I’ve received a lot of replays and of course, I would like to share some of them with you, and you are more than welcome to comment!
* Scott Gonsalves (@scottgonsalves): “You Can Always Do It Better (…process, strategy, service, people, measurement, learning, leadership…)”
* Marco (@zweverig): “Deliver want your customer wants against the agreed price and on time. Not less and not more (=extra costs)”
* Arturo Montero (@artmontero): “Meeting customer requirements every time.”
* Vikram Thouta: “Quality – Highly Motivated to make processes error proof at any point of time”
* Dean Applegreen: “Quality means… Life or Death.”
* Victor Fonseca: “Meeting or exceeding customer requirements.”
* Mathieu Bussels: “Quality is fulfilling the customers’ purpose in a way that matters to them. Without that purpose having been artificially created through an elaborate marketing campaign, by delivering a product and/or service that is worthy of human beings.”
* Wayne Mack: “I prefer to think of the qualities of a product or service. The overall quality of a product or service is the subjective priorization of the sum of its qualities.”
* Richard Steele: “Quality – A quantitative description of an output characteristic from a process – Measurable or not-measurable. Quality improvement – Altering the characteristic in a desired manner.”
* Kennie Yallop: “Quality means everything or nothing which is inherent in different people’s understanding. Based on ISO9000:2005 3.1.1 quality degree to which a set of inherent characteristics (3.5.1) fulfils requirements (3.1.2)
NOTE 1 The term “quality” can be used with adjectives such as poor, good or excellent.
NOTE 2 “Inherent”, as opposed to “assigned”, means existing in something, especially as a permanent characteristic.”
* Jim Myaard: “Quality is fulfilling the customers’ purpose in a way that matters to them.” Dr. Deming in “The New Economics” on page 2 of Chapter 1 said, “A product or a service possesses quality if it helps somebody and enjoys a good and sustainable market.” “
* Kahleong Cheong: “Quality to me is attaining the satisfactory and desirable outcome that matter to me. What the producers of products and services promise to deliver is fulfilled.”
* Hans Norden: “I like the description given by Robert Pirsig in his epic book “Zen and the Art of Motor Cycle Maintenance”. He calls quality the “continuing stimulus which our environment puts upon us to create the world in which we live.” He also recognizes that quality is different for different people because PEOPLE are different; they have different back grounds, experiences or as he puts it MYTHOS.
In our work we can choose to do a good job or a shoddy job and we KNOW the difference without having a concrete definition of quality; we just know! Whenever you see a craftsman totally absorbed in his/her work; when time stops, that’s quality and the craftsman will experience Peace-of-Mind, or as Deming would say “Pride of Workmanship”. Quality depends thus on the business environment or CULTURE. If the highest value professed by every decision taken by management is “Making Money”, then quality WILL suffer!!! As Deming said, Quality is the responsibility of MANAGEMENT! Unfortunately, those managers fail to appreciate the bigger picture relationship between Pride of Workmanship and lowering OVERALL cost.
Here’s a single observation; compare US-made coaches with European-made coaches and you’ll see or I should rather say HEAR the difference. The European culture (mythos) is more concerned with environmental issues and so manufacturers CHOOSE to focus more on, in this example, noise reduction.”
* Madhav Sinha: “Quality is really about poor quality, including the defects, deficiencies, rework, fix and repairs, frustrations, customer complaints, late deliveries, unkept promises, low morale at work, and wasted time, energy and money. Quality control teaches us how to restrict the effects and occurrences of these things. Quality assurance ensures they don’t happen. Quality management systematizes the affairs of a business and turns negatives into positives to make continuous improvements for the betterment of human lives. [Excerpted from my quote from ASQ’s monthly magazine, Quality Progress, August 2002, v.35/8]”
* Steve Eckhardt: “I think it was Henry Ford or someone of that era that said “Quality is doing what is right when no one is watching””
* John Royalty: “QUALITY IS MUTUAL COOPERATION BETWEEN PRODUCER AND PURCHASER, BETWEEN MANUFACTURER AND CUSTOMER. A CONTINUOUS FLOW BETWEEN THE TWO.”
* Imtiaz Jewel: “Quality simply means delivering to the customer what they expected. Thus, for example, if a product has the right configuration/features, does what it’s supposed to do, is reliable, is delivered on-time, and is well-supported, then . . . it’s a quality product!
One exp more: Quality means providing customer with innovative products or services characteristics/attributes and defects free which provide fitness for use.”
* Elena Parisio: “For me and the company where I work QUALITY means: Clients return, not products; We work for the expectations of our Clients and Satisfied clients are the capital of our Company”
* John O’Hanlon: “In simple terms: The job is done right first time when no one is looking, consistent delivery of a service/product to the “customers” specification/requirements!”
* Tim McMahon: “Quality” means different things to different people. We use the term but the concept and vocabulary of quality is elusive. If you ask someone to define the word “quality”, you may get a variety of answers” … “Quality is important to businesses but can be quite hard to define. The meaning of quality differs depending upon circumstances and perceptions. For example, quality is a different concept when focusing on tangible products versus the perception of a quality service. The meaning of quality is also time-based or situational.”
* Jude Ayeni: “Quality is about setting clearly defined boundaries of expectations and flawless execution of expectations with zero target deviation.”
* Reuben – CLSSBB, CQE:
“”Quality” to me means building, servicing, offering, and producing a service, process, or product ethically with the highest possible standards inherently involved. “Quality” means doing it right from the start not because a customer or standard says so, but because it is what we should do as a core value. “Quality” means being able to look at yourself in the mirror with satisfaction and pride knowing that your stamp is symbolically there for everyone to see and that you have done your very best because that is who you are as an individual, as a project team, as an organization…”
“November is a great time to beat the drum, put the spotlight on success, raise your voice, and initiate someone into the ranks of the aware. But let’s do it every month, shall we, until someone tells us the cost of quality has come down by half, and then half again. As consumers, patients, students, and citizens, we deserve good quality.” Agree!
Cheers!
