Business, Thought, and Management Articles --- Quality Control Fundamentals --- Lessons from News
News of large corporate scandals, lawsuits related to quality troubles often appear on newspapers. Those scandals are the valuable lessons from something. We don't know when we might face similar troubles.
News of large corporate scandals, lawsuits related to quality troubles often appear on newspapers. Those scandals are the valuable lessons from something. We don't know when we might face similar troubles.
The news of quality troubles will help you to improve your company's quality system.
Read the news source carefully, and research the cause factors that have made them to "betray" their customers.
After analyzing the cause of it, let's see your company's quality system. Possibly, you will find your system has several weak points.
Looking back yourself referring troubles of news, you will notice something that you have never thought of before.
It is important to make it habit to review your own quality system based on the lessons from other quality trouble news.
*Return to Quality Control Fundamentals
Quality Target
To get anything done, you need a good target. No target, no results. You walk around without destination, you can achieve nothing. When you want to manage the quality of products and services, it is very important that you set goals in advance.
Quality Standard
In order to continue to provide products and services with consistent quality, reduce complaints from customers, quality standards are indispensable.
Pitfall
To reduce claims that damage the business, to obtain good feelings from our customers, and to maintain and enhance the brand image, strict quality control is very important. However, You need to be careful because there is a pitfall of the quality control.
Lessons from News
News of large corporate scandals, lawsuits related to quality troubles often appear on newspapers. Those scandals are the valuable lessons from something. We don't know when we might face similar troubles.
Mechanism Development
Even if you try to improve the quality of the product and improve the quality of the service, there are limits if you depend on the attention of the employees. Humans make mistakes and working for a long time will distract attention.
Simulation and Testing
Before you start to sell products and services, you will have to simulate and do testing. The objectives of simulation and test are to find out potential quality issues and to secure customer satisfactions.
Heinrich's Law
When you work, you sometimes get up accidents. You may get a fright for a moment you would be injured. You may pass defective products to customers. Or, you may fail in service to customers.
Reduce Dependency on Human
In many cases, quality control relies on human attention. Even if you use the tools, equipment, only your attention can pick up defects after all. You would be nervous, and get tired from work of quality control. Quality system must reduce dependency on human as much as possible.
Create Quality Manuals
It is essential to create manuals for quality control. Anything that affects quality of products and services must be written in manuals. There are various benefits of quality manuals.
Recording and Management of Inspection Data
Before items go into customers' hands or before we provide the services to customers, we usually inspect the product or service for any problems. Only after it can be confirmed that there is no problem by inspecting, we can offer that product and service to our customers.
Analysis of Inspection Data
Inspection data is a valuable source of information. Check the data securely by all means, and put on a variety of analyzes. By analyzing data you can obtain various information that were not seen in bare data.
Response to Customers
If you sell products, claims will come. If you provide services, some customers will complain. What made customers angry were not necessarily your defective products or services. Sometimes problems are in your response to customers.
Inertia
Gradually workers get used to when they come out and have a similar job for a long time. On continuing to deliver same products, provide same services, workers may lose attention to detail issues.
Crank and Overall Review
Expectations and quality demands of customers are gradually becoming increasingly severe. It is because it is natural that technology and quality is expected to improve on a daily basis in an intense compeittion society.
Hidden Dissatisfaction
In business there are various interactions between customers, employees, and suppliers. In these interactions, dissatisfaction occur in people's minds little by little. Dissatisfaction do not appear to the surface quickly. They will continue to accumulate in their hearts.
Failproof
As a way to reduce mistakes without relying on human concentration, there is some error proofing devices or so-called failproof. By adding failproofs onto the process, it is easier to notice the mistakes since defected products will stop at failproof.
Standardization
In order to reduce quality problems such as complaints, it is necessary to deliver products and services to customers stably. To that end, we must prevent workers from getting lost and doing uneven work with the mood of the day.
Investigation of Cause and Effective Measures
There are reasons for claims to occur. It is because there is a cause somewhere that defective items come out. The reason is that something should be somewhere to provide poor quality services. The important thing is not to mistake the cause.
PDCA Cycle
It is important that you take advantage of PDCA cycle for the thorough quality control, and are committed to improving the work process. Helpfulness of PDCA cycle is not limited to quality control, even to do any activity.
Quality Education
Quality control is the lifeblood of business. Only when customers are satisfied with your the products and services you provide, they will continue to buy products and services from you. Those who support the quality is your employees, education to them is essential for quality management.
