Business and Quality Planning Should be Integrated
COMPANIES WHO SUCCESSFULLY DO SO CAN MAXIMIZE PROFITS.
In their haste to improve bottom-line performance, companies often forget to integrate two important planning activities—strategic and quality planning. This is often due to a lack of understanding of the cause and effect relationships among strategy, quality, productivity, profitability and competitiveness. To maximize profits, organizations should align business objectives and priorities, at all levels of the organization, with the quality improvement process.
Organizations need to select quality improvement projects that link the strategic business objectives to their goals. If the strategy is to increase market share, focus projects on areas that have the greatest impact on future customers. However, if the business strategy is to increase profit on a specific product or service, projects should focus on reducing quality costs by reducing or eliminating errors and eliminating non-value-added activities or waste.