[Fwd: Is quality a fad? Is quality dead?]

[Mike Clark]

> With regard to the question, "is quality dead" I
> think the response would have to be a resounding
> No! Corporations, I believe, understand that
> Quality is an essential part of their business, as
> essential as understanding your market or showing
> a profit at the end of the year. I think what is
> driving the change in the Quality arena is
> competition. For years we have relied on "Quality
> Departments" or "Quality Professionals" to catch
> mistakes and provide solutions to eliminate the
> "Root Cause", we did this by employing Inspectors,
> Quality Engineers,
> Quality Auditors, Material Review Boards,
> corrective action centers and the
> list goes on. Business viewed these functions as
> eating into overhead budgets, as more often than
> not the monetary gains produced were difficult to
> measure, intangibles to most businesses. In
> today's market I see a shift away from Quality
> departments (down sizing if you will) and
> emphasizing the importance of quality through out
> the entire work force. So in response to the
> question is quality dead I would refer you to an
> old business axiom; "you can eliminate the middle
> man but you can't eliminate his function" I think
> the same could be said about Quality and their
> evolving role in the future of business.

Mike Clark
mcl...@ksaits.com