Why Adopting A New Strategy
May Help Reduce Your
PRICE TAG
by Joe Roy
In his book Quality Is Free, originally published in 1979, Philip Crosby claims that not only is quality free but also that it is a source of profit! If Crosby is right, then it must hold that in the absence of quality, the cost of non-conformance soars and drains profits. In the 4 th quarter of 2016 alone, Samsung recalled 1.7M Galaxy Note 7 smartphones and 2.8M washing machines; Cuisinart recalled over 8mm blades in its food processor; and IKEA reached a $ 50M settlement over deadly furniture accidents. Crosby has it right- Quality is free and it’ s the seamless transfer of a‘ conforming product’ between a customer and a supplier.
Quality is commonly defined as‘ conformance to specifications’ and is measured in terms of cost of noncompliance, as well as auditing and inspection costs for both products and services. But Quality is far more than conforming to specifications- even the use of the word specification implies a manufacturing focus on Quality. To accept Crosby’ s claim that Quality is free, organizations must accept the fact that Quality is a Mindset driven by organizational culture! And changing an organization’ s culture is not only difficult, it’ s expensive. Have you ever tried to place a price tag on TRUST? Doing the“ right things right 100 percent of the time” requires a commitment to continuous improvement in all processes, systems, and practices within a company; the adoption of internal and external customer-supplier agreements; and an acknowledgement that people don’ t fail; rather, it’ s the systems, procedures and machinery that fail!
Adopting a Total Quality philosophy within an organization requires leadership and commitment. The late Father Theodore Hesburgh, former President of the University of Notre Dame, once stated that“ the very essence of leadership is you have to have a vision. It’ s got to be a vision you articulate clearly and forcefully on every occasion. You cannot blow an uncertain trumpet.” Unfortunately, there are some within every organization that don’ t see a reason to adopt a business changing philosophy. After all, the business has been successful year after year. Total Quality is a philosophy around which the business operates from the way customers and employees are treated to the way phones are answered; from business planning and supplier relations, to training and development; from accepting responsibility empowering others.
If adopting a Total Quality philosophy seems right for your business, ask yourself whether or not you trust your coworkers to make the right decisions regarding the work they perform. More importantly, understand that your co-workers will be skeptical about your commitment to any Total Quality effort. Without TRUST( includes everyone), the change effort is unsustainable and will fail.
I’ ve witnessed the results of adopting a Total Quality strategy, of trusting the ability of people to do their jobs, and I’ ve seen the impact of training and empowerment on production throughput and flexibility, inventory, waste, staffing, workman’ s compensation, internal and external customer-supplier partnerships, and first pass quality acceptance rates. I’ ve watched employees take pride in their work, enjoy the freedom to try their ideas regardless of success or failure, and to use their skills to help others. By focusing on quality throughout the plant, total manufacturing costs decreased by millions of dollars.
If you’ re ready to accept the Quality challenge, ready to transform business operations that recognize the“ value” of each person to the organization, here is a basic roadmap:
a. Insure Total Quality has a business focus by establishing internal and external customer-supplier relationships with the customer defining the quality expectations. Everyone must understand the role that they play in delivering an exceptional quality experience for their customer.
| 34 | EVOLVE BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE