Quality has been recognised by companies as a key competitive factor in order to differentiate in a globalised market. To ensure quality that meets customer requirements, companies implement management systems that enable the management to plan, control, secure, and improve the quality of goods and services. To cover these tasks sufficiently, such quality management systems require resources that need to be budgeted. Quality management critics point out again and again that quality management does not make a direct value-added contribution to a company's success and the use of funds must therefore be kept at a minimum. The success of quality management systems is therefore attempted to be measured by monetary and non-monetary indicators. Quality-related indicators, in particular, are used to control the quality management, to provide strategic and operational goal orientation, to identify the quality situation as well as weaknesses, and to enable benchmarking with other sectors or companies. In practice, this means the determination of costs, benefits, and profitability. In a cross-industry survey, the Chair of Quality Science at the Berlin Institute of Technology in cooperation with the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology examined the current practices of quality controlling in Germany. For this purpose, companies in the manufacturing and service industries were asked for participation. With a total of 215 respondents, the study provides a comparative overview by which indicators German companies measure the effectiveness and the efficiency of quality management systems. The study reflects a large methodological and content diversity in quality controlling
Purpose Quality managers today require a holistic, overreaching view on the organization and its goals in order to plan the quality management organization (QMO) effectively. The purpose of this paper is to present the concept of a web application that aims to support quality managers in organizational planning tasks. The basis for the implementation is a previously developed planning method that builds on Product and Technology Roadmapping as well as Quality Function Deployment. It supports the QMO’s strategic development in line with the organization’s overall strategy. Design/methodology/approach Based on previous research that systematically identified the requirements toward a suitable planning method and a consecutively designed framework, a web application was developed. This process followed agile software development approaches, including test-driven iteration cycles and validation through a case-based user trial. Findings Standardized quality criteria for software development together with identified requirements for a suitable planning method provided a specified guideline to develop a web application. This application enables quality managers to effectively deploy the previously developed planning method. It proved successful in an initial field trial and creates a basis for integrated, computer-aided QMO planning. Originality/value With an integrated planning method that was implemented through a web application, quality managers could be effectively supported in developing the QMO in line with the overall strategy. As organizational planning tasks are reoccurring but not day-to-day business, moderated workshops that use the web application as a guiding tool and enable quality managers to focus on delivering information inputs appear to be a highly promising approach.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.