I feel like I just opened Pandora’s box when I typed those words. I have heard and read a lot of discussion on defining the word QUALITY. Stop and think about that for a moment. I expect you too have scratched your head at least once over the definition. I have discussed this with many people from varied backgrounds and skill sets. We all have different opinions.
If you are not aware, ISO is understood to be The International Organization of Standards. Hm, that would be IOS so, what is ISO? ISO is a derivative of the biblical period word ISOS meaning equal. The methodology of this is understood within the ISO community to mean: If you follow well defined and constructed instructions (process/procedure) then each and every time you follow the process, all outputs of the process will be equal.
So, what is Quality? Many say it is customer satisfaction. Some say a product free of defects. Others say products or services that are free of deficiencies. For products I like to refer to Quality as the moment you take a new toaster out of the box. You pull out the packing material and peel off the plastic protective wrap and are pleased to see this fancy new object. It has no sharp edges or corners. It’s surface is smooth and shiny and all in all it is symmetrical in all regards. No dings, dents or irregularities. As long as you can plug it in and find it functions as advertised, you are a satisfied customer!
On the contrary, say you purchased a new lawn mower. A mower in a box requiring some assembly. Okay, you open the box and like what you see until you get cut, scraped or nicked by sharp and jagged edges while assembling it. I’m not talking about the blade either. Wow, that shiny new mower isn’t so impressive anymore and is not making you very happy is it! I bought a suit I really liked, an impressive brand name. I was thrilled to have it until I took the tags off. You know the plastic ones that go through the fabric. Yes they do sometimes leave little holes in the material. Sometimes the holes are not so little! At that point I thought “well for what I paid they could have used adhesive tags and not put holes in my clothes!”…ugh. What about services? The lawn guy. Does he always do a good job? The people that rotated the tires on your car. Did they ding or mar your shiny mag wheels? The guy that changes your oil. Did he make a mess and leave greasy hand prints on your steering wheel? How about your financial adviser? Did she cost you a bundle in a bad investment?
Quality! What does it mean?
Have you ever seen what happens when an electrician wires a 220 or 440 volt circuit wrong. I have and I can tell you it is not pretty. It is however very expensive to correct. Even worse would be an aircraft component failure in flight. No happy customers there! What about that water heater you paid $800 for that sprung a leak just as the 6 year warranty expired!
Yes, Customer Satisfaction is a fantastic definition. But lets not forget the big C and the little c. There are many types of customers. Internal and external. It takes a variety of key characteristics to please each customer. My expectations as a Quality Inspector or Auditor are different from yours as the recipient of the product or service. We have all heard “you can’t please everyone all the time”. I beg to differ on that statement. If your organization has properly implemented a Quality Management System there is no reason that everyone will not be pleased.
In conclusion, my definition of Quality is “Repeatable Accuracy”. Repeatable Accuracy equals precision. Everyone I have discussed this with agrees that it sums up all aspects of customer satisfaction. Your feedback to this article is welcome.
Eric Johnson