Quality assurance creates customer satisfaction
Electronic devices that give up the ghost after a very short time. Tools that are already defective at the first use. Technical components that cannot withstand the stresses of everyday life. Examples of products with poor quality can be found again and again. Both as private consumers and in the professional world, we are regularly confronted with them. And we like to tell you about it.
But these stories are bad for the manufacturing companies. A personal warning or recommendation has far more influence on the purchase decision than any other advertising measure. What does not matter for manufacturers who base their business model solely on price can turn into a real disaster for German companies. Once the image of the low-cost producer with junk goods has taken on a life of its own, an enormous effort is required to convince customers of the opposite.
The future of customer satisfaction
In order to prevent this scenario, numerous companies have installed a quality assurance system. It comprises all measures of an organizational and technical nature that serve to ensure the proper functioning of a product. Measurements, spot checks and acceptance tests ensure a constant level of production. Complaints are effectively minimized, returns are reduced and repairs are avoided. Consistent implementation increases customer satisfaction, the company's reputation and confidence in the product.
The standard to which the measures are oriented is determined within the framework of quality assurance itself. There are no generally valid specifications. ISO 9001, however, sets out guidelines that quality assurance should be based on. Binding agreements between companies in the same industry are also possible. In such cases, external auditors check compliance and recommend improvements.
The necessary measurements, records and reports are defined by the company. Thanks to digitalisation, paper checklists are gradually being replaced by more efficient methods. Optical assistance systems such as Clever Klaus from Optimum datamanagement solutions GmbH take over the control of the components for completeness and document this check comprehensively. In this way, even after several months, it is still possible to trace exactly when and in what condition a component was delivered.
Numerous competitors are currently working on a method to bring this technology to market as augmented reality implementations. Even though the first promising solutions are already available, they lack the necessary performance. Especially in terms of computing power, they are inferior to fixed systems. In addition, the use of rechargeable batteries restricts their usability in terms of time. Only new developments in power supply will be able to eliminate this disadvantage.
Building trust will be standard
The real and the virtual world are increasingly growing together. The changes are particularly noticeable in the industrial sector. Dealing with the expanded possibilities at an early stage and integrating them into existing processes can provide a decisive advantage in the battle for customers and market share. In many cases, companies are not even aware of the fact that they can easily have a large part of their quality assurance carried out by assistance systems. The recourse to checklists is too much anchored in everyday work and in the learned workflow.
The new forms of human-machine interaction open up completely new possibilities here. After all, a computer is incorruptible, never tired, and on Fridays it is never tired with its head in the weekend. The results of the tests are always at the same high level and thus guarantee consistent quality.
In addition to quality assurance, the assistance systems are also of great interest in production or incoming goods. Combining the manual skills of a human being with the analytical advantages of a computer enables completely new ways of division of labour. Production is thus carried out faster, more error-free and with higher quality. Man and machine work hand in hand. In the working world of tomorrow, the computer is a colleague.