units recalled. Do you consider that with enough focus on the quality of the development of
these products, these failures could have been completely avoided? Explain why or why
not.
A quality management system (QMS) is a set of documents that contain a set of operational
procedures, business policies, and guidelines that need to be followed to achieve customer
satisfaction by delivering high-quality products and services (Kelderman, 2021). Companies use
various quality control mechanisms and implement standard operating procedures. The reason
firms develop a quality management system is to ensure compliance with standards, provide
transparency to their customers and regulators and associate their brand with quality (Kelderman,
2021).
However, having a quality management system implemented in the business is not going to solve
the problem. Several well-established firms that have implemented QMS and are certified by
ISO 9000 have experienced major quality issues to the point where they are forced to recall their
products (The greatest quality management system failures in history, n.d.). Consequently, firms
need to ensure the necessary focus is given to quality and consistently make themselves
accountable to the standard procedures.
Most of the quality issues presented in the article are not because of one major mistake rather
than it's an accumulation of small errors or oversights. As businesses become too experienced
they feel like they can overpass the standard procedure or minimize the quality control. The
experts become too confident in their skills and management only focuses on cutting costs. All
these factors lead to a crisis like those presented in the article.
Consequently, implementing strict quality measures and consistent quality assurance are needed
to minimize the problem. However, it would be impossible to avoid the problem altogether.
Human errors, faulty devices, environmental factors, and unforeseen conditions could still affect
the quality of the product. Hence, the goal should be to minimize quality issues to a predefined
level and satisfy customer needs.