My informal observations of published white papers and interviews with colleagues support that quality is moving in the direction of Quality 4.0, but very slowly.

2.0 — I’m guessing that just by writing this number, in this format, many of you know where I’m heading.

The topic of Quality 4.0 is rapidly becoming a legend due to its mysterious nature; it seemingly has no formal description. Very few people can confidently say that they have seen it or used it. 

Quality is not a single field, but in fact the integration of knowledge from many fields of science, technology and management. This can be seen by looking at some of the quality gurus and their more well-known contributions.

Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing is a song by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell from 1968. The idea expressed in the song was so strong that it was not long until it was co-opted by commercialism.

So how might Quality 4.0 affect you? Let’s take another look at what it is.

Quality 4.0 integrates the features from Industry 4.0 with traditional quality tools to achieve operational excellence, improved overall performance, and innovation. Quality 4.0 combines people, processes, and technologies to accomplish these goals, along with complete digitalization of quality management systems theory. 

High QA has released Version 5.1 of its innovative Inspection Manager™ (IM) software. This latest version features next level Quality 4.0 standards, increased automation and enhanced workflows.