Evaluation of Quality Management for Strategic Decision Making in Companies in the Plastic Sector of the Colombian Caribbean Region Using the TQM Diagnostic Report and Data Analysis

The plastic sector is considered one of the most dynamic industries with the highest competitive projection in the country. The incidence of this sector in the national and regional economy has led to the completion of various investigations, to learn about their behavior and detect opportunities for improvement. In this regard, previous studies carried out by entities in Colombia such as the Universidad del Norte [1], corroborated the growth potential of the sector; but one of its most relevant weaknesses was also identified in the quality factor and, at the same time, it was proposed as the main strategy for making decisions associated with productivity and competitiveness. Given this precedent, an analysis of the state of the art in this area was made, and it was found that there is not enough information on the current situation of quality management in the plastics processing and production industry in the Colombian Caribbean Region. Faced with this problem, a study was conducted to visualize the behavior of companies belonging to the plastics sector regarding quality management, identifying and analyzing the most significant needs for the approach of joint strategies to improve the sector.