IMPLEMENTATION OF QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS AND BUSINESS EXCELLENCE FRAMEWORKS IN PAKISTANI TEXTILE COMPANIES

This paper discusses the implementation of quality management systems and business excellence models in the textile companies of Pakistan. The literature indicates that Pakistani companies are falling far behind in comparison to their international competitors in the dimensions of competitiveness like timely delivery, consistency, reliability, innovation and quality. However, higher level of adoption of quality management systems and business excellence models can help the organisations to improve their competitiveness and performance. In this study data was collected from two hundred and ten textile companies which were the member of All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) and located in the province of Punjab. The findings of this study indicate that only ISO 9000 Quality Management System was widely adopted by the sample companies whereas the other models like EFQM Excellence Model, MBNQA, ISO 14001, SA 8000 and Six Sigma are not given much importance. The sample companies need to move beyond the adoption of ISO 9000 in order to achieve higher levels of performance and competitiveness in the international market.