Final answer:
The TQM concept focuses on achieving quality across all aspects of a business, enhancing customer relations, production, and supply chain efficiency; as exemplified by the just in time delivery system improving quality control and downsides like pressure on labor conditions due to cost-cutting.
Step-by-step explanation:
The total quality management (TQM) concept indeed strives to achieve quality not only in the product or service but in every aspect of a business, including its relationship with customers. Unlike the traditional quality inspection model, TQM involves a company-wide approach to quality, in which every employee from top management to frontline workers plays a role in maintaining and improving quality in products and services. This systemic approach also helps in improving supplier relationships and optimizing production processes, as evidenced by the successful implementation of just in time delivery systems by some car manufacturers in the 1980s, notably Japanese companies like Honda. By having parts delivered only as needed for assembly, they ensured fresher stock, reduced warehousing costs, and improved quality control, as defects could be spotted and addressed immediately. However, such systems also led to the proliferation of parts factories around main assembly plants and exerted pressure on labor by driving companies to pursue low-cost labor options, often at the expense of workers' wages and benefits.