In the 18 months since LNS coined Quality 4.0 and provided the definitive frameworks, manufacturers throughout the supply chain, across industries, and of varied company sizes have aggressively pursued Quality 4.0 technology and use cases. Today, 64% of manufacturers are pursuing Digital Transformation, and of these, 23% are pursuing quality improvement use cases. A low hanging fruit, Quality 4.0 is one of the top use cases of Digital Transformation initiatives.

Some things are good on their own, but simply better when paired with something else. Take peanut butter and jelly, wine and cheese, or as many of us are reminded at this time of year, the beach and sunscreen. However, sometimes better together is more than just the sum of individual ingredients, like chemical reactions. For instance, internal combustion is the combination of fuel, oxygen, compression, and a spark resulting in much more than a static mix of its respective parts. This is true with quality, and environmental, health, and safety (EHS).

Quality and EHS management systems have increasingly converged over the past several years, enabled by the efforts of standards organizations such as ISO. Combining these two previously disparate management systems into one is a better together story, with shared competencies, culture, data, and processes. However, when we combine these management systems with Digital Transformation, we create something more like a chemical reaction.

Over the past few months, we’ve been helping many LNS program members with strategic planning for 2018, and underlying this planning is a common theme - “What is the perceived value of quality?”

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What do vehicles, transmissions, HVAC, and appliances have in common?  Among other things, they are all historically primarily mechanical products that now contain increasing electronic and software content, which is broadly true of many product categories.  While these new devices deliver unprecedented performance or convenience, the shift in product content means product complexity like never before.  And, as complexity increases, so too does the probability of failure of at least some components.  Unfortunately for manufacturers, reliability and warranty expectations have, if anything, become more stringent.

Quality leaders often view customer complaints as a reactive metric and the last line of defense in their arsenal. Though the term may seem pessimistic on a first glance, when collected, analyzed, and promptly handled, customer complaints have the potential to be a net positive for manufacturers. Not only from a metrics and operations standpoint but also in enabling closed-loop processes and driving a culture of quality throughout the organization.

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On Thursday, June 16, LNS Research hosted a webinar, "Quality Management in the Boardroom: Building the Executive Business Case for EQMS." The presentation focused on giving quality leaders a roadmap to a common issue we find in our conversations with many organizations: they often lack the framework for elevating quality management to the executive level concern it really needs to reach to transform from a cost center to a value center, and transform quality management maturity.

If you’ve read LNS’s Monday Musings providing our perspective on current events in industry, you’ve likely seen the term “shadow quality” in this blog post. So, just what is shadow quality?

According to LNS Research data, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) seems poised to gain widespread adoption soon, as 37% of 685 respondants expcet to invest in IIoT in the next 12 months. This is more than three times larger than the total population of companies that previously invested! While exciting, this means that a large portion of the market will be deploying IIoT with no or limited experience,