The best-known indicators about quality remain complaint rate and right first time.
Complaints are measured as a complaint rate against the total volume sales. The number of complaints per million units’ sales (CPMU) for instance, gives a better insight than the absolute number of complaints: the more sales you have, the more complaints you can expect. But as long as the number of complaints is not increasing at the same rate as your sales, you’re improving your complaint rate.
The strategy should be to bring down the total complaint rate to soar customer satisfaction.
2. Nonconformances
Nonconformances are also expressed as a rate, but than in a more positive number: the amount of product made from the first time right (FTR). The higher this percentage, the less nonconforming product was produced.
Here the strategy is to increase the right first time.
Both strategies are focused on improving the past situation and are looking to the past. But what if you could have a strategy and indicator that is looking forward towards the future?
That indicator is using the outcome of complaints and nonconformances and is based on the improvement actions, better known for most people as corrective actions and preventive actions (CAPA). These actions have to prevent bad situations from happening or happening again. Therefore, the strategy should be to implement these actions as soon as possible and within the established due-date.
By setting the overdue improvement actions to the number of open actions, you know how good (or bad) you are in implementing your improvement actions and how good you are in preventing quality issues. The higher the percentage of overdue actions, the bigger the risk that you will face the same issues again in the near future.
These 3 indicators can be connected to give you better insights and to predict your quality performance. We gladly help you in setting up such a system.
Take contact with us via info@quontinuim.comand let us help you to prevent problems.