Towards a quality oriented society

Jim Spears

We all have a part to play in a quality driven society. When I joined MQE 10 years ago, I said the role of ISO 9000 auditor is finished. They will be required if they can do much more than ISO 9000 with integrated management. I started off as an apprentice in Scotland and from the very first day I was involved with Quality. The company made motors and generators for power stations. I have spent my life since then involved in quality someway or the other. I am President of the Institute of Quality, UK for three years now. I am also the fellow of the Institute. Peter Drucker, management guru once said “Quality of a service or product is not what is built into it but what the customer or buyer gets out of it.” It is true nowadays. Earlier it used to be “We know what the customer wants”. That no longer happens. Everything is customer driven. It starts from the housewife. They know what product that they need to lok for in a supermarket and companies need to innovate to keep one step ahead.

If the manufacturer does not know what the customer wants or thinks he knows what the customer wants –those types are the `dinosaurs’ of the world . You can either be a dinosaur or a dolphin. Every guru has tried to define quality. If you look at the dictionary you will get definitions, the manufacturer has a definition. But to me it is simple- it is the ability to meet customer expectation. Everything is customer driven. That is the foundation for getting repeat business. A company can get a good name if that can provide a good service. For eg. I will give the example of my own suit that I wear now. This suit was made in Sri Lanka. It is a good one but doesn’t contain the tailor’s name on it. I can go to Mark & Spenceers, UK and get the same material, same suit, with Marks & Spencer name on it and they charge `X’ pounds more. I could go to Pierre Cardin, I could get exactly the same suit, same material which has got a Pierre Cardin name on it and that is going to cost me lot of money. Material hasn’t changed, they have sold on the name. They have used the reputation to get more out of the product. Earlier manufacturing was confined to geographical boundaries. The UK manufacturer will manufacture only for UK, an Indian manufacturer only for India and so on. Now in a globalised society there are billions of citizens and each one of us is a user of a goods and services. If you do not get a good service it is sticks in your mind. And you are most likely to tell your friend. I had this experience with my cell phone in Mumbai when I came from Dubai. I could not call from my cellphone and each time I had to make a call I had to go to the hotel lobby or used the room telephone. When you do not have a good experience with a product or service you will tell it to your friends. Customer in a free market has the freedom of choice. Consumer expectations and consumer buying behavior is being triggered by a lot of factors. One is the increase in income and greater choice available. Educational levels have increased, therefore, consumers are more aware of what is happening and this has more to do with the media explosion. Aspiration levels of the consumer plays a great role in what to expect from a product or service. There are many socio-cultural, socio-economic changes that are taking place. There is increased purchasing power at all levels. Consumers want the product to work in a `plug and play’ environment. Let it be any product—DVD, TVs, microwave ovens etc. It has to work the very first time. Safety, legality, quality they expect as given.

In U.K. the consumer market has changed tremendously in the last 30 years. Now every household in U.K. has a phone. Thirty years ago only 40 percent had phones. Number of tumble dryers have increased, home computer has gone up, there is surge in compact discs. Those who come up with innovation fast are the ones that survive. Thirty years ago, 50 percent of the UK population did not have a car. Now it has come down to 13 percent. Number of households with two or more cars have increased dramatically. Social and ethical issues are being intensified by pressure group activity. As long as there is media pressure more countires have to come up with regulation to stop child labor, unfair working conditions as the European Union has set by allowing only 40 hours of work per week per person. When I joined as an apprentice we used to work very long hours. Ethical concerns are greater in Europe than in other parts of the world. Environmental expectations are also on the rise. We have a huge problem in Europe. We can’t get rid of all the fridges a the moment because of Chloro-Fluro Carbons. We cannot take them to a dump as we used to and they are stockpiled until an appropriate safe technology of destruction is found. We cannot therefore ignore the end customer and he is driven by quality and expectation. Many of the manufacturing industries of UK are no longer there. They have moved to other parts of the world. As much as 90 percent of the call centers are based in India. China is going to be a major competitor in manufacturing. I am traveling to China three or four times a year. I am amazed by the developments which includes the great importance attached to education. India should also give the same importance in view of the fact that it also has a large population; there fore tremendous opportunities.

Commitment to quality is going to be there at all levels. In many organizations it starts with the CEO. But in my organization it starts with me. If I cannot show concern to quality then rest of the organization can say, why bother. Retailers now drive large global supply chains with thousands of product lines, thousands of suppliers. Many super Markets are working on the `just in time’ principle. We are not looking at quality management alone. Environment, health, safety are also being looked at more and more. In Dubai, they have a huge problems of health and safety in construction sites. They are thinking of a legislation to improve the situation. The number of companies that are looking at social responsibility as one of the requirements for purchasing is increasing greatly and certification bodies have been asked to do that. There are several major areas for audition and not many auditors can do that. An ISO 9000 auditor can probably look at only two or three areas. That is why I say the role of the auditors are changing. Certification bodies should also change so that they can give what the customer wants.