Systematically drive Customer-valued Results

I’m so used to drinking my first cup of coffee in the morning that sometimes I empty the whole cup without even remembering the first sip. As important as it is to me, I must admit that I never really worry about the quality of that cup of coffee. Did it taste good? Was it safe to drink? I take all that for granted. On the other hand, if it didn’t taste right I would surely dump it down the drain. And if it wasn’t ‘safe to drink’ … well, I’d rather not think of that. In hindsight, I expect a lot of quality from that cup of coffee.

Last September, Merck took its painkiller Vioxx off the market after tests showed it increased the risk of heart attacks. Soon after, Pfizer pulled its ads for Celebrex, a prescription drug similar to Vioxx, for similar problems. Dr. David Graham, an FDA scientist, testified before the Senate Finance Committee and said, “We estimate 100,000 people had heart attacks due to Vioxx, with 30,000 to 40,000 dying”. “Under [the FDA's] paradigm, a drug is safe until you can show that with 95% or greater certainty it is not safe.”

I expect a lot from the medicine my doctor prescribes, but I think now I’m going to worry about the quality of it a little more.

The expectation for quality surrounds us constantly, even if we don’t often think about it and take it for granted, but a ‘wait until something happens’ approach will often result in a quality debacle like the Vioxx case. Quality, like any product or service attribute, must be systematically managed if it is to meet customer’s expectation.

Benchmarks show us that any company that does not have a systematic way of finding and removing defects before they make it out of the company and hit the customer will tend to operate at about a 3.5 Sigma level of quality (about 23,000 defects per million or 97.7% accurate). As a comparison, the FDA’s 95% threshold is equivalent to only 3.2 Sigma. In order to be successful, companies need a way to systematically manage the quality of their products/services so that they meet their customer’s expectation – 3.5 Sigma just won’t cut it. They need a sound, systematic Quality Management System and continue to push their way toward the quality level their customers expect.