Quality affects
a company in a variety of ways, from productivity and profitability to customer
satisfaction and public perception. In addition, quality affects the overall
operating costs of a company. Focusing on quality helps keep a company strong
in all areas.

In this article
I highlight three effects on how poor quality can affect your organization.

Influencing
Customer Satisfaction

Quality has a
direct bearing on customer satisfaction. If a company produces a quality
product, satisfied customers will rank that company higher in surveys than
companies that fail to provide quality products or services. In addition,
dissatisfied customers are more vocal in their criticisms of a company with
quality problems. Various websites will rank different companies according to
customer satisfaction and quality products. Poor companies may get an initial
sale of a product or service but it will not create repeat customers.

Causing
Problems with Productivity

Poor quality
costs a company a significant amount of money in terms of productivity
problems. If a company uses low-quality parts, systems break down, regardless
of any high-quality parts also used. Low-quality parts can cause mechanical
breakdowns, as well as work slowdowns or even stoppages. If quality is not a
proactive measure, employees will spend their time on inefficient process and
fixing incidents on a regular basis. It is crucial to find out which processes
are inefficient and how to improve them.

Impacting
Company’s Profitability

Poor quality
can have a significant impact on a company’s profitability. While using less
expensive parts and equipment might cut costs in the short term, the long-term
effects might be far more expensive. This could also be a lack of quality in
human, physical, financial or knowledge factors that are needed to perform
business processes.

Good quality
increases profitability. When employees are engaged in a work environment in
which teamwork is emphasized and where quality products are the goal, the work
environment flows more smoothly than one in which quality is an afterthought.

The Solution

Investing in
proper quality control is key to reduce poor quality. Focusing on quality can
help a business maintain a satisfied customer base. When focusing on quality,
it must be a team effort, with everyone within the company committed to
implementing any quality changes managers mandate.  Ultimately, the cost of working with an
ineffective system are exponentially higher than the cost of working with a
proper quality management platform.