| Henry Ford said that, "quality means doing it right when | | | | products, and your customers will determine the effort |
| no one is looking." What is doing it? And how well must | | | | that they will expend. |
| it be done? | | | | Quality is achieved only by understanding current |
| In every industry, competitors find themselves fighting | | | | needs, future needs and then effectively and efficiently |
| price wars or positioning themselves as the low-cost | | | | correcting errors and finding solutions that add value. |
| provider only to find out that in many instances, quality | | | | Every internal handoff or customer exchange creates |
| is as important to customers (if not more so) than the | | | | a learning opportunity for the employee involved, the |
| cost they pay. Quality can be defined as the | | | | organization, and the system. Employees often detect |
| acceptable standard of excellence determined by the | | | | the first indication of a problem and are in the best |
| receiver. But, having a quality product and getting it to | | | | position to eliminate it before the situation grows. How |
| market is only part of the challenge; especially if you | | | | they make those decisions is indicative how they think. |
| see quality as one action or an end result. | | | | FOCUS #5 - Quality of Thought- Rigid, habitual thinking |
| You can't give lip service to quality. Anytime that there | | | | makes product, process, transaction, and performance |
| is a handoff, a deliverable, a discussion or even a | | | | quality impossible. Without the ability to think |
| decision to be made, quality is key. It has to be | | | | strategically, laterally, or critically employees in |
| factored in and measured throughout the organization | | | | organizations can never develop the creative ideas |
| and considered in all activities of design, development, | | | | that spawn innovation and lead to quality |
| production, installation, servicing, customer interaction | | | | improvements. Stale thinking overrides any opportunity |
| and documentation. The goal is to continually identify | | | | that a company has to outwit the competition or get |
| standards of quality, evaluate performance, monitor | | | | ahead of change. Breakthrough thinking is needed if |
| results and make adjustments that will improve the | | | | organizations are to deconstruct challenges, set goals, |
| customer's perception. When it comes to improving | | | | construct workable real-time solutions, and accurately |
| quality in your organizations you have five points to | | | | identify the right solution for the right situation at the |
| consider: the product, the processes, every transaction | | | | right time. |
| and the thinking that leads to overall performance | | | | In a competitive marketplace, quality is the great |
| quality. Achieving quality in an organization is an ongoing | | | | differentiator that pays impressive dividends. It is never |
| pursuit and has to be adopted as a mindset before | | | | a final destination but an ongoing pursuit to achieve |
| any significant gains will be realized. | | | | maximum customer satisfaction in the shortest time |
| FOCUS #1 - Product Quality is measured by | | | | and the lowest cost. |
| workmanship and reliability. It includes the raw materials, | | | | Quality products and processes begin with quality |
| assemblies, products and components; as well as the | | | | thinking but here is a list of ten more things that you |
| function or services related to production. To have a | | | | can do to increase quality: |
| quality product output means that you have to | | | | |
| continually improve the inputs. | | | | 1. Understand the nature and communicate the |
| FOCUS #2 - Process Quality includes the quality of | | | | importance of quality to every employee. |
| work in developing, making, and selling products and | | | | 2. Know what matters most to your clients and why. |
| services. It is measured by adherence to performance | | | | 3. Develop products and processes that help your |
| standards, fewer mistakes, fewer rejects and less | | | | clients meet their business goals in the most efficient |
| rework. | | | | way. |
| FOCUS #3 - Transaction Quality is measured by the | | | | 4. Make what your customers care about your top |
| effectiveness and efficiency of human interaction. | | | | priority. |
| When a products fails to meet the expectations of | | | | 5. Make sure that dollars spent to improve operations, |
| customers and they in turn seek remedy from the | | | | systems, and products relate to the needs of your |
| organization that creates a transaction (Ronald Coase, | | | | current and targeted customers. |
| a British economist). Poor quality increase the number | | | | 6. Set, enforce, and revise standards to deliver your |
| of transactions needed to resolve an issue and | | | | best (product, process, transaction, performance and |
| increases the cost of doing business. Once a | | | | thinking) to the marketplace. |
| customer picks up the phone or walks into your | | | | 7. Work collaboratively to establish quality in all internal |
| offices to seek resolution, the quality of the transaction | | | | processes and interdepartmental hand offs. |
| itself becomes important. | | | | 8. Create self-managed teams that focus on |
| FOCUS #4 - Performance Quality is within the control | | | | continuous improvement strategies. |
| of every employee. It is achieved when transactions | | | | 9. Increase the learning opportunities and challenge the |
| are handled in a way that delivers ever-increasing | | | | habitual thinking of employees. |
| value to internal and/or external customers. | | | | 10. Eliminate the waste and non-value added activities |
| Performance quality begins with quality of thought. | | | | from your processes it will reduce your product |
| How your people think about their jobs, their roles, your | | | | development and process cycle-times. |