// ROBOTICS AND SMART FACTORIES TERM

Quality Management

Quality Management is the overall process of ensuring that an organization consistently meets or exceeds customer expectations for product or service quality. It involves setting quality policies, planning, control, and assurance activities.

TECHNICAL DEFINITION

Quality Management (QM) in Industry 5.0 is the comprehensive framework encompassing policies, processes, and procedures to ensure consistent product/service quality, integrating planning, assurance, control, and improvement activities across the entire value chain, often leveraging digital tools.

BACKGROUND

A quality management system (QMS) is a collection of business processes focused on consistently meeting customer requirements and enhancing their satisfaction. It is aligned with an organization's purpose and strategic direction. It is expressed as the organizational goals and aspirations, policies, processes, documented information, and resources needed to implement and maintain it. Early quality management systems emphasized predictable outcomes of an industrial product production line, using simple statistics and random sampling. By the 20th century, labor inputs were typically the most costly inputs in most industrialized societies, so focus shifted to team cooperation and dynamics, especially the early signaling of problems via a continual improvement cycle. In the 21st century, QMS has tended to converge with sustainability and transparency initiatives, as both investor and customer satisfaction and perceived quality are increasingly tied to these factors. Of QMS regimes, the ISO 9000 family of standards is probably the most widely implemented worldwide – the ISO 19011 audit regime applies to both and deals with quality and sustainability and their integration.

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SYNONYMS & ALIASES

  • Total Quality Management (TQM)
  • Quality System Management
  • Quality Governance
  • QM

USAGE NOTE

Effective quality management is essential for maintaining customer loyalty and competitive advantage.

DEVELOPERS

Organizations developing technology related to Quality Management.

  • Siemens

    Develops the Opcenter Quality and Teamcenter Quality software suites, which integrate quality management directly into manufacturing execution systems (MES) and product lifecycle management (PLM) for closed-loop quality control.

  • Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence

    Provides a combination of hardware and software for quality management, including coordinate measuring machines (CMMs), laser trackers, and advanced statistical process control (SPC) and metrology software to capture, analyze, and act on quality data.

  • Cognex Corporation

    A leading provider of machine vision systems, software, and sensors used for automated inspection and quality control. Their AI-powered vision systems detect defects, verify assembly, and guide robots in real-time on the production line.

  • Rockwell Automation

    Offers the FactoryTalk Quality suite, a quality management application that integrates with shop floor control systems to manage and enforce in-process quality checks, track non-conformance, and ensure product specifications are met.

  • Dassault Systèmes

    Develops the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, which includes applications like ENOVIA for quality management. It provides a unified digital environment for managing quality processes, corrective and preventive actions (CAPA), and compliance across the entire product lifecycle.

  • InfinityQS International, Inc.

    Specializes in real-time Statistical Process Control (SPC) software. Their cloud-native platform, Enact, provides manufacturers with visibility into process performance, enabling data-driven decisions to improve quality and reduce waste.

  • KEYENCE CORPORATION

    Manufactures a wide range of automation sensors, vision systems, and high-precision measurement instruments. These technologies are integral for building automated, in-line quality inspection systems that perform 100% inspection at high speeds.

  • MasterControl

    Provides cloud-based Quality Management System (QMS) software that digitizes and automates quality processes. It is widely used in regulated industries to manage documents, training, audits, and non-conformance in compliance with standards like ISO 9001.

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