There are 14,800 searches on Google monthly for "What is Quality". Impressive!
1,540,000,000 search results. About 1 million different answers.
This seems like such a simple question, yet there are numerous interpretations of what constitutes quality. You will see Lean, Six Sigma, KanBan, Process, System, etc.
Crosby gave a very simple answer that resonates with the implementation of ISO 9001:2015:
"Quality is conformance to requirements."
The introduction to ISO 9001: 2015 states:
"Consistently meeting requirements and addressing future needs and expectations poses a challenge for organizations in an increasingly dynamic and complex environment."
My translation is that your competitor will cut your legs off if customer requirements are unmet. There is really no need to overthink quality and use esoteric definitions. You are in business for one reason: You offer a product or service that the market is willing to buy. When you make it difficult to do business with your company by not conforming to customer requirements, then your competitor will step in and exceed those requirements—and can even charge more for their products and services.
ISO 9001:2015 Section 4.2 Understanding the needs and expectations of interested parties is a succinct definition of What is quality-
"The organization shall monitor and review information about those interested parties and their relevant requirements."
It is time to move past the concept of quality as a combination of checklists, procedures, and forms.
The Kano model is a great tool for quality thinking in ISO 9001:2015. Do the things that delight your customers and stop doing those that detract.
What do you think? Leave your comments below.
What is the Kano Model?
The Kano Model is an insightful way of understanding, categorizing, and prioritizing 5 types of Customer Requirements (or potential Features) for new products and services.
It was created in the early ’80s by Japan’s professor Noriaki Kano but continues today as an essential tool for all organizations independent of industry or size. The main purpose of the Kano Model is:
- To remain competitive, all product and service developers need to understand and communicate 5 universal categories of customer requirements.
- To show how these 5 universal categories can influence satisfaction and dissatisfaction.
- To show how 2 of the categories add value, 2 of the categories detract from value, and 1 of the categories creates New Value!
- To help organizations understand their customer needs better than their customers understand their own needs.
- To provide a mechanism to help organizations understand and classify all potential customer requirements or features into these 5 categories so they can prioritize development efforts on the things that most influence satisfaction and loyalty. The Kano Survey does this or sometimes called a Kano Analysis.
Source: https://www.kanomodel.com/