In today’s intense and increasingly competitive market, companies are constantly challenged by rigorous quality regulations for products and services. Market boundaries have vanished and companies across all industries are facing customer expectations that are greater than ever. Executives need to play a greater role in ensuring that sensitive supply chain relationships are effectively maintained. To overcome these pressures and prove their commitment, organizations are establishing a new culture and deploying integrated quality management systems.
Looking to increase the quality of products, processes and services and to cut costs and accelerate time to market (TTM), many organizations follow standards, methodologies and guidelines for quality management, such as ISO, Lean, Kaizen, DMAIC, cGMP, Six Sigma, 8D, and more. Often, these processes are supported by homemade stand-alone applications or even by manual and paper-based systems. However, these types of solutions are limited and generally not capable of being applied across an enterprise, failing to systemically handle quality problems and provide a top-level view of quality management processes.
