Quality management in manufacturing significantly contributes to a manufacturer's brand and bottom line. However, persistent challenges to quality management continue to trouble small and medium-sized manufacturing companies alike. The issues, of course, vary depending on the existing management culture of the company.

Here are some issues on quality management in manufacturing that are getting in the way of increasing effectiveness:

1. The culture of managing by departments
Any existing corporate culture that was built over the years is often difficult to break up. Even in modern day manufacturing, quality management is still widely viewed as the responsibility of the department that is tasked to implement it, such as the quality control department or the quality assurance department.

For example, a CFO may claim that his department's task is chiefly to maintain the financial health of the company and that the implementation of quality management is best confined to the shop floor, plant, or factory.

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