ASQ InfVoices - Quality Questions and Challenges

ASQ Influential Voice's June Topic was "Quality Questions and Challenges". Paul Borawski (CEO, ASQ) asked us two questions:

1. What is the most important challenge the quality community faces in ensuring that the value of quality is fully realized for the benefit of society?
2. What question does the quality community most need answered in order to advance the state of quality practice in the world?

I try to answer the first question using China community quality problem as example. The notorious case is "Melamine" in milk (Quality Crisis in Milk Industry). According to Freeman comments on China food problem, he mentioned four key failures.
1. Defect in quality awareness in government officers and leaders of industries.
2. Defect in quality structure including QC, QA and QM
3. Defect in management system to control the value chain
4. Defect in surveillance system of government bodies
All these defects are related to human being. Therefore, Human Factor is the most significant and it should be the most important challenge in the quality community. How can we solve food quality and safety problem? I believe it needs to implant the integrity concept in everyone through education and establishing social quality culture environment.

For the second question, I believe the quality professional should ask how to establish the "TRUST" from customer. Quality is the fundamental of obtaining customer's trust. However, many leaders of industries consider profit more important than quality. They will sacrifice quality for higher profit. In Jerry article stated "The Innovation Invitation" (11 Jun 2013). I think it is no need to sacrifice quality but using innovation to increase the profit. Jerry described "making things better" (quality) versus "making better things" (innovation). I would like to restructure the sentence to integrated Quality and Innovation, as well as, Hong Kong Science Park slogan "Making things happen" as conclusion below.

"Making Better Things Happen and Better"

Reference:
2010年05月- 質與量的戰爭：透視“中國品質”的的真相與未來(作者：楊鋼著)
(Freeman Young Gang (2010) "The war of Quality:Penetrate the true and future of China Quality" In Chinese)