美国管理层越来越普遍地接受全面质量管理（TQM）原则。为了将全面质量管理的抽象概念转化为赚钱的流程改进活动，通常需要实际的案例研究和示例。本文描述了一个案例研究，展示了在制造过程中实施全面质量管理的许多原则。它描述了通过实验设计和统计过程控制在内部改进过程所采取的步骤，并描述了通过与外部供应商合作减少关键几何特征变化和与数量较少的供应商开展业务来提高质量的努力。 此外，还介绍了如何选择外部供应商，与之建立长期关系，以提高质量。

ACCEPTANCE OF TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT (TQM) PRINCIPLES BY AMERICAN MANAGEMENT IS BECOMING INCREASINGLY COMMON. ACTUAL CASE STUDIES AND EXAMPLES ARE OFTEN NEEDED TO TRANSLATE THE ABSTRACT CONCEPTS OF TQM INTO MONEY-MAKING PROCESS IMPROVEMENT ACTIVITY. THIS PAPER DESCRIBES A CASE STUDY WHICH DEMONSTRATES MANY OF THE PRINCIPLES OF TQM IN ACTION IN A MANUFACTURING PROCESS. IT DESCRIBES STEPS TAKEN TO IMPROVE THE PROCESS INTERNALLY THROUGH EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN AND STATISTICAL PROCESS CONTROL, AND DESCRIBES EFFORTS TO IMPROVE QUALITY BY WORKING WITH EXTERNAL SUPPLIERS TO REDUCE KEY GEOMETRIC CHARACTERISTIC VARIATION AND BY DOING BUSINESS WITH A SMALLER NUMBER OF SUPPLIERS. CHOOSING AN EXTERNAL SUPPLIER WITH WHICH TO FORM A LONG- TERM RELATIONSHIP FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF QUALITY ALSO IS DESCRIBED.