Bill,
While I fully agree with and accept the spirit of your post, the content is somewhat misleading or just downright inaccurate.
Have you wondered why you don't hear much about the Baldridge Award lately?
TQC is only a part of the pathway to success. Focus on the customer has been proven to be just as if not more important.
First, before criticizing Baldrige, you should learn how to spell his name correctly. There's only one "D" not 2. It gives you a little more credibility that you may actually know what you're discussing.
Second, whatever caused you to believe that Customer Focus is not part of Baldrige?
Customer Driven Quality is a core value and concept running through all 91 areas of the criteria.
Finally, I completely agree that winning an award or prize doesn't guarantee that any company has an appropriate or winning strategy which is being executed effectively.
In fact, at the bottom of the scale, the ISO 9001 spec just ensures consistency, not product quality as seen by the customer. IMO, ISO 9001 companies are doomed to failure as are any companies below that level.
FPL won the Deming Prize than stumbled badly for not focusing on profitability. That doesn't mean that quality should be abandoned, IMO, it just means that one can't ignore the business in the name of a quality program.
FWIW, Ian. |