In practice, quality has a lot to do with standardization: it is the guarantee that your products and services will always be delivered to the customer in line with the expectations you have created.Quality does not necessarily mean that one product is better than another, or that it will last forever. The ISO 9000 standard defines it as the degree to which the characteristics of a product or service fulfil requirements, that is, what was promised and what the customer expects. The key words here are standardization and expectations.Can that famous greasy spoon in your neighborhood apply quality management the way a large chain like McDonald's does? It is hard to imagine, since the greasy spoon does not always deliver identical products:the sandwich may come with an extra slice of cheese;there may be cross-contamination in some foods (that famous hair from the cook);the burger may fry longer than it should (or do you believe they use a timer to know exactly when to take it off the griddle?).But if the greasy spoon manages to deliver the same sandwich every time, no matter how many customers show up, it is indeed applying quality management in its business.What is Quality Management?Quality management is the set of processes, techniques and strategies aimed at ensuring that products and services are delivered according to expectations.According to ISO 9000, it brings together four fronts that work together:Quality planning: setting quality objectives and the processes and resources needed to achieve them.Quality control: checking whether what is being produced meets the requirements (inspections, measurements, tests).Quality assurance: a set of activities that gives the company and its customers confidence that the final product will conform to standards and customer requirements.Quality improvement: the ongoing processes through which a brand keeps getting better.This covers everything from customer service routines to production and after-sales.Managing quality requires a continuous effort to make sure minimum standards are met and, whenever possible, raised.A bakery weighs 10 loaves every day to check that they are within the 50 g standard. Which quality management front does this activity mainly belong to?Answer: Quality control — measuring the result and comparing it with the requirement (50 g) is control. It would be improvement if the bakery used this data to change the process and reduce the weight variation.What is the goal of Quality Management?Imagine you run a footwear brand known for beautiful, comfortable products.Suddenly, for no apparent reason, sales that were going strong start to fall.Customers who used to be satisfied complain more and more often and, naturally, the brand's reputation starts to be questioned.It is not hard to imagine what will happen if nothing is done to reverse this situation, right?That is exactly what quality management is for: making sure the attributes of products and services are maintained, and quickly finding out when and why they stopped being so.In this way, it is an essential element for keeping sales predictable.After all, when quality is what customers expect, business results also tend to be stable.What are the benefits of investing in quality management?Quality management ensures compliance with regulations and the delivery of products and services in the most cost- and resource-efficient way, creating room for expansion, growth and profit.Additional benefits include:better definition and control of processes;less waste;error prevention;lower costs;easier identification of growth opportunities;greater team involvement, in a motivational cycle;satisfied customers and, at the highest stage of quality management, delighted ones.The 7 pillars (principles) of Quality ManagementThe pillars below are the seven quality management principles described by ISO in the ISO 9000 standard (2015 edition, retained in the 2026 revision). They are the foundation of ISO 9001, the requirements standard used to certify quality management systems.1. Customer focusThe main focus of quality management is to meet customer needs and strive to exceed their expectations.Sustainable results are only achieved when an organization earns and keeps the trust of its customers and other interested parties (partners, suppliers, investors, the community).Every interaction with the public should be seen as an opportunity to create more value for the customer.That is why understanding the current and future needs of customers and other interested parties contributes directly to a company's success, whether it is large or small.According to ISO, the customer focus principle brings the following benefits:greater customer value;customer loyalty;improved business routines;better organizational reputation;an expanded customer base;increased revenue and market share.2. LeadershipTrue leaders establish unity of purpose and direction and are able to motivate people to achieve the company's quality goals.In doing so, they create the conditions to align strategies, policies, processes and resources with the organization's objectives.A business whose leadership is involved with quality reaps benefits such as:greater effectiveness and efficiency in meeting quality objectives;better coordination of processes;smoother communication between levels and functions;greater ability to deliver the desired results.To achieve these effects, leaders need to communicate the organization's mission, vision, strategy, policies and processes to every area.From the most operational employee to top management, everyone must be involved so that values are shared.3. Engagement of peopleCompetent, empowered and engaged people at all levels are essential for the organization to create and deliver value. In this respect, it is the role of leadership to inspire, encourage and recognize each person's contribution, however simple, and to provide the training needed.When this happens, advantages such as these appear:people adopt the company's goals as their own;communication flows better;good results are shared instead of being credited to a few;it becomes harder for competitors to compete, since employees are aligned toward the same purpose.4. Process approach (systems view)Companies are like living organisms: the well-being of the "body" depends on each of its "organs" working properly.Consistent and predictable results are achieved when activities are understood and managed as interrelated processes that function as a coherent system. After all, the quality management system consists precisely of coordinating linked and interdependent processes: the output of one process is the input of the next.Understanding how these processes produce results allows the organization to optimize the system as a whole, not just one part of it. The advantages include:the ability to focus efforts on key processes and improvement opportunities;consistent and predictable results through a system of aligned processes;optimized performance through effective process management, efficient use of resources and fewer barriers between departments;greater confidence of interested parties in the organization's consistency, effectiveness and efficiency.5. ImprovementSuccessful organizations keep an ongoing focus on improvement.It is widely agreed that the pursuit of improvement is essential to maintain good performance levels and to react properly to change.A company that invests in constant progress creates favorable internal and external conditions, and new opportunities tend to arise. The main benefits of this principle include:better process performance and greater customer satisfaction;mechanisms to investigate the root cause of problems, with corrective and preventive actions;an improved ability to anticipate and react to internal and external risks and opportunities;an environment more conducive to innovation.These results only appear if leadership takes quality management concepts to every level of the organization, taking responsibility for educating and training people in every position to apply improvement tools and methodologies.6. Evidence-based decision makingDecisions based on the analysis and evaluation of data and information are more likely to produce good results.Making decisions can be difficult because it almost always involves some uncertainty: there are many types and sources of information and, often, a strong subjective component.That is why it is important to understand the cause-and-effect relationships involved in each decision, however simple it may seem, and to base choices on concrete facts and data, not just on the opinion of whoever decides.This brings benefits such as:better decision-making processes;better assessment of process performance and of the ability to achieve objectives;greater operational effectiveness;greater ease in reviewing and changing opinions and decisions;a greater ability to demonstrate the effectiveness of past decisions.7. Relationship managementTo achieve sustainable results, an organization needs to manage its relationships with interested parties: suppliers, partners, investors, its own staff and society.These parties influence the company's performance, and predictable results are more likely when the company coordinates these relationships well, especially with its network of suppliers and partners. The advantages include:better performance of the organization and its interested parties, responding to the opportunities and constraints of each;a common understanding of objectives and values among those involved;a greater ability to create value by sharing resources and experience;better management of quality-related risks;a well-managed supply chain and a stable supply of goods and services.A company decides to switch packaging suppliers because the manager 'feels' the current one is often late, without checking the delivery records. Which ISO principle is it most clearly failing to apply?Answer: Evidence-based decision making — the delivery records are the data that would confirm or refute the manager's impression. Relationship management is also affected, but the core mistake is deciding without data.In a factory, the cutting department raised its own output by 30%, but sewing cannot keep up and cut pieces pile up on the floor. Which principle explains why the company's results did not improve?Answer: Process approach (systems view) — the output of one process is the input of the next; optimizing one step in isolation only moves the bottleneck and creates idle inventory. Improvement only pays off when it looks at the whole system.Exercises1) Map the cleaning processes in your home, as well as the products needed to carry out all the tasks.
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