Quality Improvement Practices and Compliance Performance of Selected Malaysian SMIs: Recommendations for the Trainers

The study investigated the Quality Improvement Practices (QIP) of selected small medium industries (SMIs hereafter) namely the E&E manufacturers in Malaysia. The objectives of this study are to investigate the influence of the quality improvement practices (QIP) among Malaysian E&E manufacturers on their compliance performance. The quality improvement level of twelve QIP; seven soft factors and five hard factors, were determined in the study. Later, the improvement level of the QIP was compared according to the manufacturers' size, ownership, length of operation, and ISO status. A quantitative research method, which involved the distribution of a set of questionnaires, was used in the study. Another important aspect of the research is to identify relevant soft and hard factors that need emphasis in future trainings by the QIP trainers. As the sole assessor of Product Certification compliance for the manufacturers in Malaysia, SIRIM QAS has the data on the Malaysian manufacturers' compliance performances. Based on the data, it can be concluded that Malaysian SMIs are still struggling in implementing quality improvement practices. The data has yielded interesting findings related to the identified soft and hard factors that need further emphasis in future trainings. The findings provided recommendations for future trainers of QIP.