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14.1 Module Objectives
This module introduces the fundamental principles of Total Quality and the application of the principles to Pavement Management Systems. Upon completion of this module, the participant will be able to accomplish the following:

Identify the fundamental principles of Total Quality

Become familiar with the application of Quality Management in PMS as applied in
Massachusetts.
14.2 Introduction to Total Quality
Quality is something consumers expect in the things they buy and the services that are utilized. How is quality defined? How is quality achieved? Since quality is a “good thing”, how can quality be incorporated into the work and products of a PMS?
Quality is the efficiency of a business system to meet external needs (1) . In pavement management, the external needs are defined by the users of the roads, i.e. the driving public. External needs are also defined by the providers of funding for development, design, contruction and maintenance of a highway system. In other words, a quality product is defined by the user, not the producer.
In an effort to respond to eternal needs, many businesses have incorporated the practices of Total Quality Management (TQM). Over the years, TQM has taken on many meanings. Some of the generally agreed principles of Total
Quality are as follows (1) :

Top management commitment to TQM

Employee belief in management’s commitment to TQM

Leadership: executives and managers who see their role as customer advocates, strategic planners, barrier removers, and “walkers of the talk”

An unending, intense focus on customer’s needs, wants, expectations and requirements, and a commitment to satisfying them

Decision-making based on data, measurement, and statistical inference, rather than opinions

A view of process control that embraces reduction of variation, rather than just meeting the specification, to create customer satisfaction
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A commitment to continuous improvement, that is, “if it ain’t broke, improve it”
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Focus on process improvement versus production inspection

Focus on prevention of problems rather than fixing problems

An organizational climate based on collaboration and trust instead of competition

A lean organizational structure which depends on cross-functional teamwork, not vertical organizational hierarchies

An approach to product/service development which is more concurrent than sequential and uses cross functional groups working as a team

A view of customers and suppliers as partners, not adversaries

Management focus on long term results rather than short term profits and schedule
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Although the above list may seem more applicable to business and industry, it can also be related to highway agencies, particularly in the implementation and use of pavement management systems.
An example of implementing Total Quality principles to achieve pavement quality is the Massachusetts Pavement Quality Partnership (MassPQP). The following text discusses the motivations for establishing the MassPQP effort, the basic organization of the partnership, and where they are now.
14.3 The Massachusetts Pavement Quality Partnership (MassPQP)
The Massachusetts Pavement Quality Partnership is a joint public/private effort to achieve quality pavements through the application of TQM principles and partnering methods (2) .
One of the key factors for driving the state highway agency in Massachusetts into a quality program was the realization that pavement quality was deteriorating. There was a lack of expertise within the design and construction community, whether public or private (3) . At the same time, the state was interested in the National Quality Initiative (NQI), so the Massachusetts
Highway Department (MHD) began to focus on quality pavement construction and design. One goal was to get pavement management institutionalized into the system. The work effort was strongly supported by the top-level management. This was instrumental in getting the program started. Support came from the commission as well as the state’s Chief Engineer.
The goal of the MassPQP is to “establish and maintain high quality pavements in a cost effective manner”. In order to achieve this goal, the following five objectives were established:

Define Quality Pavements in clear and measurable terms

Assess the existing level of pavement quality in Massachusetts highways

Develop the primary elements of a long-term “blue print” or MassPQP Strategic Plan

Recommend further actions necessary for implementation of the MassPQP Strategic
Plan

Provide support, guidance and a “synergistic environment” to front-line workers in the implementation of the MassPQP Strategic Plan
The focus of the MassPQP is to establish a joint public/private partnership to achieve the goal and objectives throughout the application of TQM principles
(Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) process) and partnering methods. The heart of the MassPQP proposal is to create a group of pavement quality “Work
Teams” that reflect the relationship of the major functional activities associated with the pavement process.
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The seven work teams are as follows:
1.
Pavement research and education
2.
Pavement project selection
3.
Pavement design
4.
Pavement materials
5.
Pavement construction
6.
Pavement maintenance
7.
Pavement management
In the MassPQP Stategic Plan, the first six processes form an outer ring to indicate their need for continuous interaction and communication during the pavement life-cycle.
Located at the core of these six processes is Pavement Management. This indicates how the Pavement Management Process serves as the nucleus of the MassPQP Pavement
Quality Process. In a CQI environment, the Pavement Management Process gathers important input from and provides needed information to each of the other six pavement processes. A diagram of this seven process relationship is shown in Figure 14.1.
Figure 14.1 MassPQP Pavement Quality Process (2)
BUILDING THE PARTNERSHIP:
On November 10, 1992, the National Policy on the Quality of
Highways was adopted by all of the participating organizations. A primary objective of
National Quality Initiative (NQI) was to cascade the approach and overall mission to individual state organizations. Accordingly, the Massachusetts Highway Department
(MHD) established the Massachusetts Quality Initiative (MQI).
The MQI is led by a steering committee that developed an initial plan to provide the highway user with the quality products and services they expect. To achieve this effort,
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MQI initially identified four Quality Initiatives:

Partnering

Quality Control/Quality Acceptance (QC/QA)

Total Quality Management (TQM)

Value Engineering (VE)
The role of the MQI Steering Committee is to provide overall direction to each of the MHD Quality Initiatives and is comprised of members who represent the
FHWA, MHD, Private Industry and Academia. The organizational chart is shown in Figure 14.2. The structure that was defined for the MassPQP is shown in Figure 14.3.
Figure 14.2 MQI Organization Chart (2)
Figure 14.3
Structure of the MassPQP (2)
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ACHIEVING THE STRATEGIC PLAN:
The approach selected by the MassPQP Steering
Committee to develop the initial Strategic Plan was through a series of partnering workshops. The workshops were structured to teach the work team members the TQM and partnering tools necessary to attain the MassPQP objectives. The major workshop accomplishments are summarized as follows:

The partnership began a process of working together to learn and appply TQM principles for the purpose of imporving pavement quality in Massachusetts.

Vision Statement, Mission Statement, and Values were developed by the MassPQP work Teams.

The “Massachusetts Policy on the Quality of Pavements” was drafted and ratified.

A “quality pavement” was defined.

The elements necessary to establish a Quality Measuring System were identified.

Each work Team developed for its respective process: a.
A Process Flow Diagram b.
A list of prioritized Process Issues and Improvements c.
Action Plans for improvement of top Issues

The output of the workshops was synthesized to produce the Stategic Plan. In
MassPQP, the Strategic Plan includes 26 work team action plans to address the top pavement quality issues identifed in the workshop process.

The work team leaders and the MassPQP Steering Committee developed an implementation plan for the Strategic Plan.
DEFINING AND MEASURING PAVEMENT QUALITY:
The MassPQP Steering committee and Work Teams determined that a “quality pavement” might be defined as possessing five quantifiable and measurable “characteristics” as follows:

Smoothest practical ride

Safest pavement surface

Least possible maintenance

Lowest life-cycle cost

Most environmentally friendly
These characteristics form the core of the MassPQP’s definition of a quality pavement. Each of the five characteristics can be quantified through specific and measurable “criteria”. Pavement Quality Management enables the agency to provide a series of baselines against which the condition of the pavement system can be monitored and through which necessary corrective actions can be identified to improve the pavement system. The MassPQP work teams identified draft Criteria , Tools , Target Levels , Frequencies , and
Responsibilities for measuring each of the five characteristics of a quality pavement.

Criteria represents What should be measured.

Tools identify How best to collect and analyze the data associated with each of the specific measurement Criteria, which MassPQP ultimately selects.

Target Levels represent Where the performance level is expected to be for each of the measurement Criteria selected.
They are the “optimal” measurement values, which the MassPQP believes can and should be achieved by a Quality Pavement system. Until sufficient measurement data from Massachusetts pavements has been collected and
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
Frequency identifies When each of the Criteria should be measured. Depending on the Criterion being measured, there may be multiple intervals at which measurement should be made.

Responsibility indicates Who should measure the specific Criteria. Assignment of responsibility will be dependent upon when the measurement is required and will be developed for each of the measurement Criteria selected.
Figure 14.4 is a worksheet that was developed during the Pavement Quality
Measurement Workshop. The criteria, method and target level for each quality pavement characteristic are indentified.
Figure 14.4
Pavement Quality Measurement Workshop spreadsheets (2)
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Flow Chart Development
During the workshops, each work team prepared a flowchart, or process diagram, of its respective Pavement Process based upon the team members perception and understanding of the current process. These process diagrams are useful tools to help identify bottlenecks, obsolete activities, or missing activities that affect the individual Pavement Process and determine the effectiveness of the Pavement Process in delivering quality pavements. Figure 14.5 is an example of a flow chart for the pavement management process as defined by the pavement management work group.
Figure 14.5
Example Process Diagram (2)
Structured Problem Solving
For pavement quality improvements to occur, the PQP must first have an understanding of the issues that most significantly restrain the overall Pavement Quality Process from functioning at its established levels of performance. In implementing the MassPQP, the Process Issues are identified, classified, and prioritized. After the process Issues are identified by the work teams, they are classified as either Problems or Barriers . Problems are defined as those process issues that are under the direct control or strong influence of the PQP. Barriers are defined as those process issues that are under the direct control or strong influence of the PQP. Problems and Barriers are further classified as short-term or long-term. Short-term Process Issues are defined as having a high probability of being corrected within 12 months or less. Longterm Process Issues are those issues estimated to require between one and five years to correct. Understanding and classifying Process Issues provides a clearer direction for determining where to properly focus CQI efforts.
After charting the current seven Pavement Processes and identifying the Top
Pavment Quality Porcess Issues, the work teams go through a structured
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14.6 shows examples of pavement quality issues and proposed pavement quality process improvements. It should be noted that this does not represent a complete or fail-proof list of statistically based process improvements. The
Action Plans comprise the main structure of the Strategic Plan. Figure 14.7 shows an example of an Action Plan.
Figure 14.6
Pavement Quality Process Issues and Improvements (2)
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Figure 14.7
Sample Action Plan (2)
MAINTAINING THE MASSPQP INITIATIVE
Work Team Action Plan Implementation Process Since the backbone of the Strategic
Plan is the Work Team Action Plans, focusing on their implementation is of utmost importance. In the MassPQP, the seven work teams will meet regularly and initiate activities necessary to implement each of their Action Plans. Action
Plans may need to be revised to reflect anew information or changed circumstances once implementation begins.
A Quality Measurement System Study will be performed to develop recommendations on final criteria, tools, target levels, frequencies and responsbility of measurement. The study will also identify where data will be collected, and how it will be evaluated. The study will also recommend whether to develop the Pavement Quality Measurement System as part of an existing management system or as a new system.
Progress Monitoring
The work team leaders will be responsible for monitoring and reporting progress on individual action plans. The MassPQP co-chairs will be responsible for monitoring the Quality Measurement System Study.
14.4 Summary
Improving and maintaining pavement quality in a cost-effective manner is the primary objective of a PMS. The larger picture, in terms of quality management, is to also to improve quality in other aspects of a state highway agency that affect pavements, such as maintenance and construction. This module attempts to illustrate how a PMS fits into a quality management program. As was shown in Figure 14.1, PMS is necessary, indeed it forms the core of the entire program when the goal is a quality pavement.
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REFERENCES
1.
Lam, K.D., Watson, F. D. and Schmidt, S.R., Total Quality, a Textbook of
Strategic Quality, Leadership and Planning, Air Academy Press, Colorado
Springs, CO, 1991.
2.
Massachusetts Pavement Quality Partnership, “Strategic Plan, 1995-96”,
FMI Corporation, Raleigh, NC, 1996.
3.
Personal interview with Greg Doyle and Matt Turo, June 1997.
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