The Not So Hidden Costs of Ignoring Quality Control

Image Source: Dreamstime

Numerous organizations today run their day-to-day operations without a program or system for quality management in place. If a business is content with its financial position and is least bothered whether its product will be viable 50 years down the line, then the quality management system in this scenario is redundant. It is rendered useless if the organization does not have an aim to leave a legacy behind or to create a long-lasting brand.

However, in a scenario where an organization aims to grow its market share and create an impression on its customers as well as investors, a quality management system becomes a vital tool in its arsenal. The key aspects of an effective quality management system exist only by happenstance in a company, and not as a whole, but more often on a piecemeal basis. Experts advise that, once you are aware of the quality management system, do not spend a day without it. Take the advantage of the checklists and quality management system to be a step ahead of your competition.

An effective system of quality management has 8 important principles:

1. Strong leadership
2. Customer focus
3. Process approach
4. Involvement of people
5. Continuous improvement
6. System approach
7. Creating value for suppliers, clients, and the company
8. Decision-making based on actionable insights

In the absence of a formal quality management system, a majority of the organizations lack most of these key principles or elements. Unless these 8 principles are not employed in unison, organizations will not able to realize the entire benefits of the quality management system. Employing a few of these principles and ignoring the rest will not assist an organization to bring about efficiency in its processes.

Risks Associated with Ignorance of Quality Control

Here are a few examples of partial engagement of the quality management process and the risks faced by organizations:

• The absence of a continuous improvement system hinders the growth of a product and causes it to lag behind its competitors who continue to improve and enhance the functionality and quality of its products. An effective quality management system identifies deficiencies in a product and at the same time ensures that the products delivered to customers are defect-free. A continuous improvement system can alleviate the manufacturing costs of an organization by reducing the number of defective products. It can also assist in increasing production via refinement and continuous analysis of the manufacturing process.
• The absence of a customer satisfaction system will encourage customers to look out for other options and organizations which value their needs and requirements. An effective quality management system has to have a continuously improving customer satisfaction program at its core. An organization that does not value customer satisfaction is liable to lose customers to its competitors who respond positively to the demands of customers. In today’s hyper-competitive world those products that will win the hearts of consumers, will be the ones that continuously improve their quality. Such products will continue to garner a larger audience, thus reducing the market share of its competitors.
• The absence of a document control and management program will hinder the growth of an organization as it will lack a formal point of initiation. An effective quality management system lays down the requirements of periodic review, approval, and development of procedures that govern the organization’s operations and processes. In the absence of detailed documentation, the workforce has to operate as it deems fit with a not recognized method of product control and no accountability. Employees who leave the organization after working for long terms, take vital information with them, which leaves other employees clueless and the business in jeopardy. Without documentation it becomes impossible to pinpoint the cause of defects in the processes, and thus makes it highly difficult to employ corrective actions. This causes the company extra costs, as they at times have to scrap the entire process.

Conclusion

An organization can be affected adversely in the absence of a formal quality management system. It can also prevent a business from attaining new contracts and collaborating with top-tier companies. An effective quality management system requires the supplies to a certain business have a defined quality control system of their own. When companies adhere to the guidelines mentioned in the quality management system, they expect their suppliers to comply with the same.

The absence of effective quality management systems deprives a business of making bids or attaining new contracts, which limits its ability to expand its position and outreach. Checklists and quality management system helps organizations to perform efficiently and effectively. Hence, quality management systems are of high importance in today’s hyper-competitive world and need to be adopted by companies across industries and functions.