Quality: Product, Service or Beyond

Is quality applicable only to a product or service, or is it much beyond than that? This is the discussion topic for this month. 

Paul, in his blog post,  says, "For some executives, their understanding of quality is exclusive to product. For others, it’s the improved performance of the enterprise, which includes the product/service".   

I believe that today's customers perceive quality at an Enterprise or an Organization level while buying products or availing services.  An Enterprise, typically, encompasses both product and service quality.  For a top-class Enterprise, service quality is blended to the process of creating high quality products.  Let us look at few examples (see below) where service quality is evident as part of product quality and vice versa.

Product Quality: 
i) When Apple introduces a new product, say iPAD 3, most customers tend to buy that product just by looking at the Apple brand.  Apple indirectly conveys an embedded quality in the product that they sell.  Here, for customers, quality is already inbuilt to the process that produces Apple products.

ii) Toyota cars, for example, are of high quality is the perception of majority of customers across the world.  Many customers firmly believe that Japanese car manufacturers follow total quality management and  continuous improvement processes which, in turn, enable them to produce good and reliable cars.

Service Quality:
i) Maruti, the largest auto manufacturer of India, is perceived as the best "after sales service" provider in the Indian auto industry.  Maruti cars are often sold in larger numbers than competition, mainly due to their high service quality and cheaper spare auto parts.  Customers prioritize high quality service and are, often, least bothered about the product being purchased.

ii) McKinsey brand itself brings a great amount of confidence and high quality feeling for a customer hiring them for consulting engagements.  Customers tend to pay them a lot higher than other consulting firms.  
 
The above examples convey that "Quality" should be every where.  It should be visible physically as part of the product and could be perceived as part of service offered.   Older schools of thought looked at this as "Quality Control" and "Quality Assurance".  Today's world understands quality at Enterprise level - be it product quality or service quality, and  customers know to measure Enterprise quality.     

Quality of Government

The Government of a country plays a critical role in ensuring safety and security of its citizens and foreign visitors.  To ensure high standard of living, the quality of services offered by the Government must be high. Government's role is important in ensuring high quality of services in sectors such as education, health care, communication and Information Technology(IT).  The quality of a government is often reflected in the services it offer and the economic status of the country.  Thus, developed countries are often seen a step ahead of developing countries in providing quality services.

I lived in the United States during the period 2002 and 2009.  I have observed that the government of United States is doing a relatively good job in offering quality government services when compared to several other countries, including India.  I believe that government's superior IT system enables US government to achieve service excellence. The Police, Motor Vehicles Department, Social Security, IRS etc., offer excellent and prompt service.  Getting things done right the very first time is the mantra visible at various government offices.  Social Security Number (SSN) serves as a great tool in tracking citizen requests and ensuring quality across the country.  Not many countries have such an efficient mechanism to track and provide service to its residents. 

That being said, things are improving in developing nations such as India.  Planning Commission of Government of India has come up with the "Aadhar" project of UIDAI, the Unique Identification Authority of India, focused to provide identification for each resident across the country.  Considering the high population in India, UIDAI has build an efficient platform to deliver welfare services to Indian residents.  Another great initiative by the Indian government is the RTI (Right To Information) act.  The RTI mandates timely response to citizen requests for government information.  The benefits offered by RTI are amazing and every Indian now understands the value it provides to its citizens.   Information Technology in India is growing at an extremely high pace.  India can now issue fresh passports in as quick as 7 days, one of the quickest across the world.

While it is glad to see quality initiatives of various governments, inefficiencies can also observed in some areas.  At times, politicians misuse their powers which bring the quality of government services down.  Poor economic policies and extreme market conditions often create turbulence in offering quality services in certain nations. 

It is nice to see Paul coming up with such an important topic for this month's discussion.  Way to go ASQ in spreading the voice of quality - as always, across continents.

Quality Professionals: The Happy Group of People

It is great to learn that 'Software Quality Assurance Engineers" have the most happiest job (per Forbes magazine) in the US.  In most software companies, Software Quality Assurance Engineers' (QA Engineers) primary job is to test the software delivered by developers/programmers.  The work load of these QA Engineers increase exponentially few days before the final software delivery and implementation period.  Testing and Re-testing is very common in the software development world and can be a tiresome exercise for many.  But these QA Engineers are happy, as their hard work is to ensure a quality product and, therefore, a delighted customer.  It is said that 'Hard work and regular Practice  brings Perfection and Happiness for successful people. 

Paul asks a good question though - Are quality professionals happy?   Yes, I believe they are.  Here, I would share my experience.  During 2006, I got an opportunity to participate in a workshop  at ASQ headquarters in Milwaukee.  I met an awesome team comprising of ASQ employees and members.  The entire 2 days of workshop was fun with an opportunity to learn about and work with a happy group of quality professionals, who basically were entrepreneurs, NASA employees, IT professionals, Teachers and what not.  Over the last decade, through ASQ and in the professional world, I have interacted with many happy Quality professionals.  The message is that Quality professionals across the world are happy. 

I invite you to read about the 'Quality First' commitment of TVS Motor Company (TVS).  Total Quality Management is the strength of companies like TVS.  The QA team at TVS does a great job.  The beauty here is that all their employees, not only QA professionals, are high quality conscious and passionate about quality.  I know some of these employees who honestly practice quality techniques such as 5S and Kaizen at home.  Bottom-line, quality is in their blood and keep them happy.

Every year, during the QQuest conference conducted by Anna University in Chennai, quality professionals from various companies and schools participate in various competitions related to quality and, also, present technical papers.  I have been to these conferences and, trust me, it is great to see a happy group of quality professionals from varied industries.