Dr. Milton Krivokuca

The supply chain has become a vital process contributing to products and services realized by organizations.

Last year, I wrote several articles exploring Quality 4.0. During my journey, I encountered various approaches that contributed to understanding quality in the context of digital transformation and organizational excellence. This article summarizes my previous findings and new insights on this evolving topic.

Quality 4.0 looks at how digitization improves industry processes. Despite over 10 years of focus, there's still no clear definition or knowledge base for Quality 4.0.

In the early 1980s, US automakers faced stiff competition from Japanese counterparts, prompting a shift towards prioritizing quality for customer satisfaction. This era marked the birth of ISO 9001 QMS, symbolizing a significant change in industry practices.

My informal observations of published white papers and interviews with colleagues support that quality is moving in the direction of Quality 4.0, but very slowly.

The topic of Quality 4.0 is rapidly becoming a legend due to its mysterious nature; it seemingly has no formal description. Very few people can confidently say that they have seen it or used it.