Searching for the Optimum

It goes without saying that all our production plants within the WTG have been certified according to ISO 9001. This certification documents to our customers our unwavering commitment to high quality standards. However, the ISO 9001 document does not give a true reflection to what extend we go beyond the prescribed standards, and what quality aims we actually pursue beyond this. This only becomes clear when we take a closer look at the term quality and what it means to us. For this purpose, it may be of help to make use of the definition of quality according to David A. Garvin, Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. His definition of quality is based on five criteria:

Subjective Understanding of Quality
This criterion is of little concern in terms of scientific practice. Nevertheless, it often leads to misunderstandings as it describes the subjective experience of a person without resorting to verifiable criteria. This subjective experience cannot be excluded in any contact between a supplier and a customer, and it applies to engineering situations, too, as the customer always has the right to say “I don’t like it”. This statement may refer less to the technical value of a product and may rather be a reflection of the customer’s behavioural reaction. How we respond to this and also find solutions on the basis of such reactions will define our capabilities and will determine how the customers will view our quality. Being capable of self-reflection and of offering transparency will aid to achieve marked improvements even in subjective situations.

Product Related Requirements
These requirements are easy to satisfy: the quality of a product is governed by fulfilling specific and general established requirements and standards. To know these and to translate them accordingly should be a matter of course. However, this offers R&D little creative room to manoeuvre in unless we move the standards to the next higher level to the benefit for our customers.

Customer Related Quality Understanding
The missing implementation of a customer requirement always brings with it a negative impact on the quality of a product. Adding features which the customer did not want will not have a positive influence on quality as they are useless for the customer. According to our opinion, customer related understanding of quality can only be fulfilled when no errors have been committed during the information gathering process of customer requirements. This is best achieved with continuous technical and personal education of our staff and the “continuous education” of our customers in specific areas of interest regarding grinding technology. That’s why for us the development of relevant topics and the holding of grinding seminars belong just as much to the area of quality as objective measurable criteria do.

Value Oriented Quality Understanding
According to this point of view, a product becomes a quality product in regards to its realised features when it can be acquired at an appropriate price (cost-benefit ratio). In this area we find the greatest scope for the application of research, and the largest economies of scale regarding quality increases. Here is also the area where the envelop of technical feasibility can be most stretched. This can be seen in the revolutionary machine concepts such as SPECTRA or CENTRA, but also in the area of new tool development such as MATRIX, NaxoForce und uWin.

Manufacturing Related Quality Understanding
Compliance with criteria on drawings, with agreements and with standards – this is the dominant association with the term “quality”. This is also the area least given to discussions. However, this is also the area of greatest opportunities for R&D. It may be of little consequence to customers how products are manufactured as long as his criteria are fulfilled. For us, on the other hand, it is of utmost importance to manufacture as efficiently as possible: for quality, success, value creation, safety environmental protection and staff satisfaction. This we manage very well. The low rates of complaints, the economic success and the low staff turnover are an excellent measuring stick for this.

Quality as our practical Mission Statement means:

• High level of customer satisfaction
• innovative and ground-breaking products,
• sustainable value creation,
• excellent working environment,
• clean workplaces and laboratories,
• well-structured manufacturing units,
• up-to-date production equipment and methods and
• excellent documentation of all relevant processes.

High quality in R&D translates into more quality for our customers and our corporation.