Good quality management - good product?

What comes to mind when consumers hear the term "quality"? Probably good products and services that fully meet customers' requirements and needs.

Does effective quality management therefore have to guarantee that companies' offers are qualitatively above the average of the competition? No, because you have to distinguish between process and product quality.

Dimensions of product quality

In principle, product quality is understood to be the sum of the properties that determine the extent to which an article is suitable for an intended use. These properties can include, for example, service life, safety of use, reliability, cost-effectiveness or fitness for use and functionality. The overall quality of a product is composed of partial qualities that can also be distinguished from each other. Technical quality, functional quality or ecological quality are examples of partial qualities. These partial qualities can be formed for each differentiable property of a product. The distinction between subjective and objective quality is also essential. Objective, factual quality can be measured with technical and scientific methods. The subjective quality of a product, on the other hand, depends on the assessment of the respective user. Here, the requirements and priorities of the respective person flow in.

Quality management is process-oriented

Quality management (QM), on the other hand, defines quality in a process-oriented way. In principle, QM is made up of many processes that are interrelated. A process is understood to be all activities that are jointly geared towards achieving a defined goal. The result achieved forms the basis for the next activity. The aim of the process-oriented approach is to achieve the best possible results in the long term. Processes differ from company to company.

Which processes are necessary for the company standards?

The first step in implementing process-oriented quality management is to document the company's goals and environment, as well as the expectations of buyers and partners. Open feedback and communication is essential in this process. This approach is the most effective way to elicit the company's requirements. Before analysing individual processes, it is important to fix the desired goal and the prerequisites. Risks and opportunities should be calculated so that the required resources and activities can be planned. With the information at hand, the company can then identify which processes need to be fixed for the company's goals.

Determination of process structure and responsibility

The next step is to define the process structure of QM and to arrange the individual steps in the best possible order. To do this, it is necessary to identify how the sub-processes are connected, where they are suspended in the overall structure and what role they play. When determining the sequence of steps, it is important to ensure that it is economical and effective. It is essential to appoint a process owner who has important responsibilities. It is his or her responsibility to initiate the respective process, to monitor it and to optimise it. It is also indispensable for success that these so-called process owners of sub-processes work together cooperatively. Furthermore, they must not disregard the process structure as a whole.

Determine resource requirements, define activities

It is also essential to identify and document the resources required for the QM process. Not only material and financial requirements must be recorded. Time requirements, the number of employees needed or the technical infrastructure required must also be included in this analysis. As a last, but enormously important task before the start of the QM process, the procedure and the activities to be fulfilled must be defined. When describing the process that is then defined, diagrams and charts are particularly suitable for presenting the many dependencies and feedbacks in a clear and comprehensible way. Checklists also provide more transparency and comprehensibility. These approaches are also recommended for the documentation of the process. Of course, the individual sub-processes must also be constantly monitored, measured and evaluated. For this purpose, the necessary criteria must be defined in order to be able to adequately evaluate the results and efficiency of the processes.

Perfect QM process does not guarantee an above-average product

If a company implements the listed procedures in the best possible way, then it has optimal quality management. The sub-processes run perfectly, there is no potential for improvement to be identified. But this smoothly running process machine is by no means a guarantee for the customer that he or she will receive a better product or a superior service from this company. The company's managers may consciously decide to produce a product that is neither objectively nor subjectively superior in quality. Nevertheless, quality management may be perfectly implemented and executed. The processes may run optimally to achieve the highest profit with a mediocre performance in the market.