NASA. Volkswagen. BP. It’s not hard to find examples of quality gone awry. The consequences of the Challenger disaster, VW’s Dieselgate, and the Deepwater Horizon were tragic and far-reaching. While these are some of the most well-known incidents, stories of quality failures are numerous and almost constant.
Murphy’s Law seems to apply to all areas of manufacturing and technology: What can go wrong, will go wrong. In many cases, preventing problems is a complex interplay of factors and stakeholders. But one thing is certain. Pretending that nothing unfortunate will happen is not the way to prevent disaster; a quality system should not depend on luck. Risks are ever-present and it pays dividends to think about them before they happen.