managers with a next-generation Total Quality Management 2.0 system.
- Leadership System 2.0: Implementing Integrated Enterprise Excellence (Management and Leadership System 2.0 Book 2): This book continues the novel format story initiated in Management 2.0. Practitioners and managers can gain much from the concepts described in this book. Described, among other things, is how-to software for implementing Total Quality Management 2.0.
The following six books provide the details of implementing a TQM 2.0 system.
- Minitab® and Lean Six Sigma: A Guide to Improve Business Performance Metrics: Discusses over 200 figures that illustrate software inputs and outputs. Shows the execution of Minitab functions in a detailed Lean Six Sigma Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control (DMAIC) roadmap to enhance the Y response for process improvement projects
- SigmaXL® and Lean Six Sigma: A Guide to Improve Business Performance Metrics: A Guide to Improve Business Performance Metrics. Shows the execution of SigmaXL software functions in a detailed Lean Six Sigma Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control (DMAIC) roadmap to enhance the Y response for process improvement projects
- Integrated Enterprise Excellence, Vol. II Business Deployment: A Leaders’ Guide for Going Beyond Lean Six Sigma and the Balanced Scorecard: This book describes Integrated Enterprise Excellence (IEE) business management system providing the details for executing a 9-step roadmap, which addresses all Total Quality Management system 2.0 needs.
- Integrated Enterprise Excellence, Vol. III Improvement Project Execution: A Management and Black Belt Guide for Going Beyond Lean Six Sigma and the Balanced Scorecard: This 1100+ page Lean Six Sigma Handbook provides the Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control (DMAIC) process improvement project template in a lean Six Sigma step-by-step guide format. This lean Six Sigma handbook structural integrates lean and Six Sigma Black Belt methodology so that the most appropriate tool is utilized at the right time to improve an output response from a process.
- Lean Six Sigma Project Execution Guide: The Integrated Enterprise Excellence (IEE) Process Improvement Project Roadmap: Provided is a consistent TQM 2.0 lean Six Sigma Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control (DMAIC) roadmap methodology, which can be readily referenced when executing organizational improvement projects. This roadmap guidebook provides a vehicle which expedites the tool-application learning process and improves the efficiency/effectiveness of experienced-practitioner coaching sessions.
- Lean Six Sigma: A Handbook and Solutions Manual for Green Belt, Black Belt and Master Black Belt Process Improvement Projects 2-book Bundle: Over 100 examples and 250 exercises are provided in this Total Quality Management 2.0 lean Six Sigma handbook. The Solutions Manual, included in this book set, provides an enhancement to the included lean Six Sigma Black Belt and Green Belt handbook by providing solutions to the study guide end-of-chapter exercises.
Why Most TQM Initiatives Fail Without TQM 2.0
The organizational pain of not implementing TQM 2.0 shows up in many ways:
- Teams waste time on non-strategic initiatives
- Executives lose faith in quality departments
- Data is misinterpreted or misused
- Problems recur, despite efforts to fix them
IEE-based Total Quality Management 2.0 fixes this by:
- Embedding quality thinking into all levels of the organization
- Making improvement continuous and aligned—not episodic
- Providing executive visibility that’s data-driven and meaningful
Companies that implement TQM 2.0 no longer chase symptoms. They fix systems.
Business Benefits of Total Quality Management 2.0
When you shift from traditional TQM to TQM 2.0 with IEE, your organization can expect:
- Faster decision-making from streamlined, actionable dashboards
- Greater cross-functional alignment around measurable goals
- Lower costs by solving problems at the root cause
- More effective use of AI by feeding it meaningful, context-rich data
- Sustained improvement through built-in accountability structures
It’s not magic. It’s logic—with a system that makes quality management truly operational.
Total Quality Management and AI
AI can help transform quality—but only when used on a solid foundation. Most AI implementations flounder because the underlying data and measurement systems are broken.
TQM 2.0 provides that foundation by:
- Delivering clean, consistent performance data
- Highlighting true process changes, not noise
- Identifying predictive patterns that support proactive action
Don’t bolt AI onto a broken system. Upgrade your system first—with IEE.
Take the Next Step: A Smarter Quality Future
TQM isn’t dead. It just needs a reboot.
Total Quality Management 2.0, built on Smarter Solutions’ Integrated Enterprise Excellence methodology, helps organizations stop the chaos, get focused, and drive meaningful improvement across all departments.
We invite you to schedule a conversation to explore how TQM 2.0 can transform your operations. Let’s discuss how your current challenges—from underperforming metrics to disconnected initiatives—can be resolved by shifting from tools to systems thinking.
Want a quality program that delivers real results?
Let’s talk.