How to Carry Out ?Customer Focus? on All Parts of Management System?

[zerodefect]

How to Carry Out “Customer Focus” on All Parts of Management System?

Standard clause 5.3 is “Customer Focus” , its contents is as following:
“Top management shall ensure that customer requirements are determined and fulfilled with the aim of enhancing customer satisfaction”
And, the one of eight quality principles is “Customer focus”, its requirements are higher, it requests organization to exceed customer’s expectations, not requirements.
How to carry out the philosophy of “ Customer Focus” in quality management?
Do you give some suggestions? Thanks!

 

[Yew Jin]

Re: How to Carry Out “Customer Focus” on All Parts of Management System?

To be a customer focus organization, we need to clearly understand what are customer requirement and how do we measure customer satisfaction.

Customer can be internal and external. To implement next process is our customer concept will help us to cary out "customer focus" in the organization.

Tools such as house of quality and quality function deployment are important to help us to specifiy the customer requirement in matrix form to communication or deployment in company wide plant.

 

[zerodefect]

Re: How to Carry Out “Customer Focus” on All Parts of Management System?

To be a customer focus organization, we need to clearly understand what are customer requirement and how do we measure customer satisfaction. .

we need to clearly understand what are customer requirement

you are right!
But i often thinking of this question,having met customer requirement equal customer satisfication or not? Because, in reality, some customer does not express their requirements accurately.:mg:

 

[vanputten]

Re: How to Carry Out “Customer Focus” on All Parts of Management System?

Satisfaction for the customer is based on their PERCEPTION. Therefore, satisfaction is much more than simply meeting stated or unstated requirements.

 

[Jim Wynne]

Re: How to Carry Out “Customer Focus” on All Parts of Management System?

Satisfaction for the customer is based on their PERCEPTION. Therefore, satisfaction is much more than simply meeting stated or unstated requirements.

Can you give an example of a situation where a customer's requirements (stated and/or unstated) are consistently met, but the customer's perception is negative?

 

[Yew Jin]

Re: How to Carry Out “Customer Focus” on All Parts of Management System?

We can have the survey to study the customer satisfaction. Train customer service to have more skills to communicate to customer.

 

[zerodefect]

Re: How to Carry Out “Customer Focus” on All Parts of Management System?

Can you give an example of a situation where a customer's requirements (stated and/or unstated) are consistently met, but the customer's perception is negative?

I give an example: a friend of mine wanted to buy a computer. but he has a little of computer knowledge.the requirements he stated is a computer can handle usual documentations.but,after he have bought the computer,he was adviced by someone and to expecte to upgrade the computer,he wanted to install AUTO CAD and PHOTOSHOP software.because his computer's compabitility is poor, the installant is failed. Although,his stated and unstated requirements has been met, but he is not satisfactory, and he usually complain about his ugly computer,saying "I have expected it brings me convenience and happy originally, but, in reality, it brings me trouble now,even I think sometimes to throw the ugly computer."

 

[zerodefect]

Re: How to Carry Out “Customer Focus” on All Parts of Management System?

We can have the survey to study the customer satisfaction. Train customer service to have more skills to communicate to customer.

Right!
the skills to communicate with customer is important element during the process of determing customer's real demands, not requirements, because there are some immature customers, so customer service personnel want dig out customer's real demands through his communication skills.

By the way, may you give some the details of your survey to study the customer satisfaction.
I look forward your kind replies! Thanks!

 

[Manix]

Re: How to Carry Out “Customer Focus” on All Parts of Management System?

Although,his stated and unstated requirements has been met, but he is not satisfactory, and he usually complain about his ugly computer,

His unstated requriements have not been met though have they. He could not install the software he wanted on the computer! Therefore whoever sold him the computer did not accurately translate the needs of the customer into the product they eventually sold them.

It is this skill that separates "World Class" organisations from those that may or may not "meet" the customers requirements. You need the ability to accurately obtain all of the customers needs, stated, unstated and even those that the customer does not state, need or imply!

Bare in mind these gaps that need to be closed and these can exist within any part of your organisation (These have been identified by Juran) :

- Understanding Gap. - Understanding of Needs
- Design Gap. - Ability to take the needs and produce a design to meet those needs.
- Process Gap. - Capability to deliver design.
- Operations Gap - Actual delivery of the product/process.
- Perception Gap - Customers perception of yours/anyone else's product/process/service.

Focus on these gaps throughout your organisation and you will begin to see how a customer focus can be reflected within different areas.

Remember, in order to exceed a customers expectations you need to do more than just meet their needs. For example, a customer may just say they need a toaster that produces great toast everyday for around 6 years at a reasonable cost. However, you could build a machine that makes toast and plays music at the same time, all at a reasonable cost. The customer may not have originally requested the musical feature, but they love it and hence you have met, then exceeded their requirements.

I recommend you try and read around the subject, as previously mentioned QFD and House of Quality are good tools, but effective planning in every aspect of your organisation would yield a world of opportunity and bring about increased customer focus.

Remember plan what you want to do from the strategic level and cascade the requirements down to the operational level (easier said than done but that's the "Quality" challenge!)

 

[vanputten]

Re: How to Carry Out “Customer Focus” on All Parts of Management System?

Please, everyone, tell me how one knows what the unstated requiermetns are? And, how would you know that they are consistently met?

It is impossible. Absolutley impossible. Therefore, it is impossible to say that the unstated requriements are met.

We think this s a linear problem with cause and effect. What is "quality?" We assume that "satisfaction" (whatever that is) is an effect of meeting requirements. Quality is meeting requirements? If so, how would anyone ever know what all of the requirments are? We don't and won't. It is not a linear, analyitcal thing. There are subjective, romantic (vs. analystical), perceptual basis to satisfaction.

Satisfied cusotmers don't always tell you they are satisfied nor do they always return. Unsatisfied cusotmers don't always tell you they are unsatisfied and may return.

Any by the way, a state of satisfaction is a point in time and not permament thing.

Just get those surveys going. Measure those key items that you think means the customer is satisfied. Show these items to the external auditor and move on.

Regards,

Dirk