A Quick Look at Different Dimensions of Quality

To be successful, your business needs to maintain quality at all levels. Managing an organization is about quality – how good is the product, service, process, action, or decision, and how can it be improved?

An organization’s success depends heavily on quality management. Also, it provides a superior customer experience in the competition for customer relationships. Therefore, companies shall establish best practices to ensure products meet the highest quality standards. Ultimately, the goal is to increase customer satisfaction and drive business growth.

The quality of your products isn’t just about the finished products; it includes all your processes, systems, and people. Managing quality means constantly striving to achieve excellence – keeping your organization on track to achieve its goals and stay on top of its competitors.

Suppliers do not determine the quality of their products; their customers decide what they want from them and how much they’re willing to pay. Incompetence, not hard work or cost, defines ‘quality’ products, not the difficulty of making them or the cost. It is only what customers find valuable and useful that they pay for. Therefore, quality is the only thing that matters.

Quick Read: A Guide to Measuring Effectiveness of Quality Management Processes

It would be best to ask your stakeholders what quality means for your organization. It is essential to understand who your stakeholders are, their needs, and how to meet (or even exceed) those needs today and tomorrow to deliver quality in your organization. By stakeholders, we mean customers, suppliers, employees, and the community in which your company operates who are interested in the success of what you do.

However, you and your stakeholders must consider different dimensions of quality before developing a quality policy and strategy.

That’s what makes it stand out and makes it valuable from its competitors. Now let’s look at each dimension.

Different Dimensions of Quality

• Performance

A product’s performance characteristic describes what it does.

• Features

The performance of a product is primarily determined by its features. It’s what makes products and services stand out. So, to make their essential functions even more useful, they add extra functionality.

It can sometimes be difficult to distinguish between performance and feature dimensions.

• Reliability

An item’s reliability is its ability to perform over time as expected.

• Conformance

A product’s conformance is determined by how closely it follows its specifications.

• Durability

Essentially, durability measures the life of a product. A product’s usage life determines how long it can be used before deteriorating.

• Serviceability

The serviceability of a product refers to its ability to be repaired or fixed easily by the user. One way to measure this is how long it takes to repair and return to regular use of a faulty product.

• Aesthetics

In aesthetics, we talk about how something looks. This includes the weight, color, size, texture, packaging, and other aspects of a product’s physical appearance.

• Perceived Quality

The overall perception of quality is what customers think about a product. In addition, the brand’s name, price, salesperson, and marketing strategy are numerous factors.

In what ways does quality contribute to the success of your business?

Keeping up with the competition is crucial for businesses. Therefore, it is imperative to deliver superior products and services. Managing quality correctly begins with getting the correct information and following guidelines. Further, they maximize the efficiency of your business’s resources and reduce costs.

You can compete with your competitors in the long run by increasing your brand’s visibility. In addition, your business will benefit from them as they improve your products and operations.

Taking good care of your organization’s quality will enhance its brand and reputation, reduce its risks, improve its efficiency, increase profits, reduce waste, and position it for growth. As a result, staff members and customers are happier.

Improved profitability

Quality is strongly correlated with profitability. The higher the quality, the greater the return on investment (ROI).

Increased efficiency and consistency of products

Quality management ensures that products are reliable, durable, and perform well. A business can differentiate itself from its competitors by addressing these factors. Customer satisfaction and revenue increase when you consistently deliver quality goods to your customers.

Increased customer satisfaction

Consumers are becoming more demanding in today’s competitive market. Thanks to technological advances, consumers can access millions of brands and stores. Your revenue and brand will suffer if your products and services do not meet customer expectations.

Your brand’s protection and risk reduction

A company must consider the risks associated with its products after they leave the building. The customer experience can be adversely affected by recalls, for instance. Moreover, they may damage the brand’s reputation.

Lower Costs

Quality management systems and products are statistically linked to more customers and revenue. Great products are directly responsible for building a good reputation. You will gather referrals from happy customers who return for the same product or a different item.

Conforming to or exceeding compliance requirements

Some customers or laws may require adherence to a recognized quality standard. Several companies in the public sector require that their suppliers meet quality standards. Healthcare, food, and electrical products all fall under-regulated markets, where health and safety regulations are designed to protect consumers.

Cutting down on waste

If you cannot sell a product in your company, you must discard it. The more items that don’t meet the required standards, the more waste your business will produce over time. You will also waste a lot of things and money due to this.

Motivated employees

Additionally, quality management systems, such as ISO 9001, ensure that departments communicate clearly and have clear responsibilities. Thus, employee morale and performance are improved, and efficiency is increased.

Quality Management – Whose responsibility is it?

It is everyone’s responsibility to ensure quality in your organization. Quality is affected by different factors, including specifying requirements, meeting those requirements, or determining quality. Therefore, you must encourage your employees to maintain a culture of quality wherein everyone contributes equally.

Quality Management – The right tool to choose?

As customer demands and compliance requirements continue to grow, it has become necessary for enterprises to adopt more efficient ways of managing end-to-end quality.

The next-generation software solution like Qualityze EQMS Suite can help manage quality and all its dimensions efficiently. It eliminates the administrative workload while assisting the companies in meeting compliance.

Conclusion:

There is no universal definition of quality. Every individual has their own meaning of quality based on their experiences. Do we have a good explanation of quality? How to evaluate quality? A more objective definition of quality must take into account these eight dimensions.

You can also use it to set quality goals that can be aligned with the ongoing processes using the right Quality Management Software.

Please feel free to get in touch with us for any questions you may have about Qualityze capabilities via email at info@qualityze.com or on call at 1-877-207-8616.