Quality and the Future

Because it is unlikely that we can ever know what our competitors are planning to do, our struggle for quality can never end. There will never be a clear objective: what will be adequate today will not be competitive tomorrow. Not too many years ago we were quite happy if the tires on our car lasted for 20,000 miles. We would never buy tires from a manufacturer today who could not guarantee a much greater life. Thus, we must recognize that quality is an open-ended objective; as soon as we close in on our target it moves farther away. We must also accept that our striving for quality can never end. Indeed, this constant struggle to improve, to compete successfully, is at the very heart of our society.

We can then add the following reference to the future, to our definition of quality.

Quality is a measure of the performance, reliability, and cost of our product. Our quality is adequate when our customers continue to buy our products.

Quality and the Organization

Many companies in the United States are genuinely striving to manufacture products of the highest quality. Some are among the best performers in the world. Unfortunately, the majority fall into two classes.

1. Those who profess to strive for quality but do not translate their words into actions.

2. Those who really do not believe that quality programs work, or if they do, assume that the cost will be prohibitive.

There are many examples of the first classification. In the lobby of one typical company, a large framed document stated the corporate policy on quality. It included all the cliches, "We will always ship the highest quality products to our customers." "Quality is the most important item in our business," and so on. The author had been asked to go to this company to find the cause of certain defects in the product. It was determined that had materials were the basic problem, and it was suggested that they should he scrapped and replaced as there was no way that they could be used without jeopardizing the product quality. "But we can't do that," was the immediate response "Look at the cost, and the effect on the schedule." These two items were in fad of much more concern than the quality of the product, and it took a lengthy argument to convince the management that obtaining new materials would eventually prove to be lower in cost and of less jeopardy to the schedule. It is easy to meet the schedule by shipping defective products. It was also difficult for them to recognize that they had to reconsider all of their materials acquisition and inspection procedures, and they had to immediately rescind their instructions to always buy from the lowest bidder.

This attitude is by no means uncommon, and demonstrates clearly that any concern for true quality either is non-existent or has not reached the shop floor It is easy for senior management to agree that quality will be the watch word. to come up with slogans and posters, to issue instructions accordingly to the lower echelons of management, and then to do nothing more No budget for quality, no training programs for quality, and no personal involvement One day it comes as a surprise that sales are falling, costs are rising, and the company reputation is reflected by the falling price of their stock. With the best will in the world, quality will never work upward from the shop floor.