food for thought

Quality is similar to many people's view of China, they know it's there, they know it's important... but they've never paid it a visit so they don't understand it.

Customer requirements are relayed to an organisation by means of specifications. Organisations, be they industrial, commercial or governmental, strive to supply products and/or services intended to satisfy these customer requirements.

Increased global competition has unavoidably led to increasingly stringent customer expectations and in order to be competitive, and to maintain good economic performance, organisations need to implement and maintain efficient Management Systems.

Furthermore, there is increasing pressure to take responsibility for the effect one's business has on the environment, not to mention the responsibility an organisation has to the safety of its employees.

Customer specifications, legislation and regulations in themselves do not guarantee that the requirements for safety, health, the environment and quality will be consistently met. Consequently, the development of international and national standards has addressed these concerns.

The ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 standards provide guidelines to organisations, where compliance is fast becoming a pre-requisite for trade. (The ISO/TS 16949 relates specifically to the automotive industry).

If this hasn't already got you thinking, consider this:
If 20 customers are dissatisfied with your service,
19 won't tell you,
14 will take their business elsewhere.
Dissatisfied customers tell an average of 10 other people about their bad experience.
Satisfied customers tell an average of 5 people about their experience.
It costs 5 times more to attract a new customer than to keep an existing one!

A Management System, integrated or otherwise, based on the 9001, 16949, 14001 and/or 18001 standard will do the following for your organisation:

• Identify your weaknesses and facilitate the realisation of objectives;
• formalise your systems providing a framework within which they can be optimised;
• increase the level of control you have over operations;
• improve the efficiency with which you conduct your business;
• give your customers, shareholders and the general public confidence in your capabilities;
• provide employees with the knowledge and understanding of their role within the organisation, by focussing them in a common direction.