Are You Missing Your Best Quality Improvement Ideas?

According to the book "The Innovator's Toolkit", companies tend to focus on one appealing quality improvement idea at a time. However, currently, more than a quarter of businesses are missing their best ideas and certain things that would improve their quality. They are also losing ground in customer satisfaction and performance. So what can you do if your company is missing out on its best ideas? Well firstly make sure you know what your company's goals are, then make these ideas visible to employees and managers. Power up these concepts by giving people the tools they need to implement them in real life. Make sure you make your best employees feel that their ideas are valuable, and give them credit for helping reach the company's goals. Focus on improving quality of your products or services, as this is what your customers will notice first. Finally don't forget to get customer feedback at every step of the way. Having a clear customer focus will ensure that you address any problems early on, and ensure that you keep delighting customers with better quality services than those provided by your competition.

To know more about the best practices for quality improvement in organizations, I would recommend reading "The Innovator's Toolkit" by Steven D. Eppinger.

(Source: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/are-you-missing-your-best-quality-improvement-ideas%3A-soumya/)

The innovations in technology surround people as they carry out their daily life. From artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, Augmented and Virtual Reality, to robots and automation; people are continuously being affected by the innovations. Nowadays the vast amount of technological innovations increasingly contribute to the increasing complexity in business operations. Therefore the business leaders should develop new methods in order to increase the awareness and utilization of these technologies to achieve quality improvement.

In order to maintain a competitive edge and be a leading company in an innovative environment, quality control should be an integral part of management system. The quality control management system should be designed to manage the emerging quality challenges and risks in order to sustain the business competitiveness and performance.

The Future of Quality Improvement will be shaped by the following few factors: 

Technology has allowed organizations to improve quality from a single source. One of the methods utilized is through concepts such as Lean Six Sigma. Lean Six Sigma is a systematic process for improving business processes by reducing waste and increasing customer satisfaction by focusing on eliminating defects through following of basic statistics tools, DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control). This allows organizations to achieve continuous improvement on their systems. Organizations such as Boeing, Philips, Toyota have utilized this method to improve quality. Another new technology that has recently been developed is the Six Sigma Black Belt.

In addition to Lean Six Sigma, Six Sigma Black Belt training provides a broader perspective on the quality improvement system. This allows employees to have a better understanding of quality principles and techniques which offer them a higher level of expertise in their field of work. This degree is accredited and supported by ASQ (American Society for Quality). 

In order for organizations to achieve continuous quality improvement and goal attainment it is necessary for companies to define their strategy. This can be achieved through strategic planning and implementation of activities that aligns with the requirements set out in the strategic plan.

In order to effectively define the strategy, it is necessary to identify the stakeholders, analyze their expectations, match them with customers' expectations, and then define the value that a company can bring to their stakeholders. This will help organizations to develop strategies that will help them achieve optimum quality. The strategy implementation will require certain policies and procedures for implementation of proposed strategies. These should be in accordance with how it is defined in the strategic plan.

The Six Sigma Green Belt training course is an entry-level program for professionals who want to begin a career track in quality or those that already have started working within a quality environment and want to expand on their knowledge of quality principles and techniques. With Six Sigma Green Belt training, they are able to obtain the basic knowledge of six Sigma and Goodman's approach to quality management in a quicker and more efficient manner. This training program can be utilized by professionals working within industries such as quality control, supply chain management, product development, engineering, manufacturing and service industries.

Quality improvement is not only aimed at improving the operations and processes of an organization but also towards building a competitive advantage.

Businesses that have developed a competitive edge can achieve new and innovative business strategies that can be beneficial especially in turbulent times. The continuous quality improvement gives the competitive edge in terms of innovation, creativity and performance improvements which will assist organizations in gaining new growth opportunities for long-term success. The customers will determine whether an organization can survive in the market.

Quality improvement is a continuous process and is necessary for businesses to remain competitive in today's challenging business environment. Proper planning and implementation of activities within organizations will assist them to achieve quality improvement goals. Attaining the optimum level of quality towards building a competitive advantage should be a top priority for businesses today.

There are several ways to improve the quality of products or services provided by an organization, as well as enhance overall internal business processes and standards.

The goal of quality improvement is to have a company that can achieve the competitive advantage needed to survive in an ever-changing business climate. The implementation and management of all seven S's, from Six Sigma Black Belt training course, to improve the performance and competitiveness of an organization. This will enable organizations to improve on what they do best, whether that be in manufacturing products or services and offer goods or services that are both more advanced and cost effective for the customers.

Methods that should be implemented in order to improve quality include the following:

The process starts with the customer, stakeholders and suppliers, and continues until it reaches the manufacturer/service provider. The processes that an organization can implement to achieve an optimum level of quality towards building a competitive advantage are:

The definition of each process is as follows:

There are three methods used within these processes. They are: 

Quality management systems require an integrated approach by all members of staff. This achieved through participation in improvement activities and projects. Continuous improvement can also be achieved by implementing effective training which will enable managers, executives and staff to have a new perspective on how they work towards achieving quality goals.

Conclusion

During the process of improving quality, all stakeholders will be involved. In order to achieve continuous improvement, all processes need to be considered and all stakeholders needed to be involved. This is because in today's business environment it is imperative that businesses have a clear understanding of the implications that their actions have on quality and process improvement. Continuous improvement is needed for organizations to remain in the market.

Quality management has evolved from a functional focus to one that takes into account the holistic nature of an organization's performance (Ford and Heeringa, 1997). The BSCQ model™ provides a useful framework for considering this holistic focus.