Prioritising critical success factors of TQM in Malaysia aerospace industry using fuzzy AHP

Malaysia has set a target to become the first aerospace nation in South East Asia by 2030. In efforts to ensure industry players are able to achieve the target, the critical success factors (CSFs) that affecting the successful implementation of total quality management (TQM) in aerospace industry, especially in Malaysia, need to be identified and ranked. Ranking CSFs is a sensitive task that requires extra attention. Self-judgment, previous experiences and references by industry experts, including the existence of uncertainty in decision making, results in inaccurate ranking. Therefore, this study aims to prioritise (identify and rank) the CSFs for successful implementation of TQM in Malaysia aerospace industry (manufacturing sector). Through an in-depth review of the literature, 11 CSFs were identified and categorised into four main criteria. These criteria were analysed empirically using Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) approach to rank the CSFs based on their relative importance weights. FAHP approach was used since the judgments from industry experts have been taken into account as recommended by National Aerospace Industry Coordinating Office (NAICO). The results showed that the main criterion for successful TQM implementation is culture and people with the highest weight of 0.434, followed by organising (0.296), systems and technique (0.151), and measurement and feedback (0.119). Therefore, the top management and decision makers need to give more attention on culture and people factors before implementing TQM which include employee involvement and role of quality department. However, the relationship between CSFs and the performance of TQM implementation need to be analysed further.