World Quality Day was introduced by the United Nations in 1990 to increase worldwide awareness of the important contribution that Quality makes towards a nation‘s and an organization’s growth and prosperity. 

2010 was the first time PRI marked the event. The theme last year was "Out of the Crisis" and focused on what a fit organization looks like and the role that Quality management professionals play in facilitating fitness. Over the course of a week in November 2010, PRI released a daily feature discussing a different aspect of Quality each day, because Quality professionals need to understand the various facets of Quality in order to contribute to continual improvement in a holistic fashion.

Using real industry examples, topics included the importance of being open to change, of root cause corrective action and of effective communication. On World Quality Day itself, PRI published interviews with a number of industry experts from all over the world to establish how they define Quality. A number of different, but complementary, ideas were shared, from compliance to customer service, on-time delivery, cost-effectiveness, and ensuring clear communication throughout the supply chain.

PRI’s activities were well received, with feedback such as "The different words and phrases used add further richness to my understanding of what Quality is and I'll be trying to remember some of the phrases for future use in the appropriate circumstances" and "The articles covered things we see almost every day showing that most people do not have any clue what Quality really means. It means we care about what we do, we do it that way as it was meant to be done, and when we mess up, we fix it so it doesn‘t happen again. And so much more..."

A constructive outcome of PRI’s World Quality Day 2010 activity was that the Nadcap Supplier Support Committee (SSC) hosted a panel session to talk about flow down at the October 2011 Nadcap meeting. Featuring representatives from Suppliers, Aerospace Prime Contractors and Nadcap auditors with questions from the audience, the objective was to facilitate an open discussion with input from throughout industry to identify opportunities to improve communication throughout the supply chain.

SSC Chairperson Eric Jacklin of F. M. Callahan & Son Inc. explained: "Effective flow down has been – and remains – a crucial aspect of successful aerospace special process and product operations. The support of the Nadcap stakeholders and PRI in this effort is invaluable, and I look forward to working together to develop a model that can be used across the industry. In fact, this is one of the great things about Nadcap: it is a forum for continual improvement and teamwork for the benefit of all."

An update on this discussion will be featured in the next issue.

This year, World Quality Day falls on 10 November 2011 and the theme is "In Pursuit of Excellence". PRI is marking the occasion again with a daily release on the topic. Of course, there are a number of different ways that this could be interpreted. As last year, PRI will be looking at various facets and encouraging industry experts to share their experiences. The hope is that the people who read these features see something in them that they can use in their own workplace.

For PRI itself, pursuing excellence means going "over and above" to meet our customers’ needs. As a result, to mark World Quality Day, PRI staff are sharing some of the ways in which they have pursued excellence in their customer service. In addition, members of the SSC Leadership Team, including Eric Jacklin, are sharing what they have done to continually improve their operations.

Eric explains his contribution: "One of the best ways we can support our customers is by continually improving our operations. A little while ago, we installed an epoxy floor in our facility. As well as making it easier to maintain a clean environment - which is critical with our work - because of the improved visibility, staff morale went up because they were proud to work in a professional, clean place, and of course it looks good when customers and auditors visit. Re-investing back in your company is so important: to stay current with aerospace technology, you have to invest in your production floor, and that’s where it counts."

Please feel free to share the best practices you follow "in pursuit of excellence" at this link: http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e4wewdungsvkkj6v/start or contact Joanna Leigh: joanna.leigh@pri-europe.org.uk