Most quality departments are still doing things the old fashioned way: measure, collect, compare, respond, fix, and repeat. This reactive, legacy approach is, of course, vital for any successful company, but in this data-driven age of smart manufacturing and Industry 4.0, it’s not enough. Fortunately there is hope, as forward-leaning manufacturers have begun to re-imagine the role of quality. According to a joint report by ASQ and APQC, “a growing 36% of organizations consider quality a strategic asset and competitive differentiator.”
Holly Lyke-Ho-Gland, a process and performance principal research lead with APQC, noted in an IndustryWeek article that “mature organizations’ quality systems tend to focus on proactively creating value rather than simply being relegated to compliance or improvement activities. By doing so, the quality function becomes a strategic partner and can quantify the financial value of its efforts.”