In today's rapidly changing environment, what people expect from organizations keeps shifting. To keep up, companies need to adjust their products and/or services that stand out from their competition. Whatever a company offers, customers will use it and decide if it meets their needs and feels high quality. While the expectations around these products and services may shift, maintaining and delivering quality remains essential. Quality is frequently regarded as a mindset rather than a standalone activity, and when this perspective is adopted, it can have a positive impact throughout all levels of a company.
What is Quality?
The term "quality" serves both as a noun and an adjective. Most organizations use quality as an adjective associated with its product or services. As an adjective applied to activities or deliverables, it typically implies excellence or a high standard. Organizations often differentiate from their competitors by offering services or products that excel at delivering their quality promises to their customers.
However, the definition of good quality is subject to change as consumer preferences shift over time or their needs evolve.
How Does Quality Need to Evolve Overtime?
The evolution of mobile phones exemplifies how definitions of quality for products and services adjust with technological advancements and user demands.
Early mobile phones were bulky status symbols, and the introduction of texting in the 1990s expanded their functionality. In the 2000s, cameras and internet capabilities transformed phones further. Modern smartphones feature multiple cameras and advanced technologies, illustrating how adaptation is crucial for sustained relevance. Only certain mobile phone companies have successfully navigated these changes, focusing not just on features but also on creating unique value propositions through consistent quality and reliability.
Consistency in the delivery of quality service is vital. Quality Management Systems (QMS) and well-defined processes that capture lessons learned and standardize operations help organizations meet internal goals, comply with global specifications and regulatory requirements, and maintain consistent service levels.
How Can an Organization Consistently Deliver Quality to Their Customers?
To be effective, a QMS must evolve to reflect organizational growth and external changes, making continuous updates to ensure the ongoing delivery of quality products and services.
Furthermore, engaging teams in regular training and fostering a culture that values quality can significantly contribute to maintaining consistency and quality standards.
Open communication channels and feedback mechanisms also enable an organization to identify gaps and quickly implement corrective actions. By integrating customer feedback and industry best practices into QMS updates, organizations can respond swiftly to market trends while maintaining compliance and excellence. This proactive approach can reinforce trust with stakeholders and customers, and also help position the organization as a leader in quality within their industry.
How is Quality Measured?
Quality is often monitored using metrics — data points that track organizational performance. As each organization's goals differ, the chosen metrics reflect their unique priorities and strategic vision. Thus, metrics should be selected based on factors most relevant to the quality of their products or services.
Common quality metrics might include defect rates, customer satisfaction scores, process compliance or time-to-market, depending on the industry and business objectives. Regularly analyzing these metrics enables organizations to identify trends, address emerging issues proactively and implement continuous quality improvements (CQI) in their processes.
By aligning quality metrics with both internal goals and evolving market expectations, organizations can ensure that their products and services consistently deliver quality value to their customers, reinforcing their reputation for excellence.
How Does Actalent Ensure Quality When Partnering with Clients?
Actalent centers its operations around delivering quality in all projects and engagements, utilizing its internal QMS, AMPed, which is designed to be flexible for projects across various industries, including avionics, automotive, medical devices, industrial products and consumer goods. The Global Excellence Team within Actalent conducts internal quality checks, provides tools for monitoring project quality and ensures AMPed remains current with industry developments.
Actalent offers tailored solutions in several key areas related to quality:
- Quality Development – Assisting organizations in establishing QMS frameworks to standardize activities across departments
- Quality Assessment – Evaluating internal QMS against specific quality or industry standards
- Reliability Engineering – Ensuring systems and processes meet performance expectations
- Product Quality – Verifying product behavior against requirements and relevant standards
Actalent has experience across different market segments, supporting clients in managing quality systems and helping maintain products that consistently align with defined standards.
Leveraging our extensive industry expertise, we’re able to guide clients through the establishment, assessment and enhancement of a client’s QMS frameworks, ensuring that quality processes are standardized across departments, that products reliably meet performance and compliance expectations, and that any deviations are quickly identified and addressed. This comprehensive quality support helps organizations achieve operational excellence, maintain compliance with relevant standards and build lasting trust with their stakeholders.
Overall, quality is considered essential for organizational relevance. To sustain high-quality products or services, organizations benefit from documenting processes through QMS and ensuring these systems are regularly updated. Quality should never be a destination, but a never-ending continuous journey in delivering excellence, building trust and having a meaningful impact on any product or service.
Connect with Actalent to help establish, assess or enhance your current QMS.
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