During my courses preparing quality professionals to successfully take certification exams offered by American Society for Quality (ASQ), one topic that constantly comes up is the challenge of getting organizational management to support quality initiatives.

It’s been said that for quality practices to make a real impact throughout an organization, the quality mindset must start at the top. 

Quality plays an important role in products and services for customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Inspection is a function of quality discipline. An inspection is, most generally, an organized examination or formal evaluation activity.

This month the ASQ/APQC Global State of Quality 2 Research will be released. ASQ and APQC have partnered again to examine the Global State of Quality. As the research did in 2013, the Global State of Quality 2 Research once again aims to further advance the world’s understanding of quality’s impact. The goal of this year’s report is to examine trends that have continued to evolve from the 2013 Discoveries report, as well as identify new trends within the quality industry.

Six Sigma is still one of the most popular methodologies in use today. As proof all one has to do is read the periodicals and textbooks or attend an ASQ section meeting or conference.

Organizations have always been faced with making sure that they have the knowledge to carry out the work of the company. Sometimes referred to as “tribal knowledge,” organizations are frequently challenged with the obstacle that there is knowledge within the company that is not passed on or only available to one or a few people. This lack of knowledge could lead to ineffective performance of the quality management system.

For improvement to occur, problems must be solved. Errors must be fixed. Systems must be more efficient.

If you recognize Praveen Gupta’s name, perhaps it’s because you read one of his more than 200 articles or 14 books. Or maybe you attended a conference in Chicago, Kuala Lumpur, or Zagreb and heard him speak. Perhaps you work at one of the more than 100 companies he’s worked with during his long career.

In manufacturing, quality is frequently synonymous with product quality. Continuous improvement projects and initiatives tend to aim to reduce waste and defects.

We will begin this month’s column, the first of 2016, with a scenario. It is a general scenario so consider your organization’s specifics and engage in this example.