However, adopting Total Quality Management (TQM) could mean being the best in the market.

Mr Chan said: 'ISO 9000 is basically a framework . . . an outline of standardised requirements. A company will work according to that. This results in building up confidence in the customer. That's the best part of ISO 9000.

'This itself is not good enough. Within that framework, companies cannot improve a lot. This is where TQM comes in. It is based on people and is different from ISO 9000, which is based on documented [quality management] procedure.' Reference books define TQM as the 'mutual and systematic co-operation of everyone associated with the management and business processes of an organisation to produce products and services which continuously meet the needs and expectations of customers'.

Edmund S. L. Sung, divisional manager of the Quality and Management Consultancy Division at the Hong Kong Productivity Council, said TQM meant achieving good value and 'to meet and exceed customer expectations through the team effort of the whole company'.

William Chan, director of the Federation of Hong Kong Industries and Hong Kong Q-Mark Council, said TQM involved having a good understanding between boss and worker.

'It creates a situation where everyone is contributing to the process,' he said.

Chen Hsong Machinery Company (manufacturer of plastic-injection moulding machines), Computer Products Asia-Pacific (power conversion products for computer, telecom, medical and industrial electronics equipment), Shui On Building Contractors (construction), and Electronic Devices (semi-conductor components) are a few of Hong Kong's industry giants which have adopted and used TQM as a business strategy.

The Industry Department hopes many more manufacturers will master the practice of TQM, which it began promoting last year.

'This year, we want to promote the idea more vigorously,' Mr Chan said.

A series of books on quality has been published by the Industry Department. These aim to encourage chief executives to introduce and support quality improvement.

For example, Leading the Way - A Quality Guidebook for Chief Executives, published some time ago by the Industry Department, offers advice on introducing TQM in companies.

The quality message is being addressed to the biggest manufacturing companies in Hong Kong.

In any company, people from the top management to the most junior worker would need to get involved to support TQM.

'TQM tries to help develop the people in a company - to try to get people in a company to have a good understanding about quality and also to encourage them to show quality in what they do,' Mr Chan said.

'On the other hand, TQM tries to encourage a company to make the best use of things like financial resources, human resources, equipment and the like. This is important.' For a company to benefit from TQM, it needed to develop a quality management system, he said.

'So, we tell Hong Kong companies to put the systems in place first. They must get a reliable system running. With ISO 9000, you have a well-established system,' Mr Chan said.

'For TQM, there is no set standard and no certification. But, for a company, TQM is a growth target . . . a goal.' TQM will ensure cost savings and greater efficiency in the use of materials, equipment, time and people.

In addition, it helps increase profits, enhance market position and share, and improve team spirit.

'When we started promoting TQM, we realised we needed to talk to the people of Hong Kong. That is why we have Quality Week. It is a bit more high profile,' Mr Chan said.

Greater success through TQM would come from the talent and potential of every worker in a company.

'If a company needs to make a good quality product, it must realise good quality does not come naturally. It does not come from the product itself. Quality has to come from the people who are producing it,' he said.

'In a factory, quality has to come from the hands of the workers and also from engineers and management.

'We need to have the concept of quality implanted in the minds of the people. That means people who are responsible for products and services.' Educating people would result in better quality of work.

'The Industry Department is telling people that quality is good, that it is achievable,' Mr Chan said.