The following contributed article by ETQ's CTO Morgan Palmer was originally published on IndustryWeek. Palmer has been a thought leader in quality management technology for over 20 years and his position as the technical architect for ETQ makes him a key driver of innovation across the company's product line.
Companies who don’t foster a path towards operational excellence within their workforce could find that their employees are less engaged and, ultimately, less productive. According to a recently released report, organizations that prioritize both employee engagement and a culture of quality are likely to experience an increase in productivity and customer satisfaction. Forbes reported that a global survey of over 5,000 people by workplace management platform Wrike found that employee engagement was high, with 91 percent of respondents claiming that they had a personal commitment to a company’s goals and its overall success.
Cyber threats may be an unintended consequence of our connected society, but companies who don’t see digital supply chain management as a collective issue are leaving themselves open to quality pain points.
The end of the year is nigh. Less than a month to go until we barrel into 2020 and, to quote one of Sweden’s finest musical exports, we are approaching the final countdown. This is always a difficult time of year for companies. There is a delicate balance to be struck during the holiday season, especially when it comes to maintaining quality standards in the workplace. Employees might be looking forward to the festive period and calendars are likely to be filled with social events and pre-booked vacations - all of which can become distracting.
The ongoing digitization of society has made emerging technology the chief driver of change within existing work practices. This development can result in the idea that any technology that might turn a business optimization tool into a competitive differentiator is worth the investment.
The holiday season is fast approaching but the ETQ team is looking past the annual festival of over-indulgence and digging out our Panama hats and patterned shirts. And while vice is the last thing on our mind, the opportunity to inspire quality excellence in sunny Miami is already firmly inked into our calendars.
Most companies are well acquainted with the “visible” costs of poor quality. But these are just the tip of the iceberg compared to the deeper and more intractable “invisible” costs lurking below the waterline. It behooves companies that value quality leadership to fully understand and account for these hidden costs or risk losing consumer trust, brand reputation and, ultimately, business value.
Over the last decade, there has been a concerted effort by the quality community to raise awareness of the role that quality plays in both business optimization strategies and organizational growth. Quality is an ever-present part of life, and while the average person might not understand the impact that it has on their daily routine, the simple truth is that quality is often considered to be not only a benchmark for success but also a barometer for brand reputation and consumer trust.
Product recalls may be the least welcome part of the quality landscape, but companies that don’t put the right strategies in place to prevent these events happening are likely to keep repeating the same compliance and poor quality mistakes.
Companies that don’t factor in the need for a top-down culture of quality are likely to miss out on numerous opportunities for continuous improvement. Here at the ETQ Blog, the knowledge that quality matters is often our North Star. In fact, ETQ’s chief marketing officer Nina McIntyre was recently featured in Inc. magazine discussing how quality defines a brand, highlighting the vital importance of investing in the consumer experience.
Companies that don’t factor in the need for a top-down culture of quality are likely to miss out on numerous opportunities for continuous improvement. Here at the ETQ Blog, the knowledge that quality matters is often our North Star. In fact, ETQ’s chief marketing officer Nina McIntyre was recently featured in Inc. magazine discussing how quality defines a brand, highlighting the vital importance of investing in the consumer experience.
One of the defining elements of modern society is that consumers have more options when choosing what products they want to buy. On a basic level, freedom of choice is something that we all want, but when it comes to food safety, people are often at the mercy of a brand’s working and quality processes.
