What is Quality 4.0?

The market has become very competitive these days and to survive in this competitive market companies need to produce top-class quality products and provide top-class services to their customers.

This can not be achieved by practicing the traditional method of manufacturing and companies need to adopt all best practices and innovate for the next practices.

For a while, we have been hearing a lot about Industry 4.0, which primarily focuses on the use of artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data, cloud computing, 3D printing, the Internet of things, augmented and virtual reality to make a complete paradigm shift in the way companies has been managing their business. The first use of Industry 4.0 is traced back to the year 2011 in Germany.

The concept was developed as a proposal for the development of a new economic policy to change the way different aspects of an organization are integrated. These new technologies are changing the way people are working and their interaction with the technologies throughout the value chain.

This technologically driven shift will completely transform the way companies have been doing their business. This will not only require a cultural change as all the people across the vertical need to adapt to these new practices and more importantly completely new thought processes. This will make a drastic improvement in productivity, product innovation, product development, equipment management and of course will impact quality as well.

This is where Quality 4.0 comes to the scene. Quality 4.0 is less hyped but steadily gaining popularity within the industry. The core concept of quality 4.0 is to align quality management practices with Industry 4.0, so that, best use of Industry 4.0 can be done using quality management practices to achieve World-class manufacturing capabilities and ultimately achieving business excellence.

Industry 4.0 VS Quality 4.0

In a way, we can say that Quality 4.0 is an extension of Industry 4.0, wherein we are applying a new technology paradigm in manufacturing to achieve a benchmark quality management framework. With the advancement of Industry 4.0 comprising smart factory concept, IoT, autonomous system, machine learning – Quality 4.0 aims to leverage the benefits of Industry 4.0 into quality management practices to achieve benchmark results.

Industry 4.0 and Quality 4.0 can not be seen separately. Without the use of new methodologies of Industry 4.0, Quality 4.0 cannot exist. It is important to note here that, it all depends upon the leadership team to leverage the benefit of Industry 4.0 into the existing quality management system to get the true benefits of Quality 4.0. Hence, without leadership commitment and cultural transformation Quality, 4.0 would be a recipe for disaster.

In my personal experience for most of the new initiative, if there are leadership commitment and conviction, then the initiative would not fail, as there are bound to be some level of resistance from the lower level. If the top management is determined to adopt technology-driven Quality 4.0 which is supported by Industry 4.0 practices, the organization is bound to be successful.

Why Quality 4.0 is important for the industry?

It would be a mistake to imagine that the combination of technologies that make up Industry 4.0 is anything less than transformational. Quality 4.0 is a chance to apply Industry 4.0 technologies to realign quality activities with the overall organizational business plan.

In the current scenario wherein not more than 20% of companies believe that quality is of priority for top management, Quality 4.0 provides a framework to move from quality policing to a robust structure of managing quality.

Organizations will be able to address long-standing quality concerns by implementing a successful Quality 4.0 strategy. Inefficiencies originating from challenges such as lack of cross-functional responsibility, inefficient communication, and fragmented traditional quality systems cause inefficiencies in many businesses.

Fragmented data sources and systems are cited as a key challenge by 40% of the companies. For the introduction of a digital system, the organization has gone ahead with the implementation of different digitization tools throughout the value chain. This completely transforms the way an organization operates.

Top 08 important Quality 4.0 Technologies?

Quality 4.0 provides a framework for digitally enhanced organization structures and processes to increase productivity and agility. With the help of the Quality, 4.0 integrated approach organizations can get various performance indicators in real-time which can help to initiate action and even escalate automatically wherever needed to improve the overall performance of the organization.

Some of the key technologies used for Industry 4.0 and Quality 4.0 integrated approach are listed below:

• Artificial intelligence
• Machine learning
• Big data
• Cloud computing
• 3D printing
• Internet of things
• Augmented and Virtual reality
• Machine to machine communication

11 Most important benefits of Quality 4.0

There are numerous benefits of Quality 4.0 beyond impacting product quality positively, Quality 4.0 along with Industry 4.0 will make the following benefits:

1. Reduction in equipment breakdown
2. Improvement in safety
3. Reduction in labor cost
4. Reduction in setup time
5. Drastic reduction in repetitive errors
6. Improvement in productivity
7. Real-time performance tracking
8. Immediate escalation of issues
9. Proactive action to overcome future failure
10. Increase in market share
11. Improvement in customer satisfaction

Conclusion

Quality management practices are widely implemented by companies, as they constitute a competitive advantage. Nowadays it is almost mandatory to follow quality standards, in order to make a product available on the market. However, facing new production paradigms, such as Industry 4.0, questions arise about how quality management processes could benefit and adapt in the era of digital technologies.

Quality 4.0 not only focuses on the use of the latest technologies for improving the product and service quality, but it also integrates people, cultural and strategic aspects into it.

If the top management is determined to adopt technology-driven Quality 4.0 which is supported by Industry 4.0 practices, the organization is bound to be successful.

P.S: What do you think about the impact of Quality 4.0 on the industry? Do write your comment down below in the comment section about the content and your view on the subject.

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