This was a question that came up last week in a meeting. Given that there were both Commercial and Quality people in the meeting it generated some interesting discussion, particularly for me as it is fair to say I have worn both hats simultaneously for much of the last 5 years.
In a nutshell I guess the two viewpoints can be summarised as ‘what is the cost of investing in quality and the cost of not doing so?’ With the commercial realities facing all businesses now and the increasing regulatory environment that all businesses have to operate in it is easy to see how this debate arises. But I worry that this question misses the point and misses an opportunity for businesses. Given the above reality businesses have to invest in quality and they have to manage costs but I think there are several other questions businesses should be asking:-
How can we do quality smarter, we have smart technology and smart processes across business functions now, how can we replicate this in the quality environment?
How can we commercialise our quality, can we use quality as a USP, does a robust quality system actually save us money within our operations?
How can we make quality part of our culture, embed it in what all do and what we are?
John Finey
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