Improving product quality. Ways to ensure and improve the quality of customer service of the bank

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Improving the quality of a product is incredibly difficult. There are too many factors to consider in order for everything to go as planned. With the wrong approach, it is like Sisyphean labor: you manage to introduce an improvement for a short time, but after a while everything returns back. Therefore, every leader (businessman, manager) needs a tool that will help in this and allow for improvements. One of them is a model designed by Philip Crosby, which he published in his book Quality is Free in 1979.

Crosby argued that every individual should take responsibility, not just the leader. Here are 14 steps that will help your company improve the quality of both products and services, and every aspect of operations.

Get support

You need to enlist the support of both team members and senior management. At this stage, it doesn't really matter. Be honest and direct about what you want and why. Upgrade your skills.

Create a team

No team anywhere. Gather the most different people because you need to get as many different points of view as possible. Team members must allocate time and find the resources needed to improve the quality of products.

Evaluate the current quality

If you work in manufacturing, this will be easy enough because you have clear criteria. However, if you are in the service business, things can get a lot more complicated.

Figure out what's wrong with your company and look for weaknesses. What are the customers complaining about? Where are you losing money? Find out all the reasons. Also ask your employees.

Estimate costs

You should know the approximate amount that it will cost you to improve the quality of products and services. Calculate everything, because any change entails others, and with them, costs increase.

Communicate to your team the importance of change

Take corrective action

Your employees may have their own understanding of the situation. You need to find out how they evaluate what is happening. If their opinion differs from yours, take corrective action and change the original plan. This way you will show how much you value the opinion of your employees and you will not need to motivate them additionally.

Create a Zero Defect Committee

Zero effect is the standard to strive for. It is very important not to lower the quality of the service and product below this standard. Choose three or four people and ask them to monitor the quality.

Provide training for managers

All your managers should not only understand the importance of change, but also be able to improve quality, as well as follow the process. If necessary, send them to courses.

Enter Zero Defect Day

On this day, you will instill a new philosophy in your employees. This is a difficult and long process, but the more often you practice such days, the sooner you will change the way your employees think.

Set Goals

Use the technique and set goals for 30, 60 and 90 days. In this way, you will increase the concentration and awareness of your employees. Try to align people's personal values with company values.

Look for mistakes

There will be a lot of mistakes, especially at the beginning. It is important not only to find them, but also to adjust your plan depending on the data that you receive in the process.

Recognize Achievements

Achievement can be not only improving the quality of the product and service, but also the performance of your employees. Mark each big success orally, and celebrate every great success with the team.

Practice regular meetings

People need to understand how things are going to improve quality. Keep them up to date and communicate everything you need. Your employees need to understand why they work so long and hard.

Repeat the 13 steps over and over

Crosby says it typically takes 12 to 18 months to implement a change, but it depends on the size of the company and its plans. If you managed to reach main goal, set more ambitious ones and repeat these steps again.

Remember that improvement should never stop. Work not only on your products, but also on yourself. We wish you good luck!

Roman Isaev

Organizational development and process management expert

GK Partner Modern technologies management"

Head of organizational and corporate development projects

Professional business coach and Business Studio specialist

The article presents a clear approach to establishing a connection between the main components of the quality of banking activities from the point of view of the client. For each component, a detailed description, examples from practice, links to the necessary methods and solutions are provided. The following concepts are considered: quality management system and relevant standards; customer service, banking service quality standard; process, quality standard of the banking process; product, banking product quality standard.

Says an experienced banking client who has served in more than 15 different banks:

"If:

There are long queues at the bank's offices, and transactions take a long time;
Bank offices are uncomfortable, there are no leaflets and leaflets with a detailed description of the bank's products and services, there is no self-service area;
There is a high frequency of errors by employees or technical devices of the bank;
Bank employees cannot provide high-quality advice (answer all my specialized questions);
It is not possible to open a deposit or make the most common and necessary payments without a commission in the "Internet Bank" system;
The cost of bank services is equal to or higher than the average market;
The bank does not modern services that can satisfy all my needs;
There is no good feedback between the client and the bank, careful work with claims and tracking customer satisfaction;

then I avoid such a bank.

The article considers the quality of banking activities from the point of view of the client. Since quality (in simple terms) is the degree to which an object meets the requirements of its stakeholders, there are many types of quality depending on the number of stakeholders. For example, the quality of bank liquidity management, the quality of bank risk management, the quality of the bank as an employer, the quality of the bank as an object of regulation by government agencies etc.

We are interested in all aspects of the bank's activities that affect customer satisfaction. There are many developments on this topic, but the author has not yet seen a description of a systematic approach to ensuring and improving the quality of a bank, which would link various concepts and methods into a system, explain their relationship. As a result, much comes down to the following concepts and components, which will be discussed in detail below.

The concept of "quality management system" (QMS), according to the author, is fundamental and includes three components: service, process, product (Scheme 1).

Scheme 1. Basic concepts/components of bank quality (for the client)

Each of these three components can be used by the bank as a separate and independent way to improve the quality of banking activities and customer satisfaction, and as part of a single QMS. Depending on what is more important for the bank and what it sees as its strategy and competitive advantage, the most attention may be paid to one of the methods.

Service quality standard establishes how to organize interaction with the client and provide him with comfortable conditions in the bank office.

Business process quality standard determines how the business process should be arranged and how to execute it; who and what functions should perform in the business process; who should be responsible for what; what inputs/outputs should be formed and with what requirements.

Product quality standard establishes how to make the cost and conditions for the sale of the product competitive and beneficial for the client.

Standard for QMS(e.g. ISO 9001) defines how to tie together all the components of banking quality, ensure the functioning of the system and document the system.

Which method to choose: one or all - the bank decides. The more methods involved, respectively, the greater the financial and labor costs of the bank, but the greater the satisfaction of customers, and hence the sales and profits of the bank.

Some banks rely on the quality of customer service and an individual approach to each client. Others, on the contrary, focus on the mass character of customer service, the development of stable and large-scale technologies and business processes. And, finally, some banks prefer to attract and retain customers with the quality of products in its narrow sense (ie, favorable rates, terms of contracts, etc.).

Of course, ideally, all methods should be implemented equally effectively and in a balanced way.

Example 1 Says a representative of the management of the bank, in which the emphasis is on the quality of service (for more details, see):

“It is not so important for our client whether he had to wait when visiting the operating office, or whether the operator girl did something wrong. Our customers are just pleased to come to the bank and here they get positive emotions. We even introduced such a concept as managing the mood and impressions of the client. We identified and implemented several aspects that positively affect the mood of the client and his impressions of visiting the bank:

Office decoration. Pleasant colors, paintings, flowers, an aquarium, etc.;
Interior comfort and office interior. The office must have upholstered furniture, tables with business magazines, a free coffee machine, a TV with business channels, technical devices for self-service;
Meeting each client with a bank employee (consultant / client manager) and accompanying him to obtain the necessary product / service;
And much more.

In addition, when visiting the bank, our clients regularly receive small but pleasant gifts (branded bank pens, calendars, flags, stickers with the bank's logo, etc.).”

Example 2 Says a representative of the bank's management, who chose the "Quality of business processes" method:

“We focus on queuing a large flow of customers, when well-established business processes and technologies are of paramount importance. For us, first of all, such parameters as time, cost and error-free performance of all operations in business processes are important. Despite the fact that we lose to some banks in an individual approach to clients, our clients are given the opportunity to perform any banking operation at the most technological level, quickly and without much difficulty.”

Example 3 Says a representative of the bank's management, in which attention is focused on the quality of products (in the financial and contractual part):

“Clients come to us, first of all, because we do not have commissions for the most common payments, one of the highest interest rates on deposits, favorable conditions for opening and maintaining bank accounts and debit cards. We may not have the most luxurious offices and there are often queues, but we help our clients save money, and they appreciate it.”

Let's consider the listed approaches to quality assurance in more detail.

Bank quality management system

Responsible for this direction in the bank: quality service, departments of business processes, methodology and standardization, organizational development.

QMS bank is a set of interrelated methodological, technical, informational, organizational and other means of quality management.

By implementing the QMS, we somehow describe the business processes of the bank, and then manage them. In other words, business processes and QMS cannot exist independently of each other if we are talking about a real QMS that works in practice and brings results. As noted earlier, the QMS is a universal tool that combines all methods, techniques, technologies and tools in the field of bank quality.

The methodological recommendations of the Association of Russian Banks (ARB) and Ch. 6 books. They detail the architecture of the bank's QMS, the processes and procedures for organizing the functioning of the QMS, the preparation of the QMS for certification for compliance with the requirements of ISO 9001:2008, the relationship between the QMS and the quality standards of banking activities of the ARB.

IN Lately many banks and projects are increasingly beginning to use standard solutions, for example "Standard quality management system commercial bank» . This electronic database data, which contains all the necessary samples of documents, methods and materials for the construction, certification and organization of the functioning of the QMS in the bank.

In order not to dive into the details of the methodological recommendations, the requirements of the ISO 9001:2008 standard and not to repeat the indicated sources of information, the author would like to talk about the QMS in the format “just about the complex”.

QMS in the bank: just about the complex

The QMS and the work of the process team* QMS is reduced to the allocation of the bank's business processes and their management according to certain rules/mechanisms, which include (for more details see):

Regular discussion of all key issues, tasks and problems related to the bank's business processes and making the necessary decisions at meetings of the permanent committee on business processes and quality;
Regular meetings of process teams, consisting of employees of various departments of the bank, on strategic planning, control, analysis and improvement of their process;
Feedback system for managers and executors of the process / sub-processes;
A single instruction for managing processes and the work of process teams (a sequence of steps when working with processes);
Marketing mechanisms (mandatory determination of market requirements for the process and its competitive advantages, evaluation of customer satisfaction in the process);
Strategic planning process;
Description of the process, the interaction of departments and responsibilities within its framework, the definition of the boundaries of the process;
Project (task) management to improve (optimize) the process, introduce innovations (ideas);
A system for monitoring business process indicators;
Dealing with customer complaints about the process and process analysis. Customer feedback process. ;
Methods of analysis / audit and continuous improvement (optimization) of the process;
Preventive actions and management of operational risks of the process;
Documentation of all work and results of process management (records management);
Process budgeting and provision of resources;
Motivation of process participants depending on the results of the entire process, and not its separate sub-process.

The functions of the process team/quality service of the bank are as follows:

Development of the listed rules based on well-known standards (ISO, ARB, etc.);
Fixing these rules in the form of regulatory documents (regulations, instructions, memos) and forms of documents of the bank;
Implementation of these rules in the work of the bank's process teams (including training and consulting of process teams);
Monitoring compliance with the rules and active participation in their implementation;
Implementation (or coordination) of the procedure for the functioning of the QMS (planning, documentation, audits, management review, etc.).

The default situation that exists in some banks that do not have QMS and process commands:

Rules and mechanisms for managing business processes are not used or are not fully used;
A large number of issues, tasks and problems are solved within structural divisions without active interaction within the processes;
There is no clear delineation of responsibility in the process and for the end-to-end process as a whole;
Mainly measured and controlled financial indicators processes. There are no other types of indicators;
Resources are spent more on solving serious problems in processes than on preventing them.

Bank service quality

Responsible for this area in the bank: quality service, customer service departments, marketing.

We are all clients of banks and use their services with a certain frequency. And we all want queues in transaction halls to be shorter, bank specialists / tellers to be polite and give detailed advice, bank offices to be comfortable and have a convenient work schedule, and from visiting the bank always left good impressions. All this allows you to implement and control the service quality management system, which is a subsystem of the QMS.

Quality of service(within this article) is a set of mechanisms, activities, rules and attributes that affect customer satisfaction when contacting the bank, but not directly related to the implementation of the main banking business processes (implementation of products and services). It is important to distinguish between activities to ensure and improve the quality of service in a bank from the implementation of the main (product) business processes of the bank. In other words, the main business processes are launched after the client is satisfied with the quality of service and he decides to purchase the necessary product / service.

For example, a client went into a bank office, he liked the interior of the office, the absence of a queue. Polite employees consulted him in detail, and then he decided to open a deposit in this bank, i.e., the first procedure “Payment of documents for opening a deposit” of the “Deposits” business process was launched.

Depending on the points of contact between the client and the bank, the quality of service is divided into several types: the quality of service at the bank office, the quality of the bank's Internet representative office, the quality of service at the call center (telephone center).

Consider the requirements for the quality of service in a bank office (Scheme 2), which the author combines into the following three groups (categories): external attributes, internal attributes and office staff.

Each group consists of several subgroups of requirements, which, in turn, include specific highly specialized requirements. A complete list of all requirements for the quality of service in a bank in in electronic format presented in Model system quality management of a commercial bank .

When building a service quality management system in a bank, the bank's compliance with all requirements is first assessed. Then, for those requirements that are not met, a list of tasks and projects is developed and implemented to bring the bank in line with the requirements for quality of service.

It is necessary to conduct a regular audit of the quality of service in a bank, for example, using the Mystery Shopper method (≪mystery shopper≫, or ≪test purchase≫). Based on the results of each audit, the bank's service quality index is calculated as an average assessment of the satisfaction of all requirements.

Many banks operate or develop a regulatory document "Uniform standards of quality of service in the bank". It contains descriptions of the methods and rules adopted by the bank for the implementation of service quality requirements, as well as the structure and procedures of the service quality management system. An example document is provided in .

The quality of the bank's business processes

Responsible for this direction in the bank: departments of business processes, methodology and standardization, organizational development.

Buisness process(process) is a set of interrelated or interacting activities that transform inputs into outputs.

The quality of business processes is achieved through their description and optimization using modern business modeling software products (for example, Business Studio), implementation and subsequent continuous use of business process management mechanisms.

All procedures (stages) for managing the bank's business processes are discussed in detail in, in general, the process is presented in Scheme 3.

Scheme 3. QMS process management

Description (standardization) of business processes allows:

Create a reference way to perform each procedure that will lead to the best results;
To increase the efficiency of interaction of all participants (bank divisions) in the process;
Establish responsibility for both each procedure and the entire process (process owner);
Maintain all knowledge of bank employees about processes for the purpose of training new employees and further improving processes;
Establish requirements for the execution time of all process procedures, as well as other requirements and indicators (quality, efficiency, effectiveness);
Assess and minimize operational risks;
Create instructions for action in case of critical situations.

For any main bank process (related to the implementation, product/service life cycle), it is recommended to establish the following structure (chain of procedures):

Registration (for example, registration and issuance of a new bank card to the client);
Servicing (for example, servicing all transactions with a bank card through ATMs, blocking / unblocking a card, changing the parameters of the “SMS service” service on a card, etc.);
Closing (for example, closing and destroying the map).

Quality must be maintained in all of these procedures, not just in clearance. The main requirements of customers for the quality of business processes:

Speed up the execution of procedures (for example, the passage of transfers and payments, consideration of an application for a loan, reduce the time for issuing a certificate of account balance for obtaining a visa, etc.);
Simplify paperwork;
Ensure the timeliness of the implementation of procedures (for example, to produce bank cards on time);
Minimize errors in the execution of procedures (for example, incorrect calculation of interest on a loan or errors in paperwork);
Minimize the client's trips to the bank's office (for example, provide for the possibility of delivering a bank card to the client at home, the departure of a bank consultant to the client's office, the ability to perform most banking operations remotely);
Implement various options for performing procedures (for example, the possibility of repaying a loan through the Internet Bank system, ATMs of third-party banks, city payment terminals, post offices, etc.).

Assessment of the quality of business processes

To assess the quality, the following business processes of the bank must be selected:

Key business processes (related to the sale of bank products and services), such as "Bank cards", "Settlement and cash services", "Lending", "Remote banking", etc.;
Group of processes "Interaction with customers": work with customer complaints, work of the call center, research and analysis of customer satisfaction;
Process groups "Marketing Management" (including the development of banking products and services), "Financial Management", "Risk Management", "Personnel Management", etc.

Evaluation of the quality of business processes can be carried out by at least two methods: by analyzing the indicators of business processes and customer surveys using questionnaires and checklists.

Examples of more than 500 typical indicators of banking business processes are given in. It is convenient to perform plan-fact analysis of indicators, for example, using the Business Studio software product.

Questions for clients may include:

Were all documents for issuing a bank card issued without errors?
Does the appearance of the card match the original layout? Is your last name spelled correctly?
Are all bank card transactions performed without errors and delays?
Have you had any problems with ATMs?
Was the PIN envelope sealed?;
Have there been cases of unauthorized use of your account/card?
How long did it take from the moment you applied for a card to the time it was issued?
Have there been cases of incorrect blocking of the card by the bank?

For each business process, an index of its quality is calculated (customer satisfaction with the quality of the business process), then an integrated (average) index of the quality of all business processes of the bank is calculated.

The quality of the bank's products (financial and contractual part)

Responsible for this direction in the bank: financial department, legal department.

By the quality of banking products/services, the author means:

Financial part of the product (tariffs);
Contractual part (terms of contracts);
Characteristics of the bank's product line as a whole (i.e. the presence or absence of certain products / services and their availability, the ability to customize the parameters of each product to the needs of the client).

We can say that business processes are the dynamic side of quality, products are the static side. In other words, to assess the requirements for products and their parameters, it is not necessary to monitor the execution of business processes, collect statistics of indicators and various observations. Everything is clearly recorded in the regulatory documents of the bank.

The main requirements of customers for the quality of products:

Make the parameters of the product line more flexible (for example, provide the opportunity to choose a deposit according to individual requirements);
Reduce the cost of products and services or establish incentives for regular customers(for example, cancel the commission for issuing a loan or reduce the interest rate for regular customers);
Change certain terms of contracts (for example, for a consumer loan - this is the possibility of early repayment of the loan without paying a fine, the absence of guarantors, the absence of a down payment).

Product quality assessment

The assessment of the quality of products (in their financial and contractual part) is carried out by studying the regulatory documents for products / services (tariffs, contract forms, etc.) and developing special questionnaires, i.e. lists of questions that the client must answer.

Let's give some examples of questions.

Have you been offered enough fares to choose from?
Are bank card rates favorable for you compared to other banks?
Are you completely satisfied with the cost parameters of the selected tariff?
Are you satisfied with all the terms of the contract for the release and maintenance bank cards?
Did you have to make a mandatory payment/commission that you did not know/were not informed about?
Have rates and terms of the contract deteriorated over time?

For each product/service of the bank, its quality index is calculated (customer satisfaction with the quality of the product), then the integrated (average) quality index of all products/services of the bank is calculated.

Assessment of the quality of banking activities

Based on the three areas considered to ensure and improve the quality of banking activities and customer satisfaction, an integrated index of the quality of banking activities (general customer satisfaction) is calculated.

This index is equal to the arithmetic mean of the indices of the quality of service in a bank (customer satisfaction with the quality of service), the quality of the bank's business processes (customer satisfaction with the quality of business processes) and the quality of bank products (customer satisfaction with the quality of products).

Let us once again note that in the framework of this work, we evaluate the quality of banking activities primarily from the point of view of the client and do not take into account other “internal” aspects of the quality of the bank’s work, such as the quality of banking risk management, the quality of financial management, the quality strategic management etc.

Conclusion

So, we have considered the main directions (methods) of ensuring and improving the quality of banking activities in terms of customer satisfaction. We emphasize that at present, individual local quality improvements are no longer enough. Required systems approach, which allows you to combine all areas, approaches, standards and developments into a system and thereby increase the transparency, manageability and efficiency of this activity several times.

* A process team is a permanent working group that manages a process under the direction of its owner.

List of used literature

There are times in our lives when we need to quickly capture something on camera. We grab the phone, take a picture, but the photo turns out to be blurry, dark, and the situation has exhausted itself. What to do in this case?

Online services that can do almost anything are not left out here either. Great amount sites, both foreign and Russian, will help the user correct the photo taken in a hurry. All four online services discussed in the article have a large number of functions and are very convenient, even easy to use.

Method 1: FanStudio

This service has the largest number of functions to improve photography than its counterparts. A convenient and intuitive interface can help any user solve a problem quickly and efficiently, and the function of previewing the modified image online cannot but rejoice.

To improve the quality of photos on FunStudio, follow a few simple steps:

Method 2: Cropper

This online service, unlike the previous one, has a more minimalistic design and more modest functions, but this does not affect its operation. The site does an excellent job of improving the quality of a photo using various effects as conveniently and quickly as possible.

To process photos on Croper, you need to do the following:

Method 3: EnhancePho.To

Unlike the previous two online services, EnhancePho.To has pretty standard image enhancement features. Its big advantage is both ease of use and speed of processing, which is very important for the user. Online viewing of the modified image and comparison with the original image is available, which is definitely a plus.

Follow these steps to enhance your photo in this online service:

Method 4: IMGOnline

The online service IMGOnline is already a regular in articles about changing images. The site does an excellent job with any given task and its only drawback is the interface, which is a little unfriendly to the user and takes some getting used to, but otherwise, the resource deserves praise.

To use the IMGOnline editor and improve your photo, follow these steps:

Online services every time more and more surprise with their capabilities. Almost every site on our list is good in some ways, and has its drawbacks in some ways. The main thing here is that they all cope with the task quickly, clearly and without unnecessary actions from the user, and this fact cannot be neglected and denied.

We list some criteria that directly affect the quality of life, and tell you how to change them for the better. Individually, these changes may seem small, but together they make a big difference in how happy and fulfilled you feel.

Health

How does it affect the quality of life

Any health problems reduce the quality of life. However, not all people seek to quickly get rid of pain and discomfort, continuing to endure and hope that the body will cope on its own.

In some cases this is true, but not in all. For example, if you feel pain in your tooth when you eat sweets, it is understandable that the tooth will not recover on its own. By postponing a visit to the dentist, you simply worsen the quality of life and exacerbate the problem.

How to change

Don't neglect your health. Go to the dentist if you know you have cavities. So you keep your teeth longer, without leading to pain, removal and prosthetics.

Women should do breast ultrasound every six months: breast cancer ranks first among women's oncological diseases and is well treated in the early stages.

Do not tolerate pain in the lower back and neck after a working day - go to a surgeon or a chiropractor without waiting for a hernia and pinched nerve.

Make health a priority and you won't have to deal with the consequences of your negligence.

Nutrition

How does it affect the quality of life

Junk food impairs health and shortens life, spoils well-being and leads to obesity, which significantly reduces the quality of life.

Yes, the quality of food to some extent depends on the level of income: healthy foods like red fish and beef, out-of-season fruits and vegetables, nuts are quite expensive. However, by reducing the amount of fast food, sweets and other junk food, it is quite possible to buy healthy products even with a limited budget.

How to change

Switching to a healthy diet is quite easy, the main thing is to learn and clearly define why you are doing it. By the way, you don't have to spend a lot of money to eat healthy: here's how to save on food and eat right.

Bad habits

How do they affect the quality of life

Dependence on cigarettes, alcohol, sweets reduces the quality of life. You spend several thousand rubles a month on something that most often does not bring pleasure and benefit, you experience negative emotions from public condemnation, or you yourself condemn yourself for being weak. In addition, your addictions, like junk food, are bad for your health and shorten your life.

How to change

To fight bad habits you need a target and a replacement.

A goal will help support your determination to get rid of the addiction during the withdrawal process. Ideally, this goal should have real result which can be tracked. For example, improving performance in sports.

However, no goal will help you last if you don't have a replacement. Addiction serves as a source of pleasure and helps to cope with stress, so you need to find something that replaces the usual actions.

Try to go in for sports, start a hobby, meet new people. Such pleasures will help you get rid of stress and change the environment, which is also very useful when fighting bad habits.

Order in life

How does it affect the quality of life

One of the criteria for the quality of life is domestic comfort, which is impossible without cleanliness and order. Clutter reduces concentration, increases stress levels and causes negative emotions. Clutter in the home reduces comfort and even causes people to consume more unhealthy food. Clutter, Chaos, and Overconsumption. .

How to change

To keep your home from becoming overgrown with dust and rubbish, start to fight the mess:

put things in their places;
wash dishes immediately after eating;
throw away things you don't use;
do a general cleaning once a month.

Satisfaction with life

How does it affect the quality of life

If the standard of living is determined by objective indicators, such as the level of income, working conditions, opportunities for education and recreation, then the quality of life often depends on the subjective opinion of a person - whether he is satisfied with his life or not, how he evaluates its conditions.

It turns out that the quality of life can be improved under any external conditions, simply by changing your attitude to what is happening.

How to change

Very often we are not upset by real events, but by memories of the past or fear of the future. If you learn to focus on the present moment without thinking about the past or the future, the source of much anxiety, stress and negative thoughts will disappear. Due to this, psychological comfort and satisfaction with life will increase.

At first, focusing on the present moment, or, in other words, will require effort from you. In order not to tire yourself, try practicing mindfulness not all the time, but several times a day, for example, while cleaning or eating.

Meditation also helps to accustom yourself to awareness. Just do not try to immediately meditate for a long time: you will quickly get bored, and you will no longer be able to force yourself. Start slowly and form a habit - this is the key to success in any business.

As you can see, to improve the quality of life, it is not necessary to earn twice as much. Sometimes it’s enough to fix a tooth that has been bothering you for a week, feel a surge of energy from a healthy lunch, clean up the trash on your desktop and notice what delicious coffee you are drinking or how glad you are to see your friend.

Improving the quality of products is an integral part of the company's strategy, necessary condition improving production efficiency and increasing the amount of profit.

Product quality -- the most important indicator of the enterprise. Improving the quality of products -- one of the most important means of competition, gaining and holding positions in the market. The task of the enterprise's technical policy is to accelerate the creation of new progressive products that meet the current and potential requirements of consumers in terms of their technical and economic parameters.

In the economic literature, there are various formulations of the definition of product quality, they can be combined into two main groups:

1) characterization of quality as a set of product properties that determine its suitability to satisfy certain needs in accordance with its purpose;
2) definition of product quality as the degree to which this product satisfies certain needs.

GOST 15467--79 defined product quality as a set of product properties that determine its suitability to satisfy certain needs in accordance with its purpose.

From this definition should: product quality consider:

firstly, as a set of useful properties,

secondly, as the ability to satisfy certain needs.

In this definition, an equal sign is put between quality and a set of properties.

Product quality is a set of product properties that determine the degree of satisfaction of certain needs in accordance with its purpose and taking into account the costs of its production and consumption.

Product quality is understood as novelty, technical level, absence of defects, reliability and durability in operation.

All products are divided into four groups, belonging to each of which determines the level of quality:

- the highest;
-- competitive;
- lowered;
- low (uncompetitive).

Top quality products are superior in their technical and economic indicators to similar products-competitors. As a rule, this is a fundamentally new product.

Competitive products are generally of a high quality level, but may be of average quality among similar products on the market. The competitiveness of such products is achieved through more effective marketing activities for advertising, and sales promotion will depend on the following factors: pricing, warranty service, advertising, choice of distribution channels, etc.

Products with a lower quality level have worse consumer properties than the products of most competitors. To maintain its position in the market, the manufacturer may resort to a price reduction strategy. Low quality products are usually uncompetitive. Such products either will not find buyers, or can be sold at a very low price.

Since quality expresses the properties of products to a certain extent satisfy one or another need, it is obvious that if this need is not satisfied, one cannot speak of any quality. The concept of quality applies to products suitable for consumption, i.e. products, the parameters of which meet all the requirements of the current regulatory and technical documentation. Products unsuitable for consumption are those that are manufactured with deviations from the requirements of standards, specifications and other requirements.

To characterize the deviations of the entire set of properties or one of these properties from the specified requirements, the concepts of "marriage", "defect", "defective product", "defective unit of production" are usually used. Therefore, the concepts of "product quality" and "marriage" are mutually exclusive.

Distinguish between correctable and incorrigible (final) marriage.

The main reasons for marriage can be:

unusable outdated technology; work done incorrectly, with errors;

improper adjustment of equipment;

poor fixture design;

poor maintenance;

faulty equipment;

defects in processed raw materials, material;

incorrect instrument readings;

lack of experience with equipment;

low-quality drawings, instructions;

improper use of tools;

poor working conditions;

unskilled instruction;

lack of technical documentation or standards;

retreat and neglect of instructions;

deliberate and malicious errors.

High-quality products are consistently produced by those enterprises that comprehensively solve quality assurance issues. The main task is to establish the causes of marriage, their elimination and ensure the release of products. best quality, since the quality of products under conditions modern production can be considered the most important component of the efficiency, profitability of the enterprise.

One of the main directions for increasing production efficiency is the continuous improvement of product quality. It can be characterized as a systematic, continuous and objective process.

Quality should be viewed from different perspectives.

First, improving the quality of products is a form of resolving complex contradictions between the higher needs that are constantly generated in the course of the development of production, and the new requirements imposed on production in connection with this.

Secondly, improving product quality is a change in the consumer properties of products in order to maximize the satisfaction of certain needs with minimal labor and capital.

The costs associated with unsatisfactory product quality are divided into distribution and consumption costs. Costs in the field of production: correction of operational defects, alteration of manufactured products of unsatisfactory quality. Costs in the sphere of circulation: repair of products during the warranty period, consumer complaints.

To ensure quality at optimal cost, two prices should be distinguished: the price of product conformity to customer requirements and the price of non-compliance. The cost of compliance includes the costs of detecting or preventing defects, testing and testing, education and training of personnel, record keeping and reporting, etc.

The price of non-compliance is the sum of the cost of correction, the cost of repairs during the period warranty period, costs associated with the final (irreparable) marriage, as well as costs associated with late payments on invoices and changes in production technology, payments for delayed deliveries, etc.

To improve product quality, a systematic approach is required, i.e. the requirement to maintain the original quality of products (scientific and technical level of products) in the process of manufacturing products and maintaining it at all stages of the life cycle of production (development, manufacture, sale, operation, circulation).

Better product quality in production means better use production assets, raw materials, cost reduction, reduction of waste from marriage, increase in production efficiency, accelerate the promotion of products on the market. The main task at all enterprises should be to study the impact of the implementation of measures to improve product quality on the most important indicators of production activity.

To do this, it is necessary to establish close information links between developers and manufacturers and consumer enterprises; improve the method of comparative quality assessment; to introduce analytical accounting of the costs and effect of the activities, and on this basis to determine the impact of improving product quality on the main performance indicators of production activities.

Improving the quality of products is directly related to the process of selling products. Features of the implementation process are determined by the life cycle of the product. The life cycle of a product is the period of time during which it is developed and sold on the market. The concept of the product life cycle is used in the creation and marketing of products, the development of a marketing strategy from the moment a product enters the market until it is removed from the market.

The life cycle of a product can be represented as a certain sequence of different stages of its existence on the market, limited by a certain time frame. The dynamics of a product's life determines the volume of possible (actual) sales in each time period of the existence of demand for it.

The life cycle is more clearly visible in the dynamics of a particular type of product and may change depending on the specifics of the product, the degree of its use or attractiveness, the periodic return of fashion for it, and other factors.

The life cycle consists of four stages:

The first stage is the introduction of products to the market.

The second stage is the stage of growth: sales are expanding, profit from sales of products is increasing, and the number of consumers is growing.

The third stage is the stage of maturity, during which there is a slowdown and gradual deceleration.

The fourth stage - the stage of recession - is to reduce sales and gradually crowd out this product from the market with new products.

Distinguish the following types life cycles goods:

1) traditional (gradual growth and fall in demand);
2) boom (fashion - rapid growth in demand and maintaining it at a high level for quite a long time);
3) passion (rapid growth and fall in demand);
4) seasonality (the rhythm of maintaining demand at a high level by season).

Product quality is determined by a wide range of properties:

Purpose indicators characterize the properties of the product, which determine the main functions for which it is intended, and determine the scope of its application.

Indicators of the economical use of raw materials, materials, fuel and energy characterize the properties of the product, reflecting its technical excellence in terms of the level or degree of raw materials, materials, fuel and energy consumed by it.

Examples of indicators of this type are:

specific consumption of the main types of raw materials; specific gravity of the product;

coefficient of use of material resources;

efficiency factor, etc.

Reliability indicators represent a broader group.

Reliability is the property of an object to keep in time within the established limits the values of all parameters characterizing the ability to perform the required functions in given modes and conditions of use, Maintenance, repairs, storage and transportation.

Ergonomic indicators characterize the convenience and comfort of consumption or operation of the product at the stages of the functional process in the system - "man - product - environment of use".

The nomenclature of ergonomic quality indicators applies to industrial products, which include: equipment for the interior and workplaces, control and monitoring panels, mnemonic diagrams, instruments and signaling devices, dials and instrument indicators, industrial and household furniture, etc.

Aesthetic indicators characterize the aesthetic properties of products, namely:

information expressiveness;

rationality of form;

the integrity of the composition; manufacturing excellence.

A number of products of a similar class and purpose, compiled by experts on the basis of basic samples, is taken as a reference criterion for aesthetic evaluation.

Examples of aesthetic indicators are:

harmony, originality, stylistic unity;

functional and constructive adaptability and expediency; structure organization, plasticity;

thoroughness of coating and surface finishing, clarity of execution of signs, signs, packaging, etc.

Aesthetics is a complex property that affects a person's sensory perception of the entire product as a whole from the point of view of its appearance. A less aesthetic product tires a person, distracts his attention from the labor process, and depresses the psyche. As a result, the use of the product deteriorates over time, the defect in work increases, and its productivity decreases. Aesthetics is determined by a number of simple properties, such as form, harmony, composition, style, etc.

Manufacturability indicators characterize the composition and structure or design of the product, determine its adaptability to achieve optimal costs in production, operation and restoration for the given values of product quality indicators, the volume of its output and the conditions for performing work. Examples of manufacturability indicators.

Transportability indicators characterize the suitability of the product for transportation and the ability to maintain the properties unchanged. For example:

a) the average duration of preparation of products for transportation;
b) the average duration of the installation of products on the means of transportation;
c) the average labor intensity of preparing products for transportation;
d) coefficient of use of the volume of the means of transportation;
e) the average duration of unloading the party, etc.

The most complete indicators of this group are estimated by cost indicators. Environmental indicators characterize the level of harmful effects on environment arising from the operation or consumption of products. For example, the content of harmful impurities in the product.

Safety indicators characterize the features of products that ensure human safety during operation or consumption of products. These are the indicators:

-- response time of protective devices, noise, vibration, radiation;
- Time and shelf life of the product.

Patent-legal indicators characterize patent protection and patent clearance of products and are an essential factor in determining competitiveness. When determining patent and legal indicators, one should take into account the presence of new technical solutions in products, as well as solutions protected by patents in the country, the presence of industrial design registration and trademark, both in the country of origin and in the countries of intended export.

All considered indicators of product quality are ranked in order of importance in the following sequence:

1) appointment;
2) reliability;
3) environmental friendliness;
4) ergonomics;
5) manufacturability;
6) aesthetics;
7) standardization and unification;
8) patent and legal indicators.