· To understand the extent of your problems and the opportunities quality improvements can offer, you first need to understand the total cost of quality in your business
· To do this you need to measure the costs of all aspects of quality, not just scrap and rework
· Your senior managers need to link responsibility for quality with customer satisfaction
· Everyone in the company must regard customer satisfaction and quality as essential factors for the future success of the business
· Quality procedures must satisfy the appropriate international quality standards but also reflect the needs and issues of your customers
· Quality manuals must be written:
o for a specific purpose
o concisely
o to be as easy as possible to understand, using clear, simply phrased and explicit statements and pictures
o with input from people who will undertake the particular tasks
o processes should be documented using clearly defined flow / decision diagrams
· Having written the quality manuals they should be:
o Updated on a regular basis
o Readily available
· All staff should receive training on quality:
o Managers need to know what features your customers use to assess quality
o All new recruits must be trained on quality as part of their induction to your company
o Existing employees should receive regular, ongoing training focussed on company quality procedures and to understand how they can improve quality performance
o All employees need to understand who your customers are and be given an in-depth understanding of the key elements of satisfaction for your customers
· If you want to obtain full benefit from this training, managers must provide regular feedback to staff on their quality performance
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