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source: thinkstock / sewing dummy over white
standards in their industry are soon
swept off the market.
However, industry-specifi c standards
alone are often inadequate.
Entrepreneurs who want to succeed
in the marketplace have
to repeatedly ask themselves
what else
they can do in order to offer high-quality
products (and to be better than their competitors).
For this reason, every product and service
has to undergo critical scrutiny on a
regular basis. Can the service provided be
improved? Could the customer service
be better? Are the employees’
customer orientation and
knowhow up to date? Does
the product meet customers’
wishes today and will it meet
them tomorrow?
Paying attention to quality involves
setting down the quality
requirements for a product or
The History of Quality Management
Quality management was invented
in the U.S. by William Edwards Deming.
However, after the end of World War II
his ideas were widely ignored: the international
business community was more
concerned at that time about rebuilding
the production capacities destroyed
worldwide during the war. Yet in wartorn
Japan his ideas fell on more fertile
PDCA cycle by William Edwards Deming
The demands placed on the
quality of a product change
continually.
ground. In the Land of the Rising Sun
quality management soon became a
respected philosophy: as early as 1951
a Japanese company was the recipient
of the Deming Award for especially
high quality standards. In the following
decades Japanese manufacturers conquered
market shares around the world
with their high-quality, reasonably priced
source: panthermedia / Randolf Berold
service. Quality must be controlled and is
therefore a task for the management.
However, quality management will not
succeed until it is part of the corporate
culture and infl uences the daily actions
of all employees. The results of scientifi c
studies conducted in the U.S. show that,
in comparison with their competitors,
companies with quality management programs
have higher turnover and profi ts,
greater productivity, better stock performance
and faster-growing workforces.
Despite all their efforts to achieve comprehensive
quality management, companies
should never lose sight of one central
idea: quality is not a goal but a never-ending
process guided by the ideal of perfect
customer satisfaction.
products. Eventually U.S. companies
turned their attention toward Japan and
discovered Deming's quality philosophy.
In the 1970s and 1980s this philosophy
was also introduced at U.S. companies,
and in the late 1980s quality management
fi nally reached Europe. Some of
the fundamental principles of this philosophy
are stated below:
Quality is geared to the customer.
Quality is achieved by employees
in all sectors and at all levels.
Quality has several dimensions;
these have to be made
operational by applying
appropriate criteria.
Quality is not a goal but a
never-ending process.
Quality refers to services
as well as products.
Quality requires a proactive
approach and hard work.
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