As quality professionals we continually find ourselves engaged in conversations asking, “What happens after Six Sigma and lean?”

During the past 30 years, quality has been a major area of contention for many companies. Companies with better quality products have historically had an edge in the marketplace. However, Dr. Juran and others have warned that a competitive strategy based on quality alone might not continue to be effective at capturing market share.

The words effectiveness and efficiency are used often and, at times, there seems to be a fine line between the two terms.

From my perspective, the human side of quality is at least as important as the technical perspective. One can teach people to use quality tools but can’t teach them to have passion, dedication and commitment.

Whether on the shop floor or at home, the journey made and effort expended toward your goals is the real accomplishment.