Published October 16th, 2020
What are Quality Objectives?
Quality Objectives are specific business goals for the value and performance of products or services. Each quality objective aims to ensure alignment with the company’s Quality Policy, the statement of their strategic direction. Both quality objectives and quality policies are standard requirements of ISO 9001:2015. Generally, quality objectives are set by managers, supervisors, or a person-in-charge. Failure to follow set quality objectives can lead to substandard products and services, inefficient processes, and communication breakdown among teams.
This article will briefly discuss:
- examples of quality objectives;
- how to write better quality objectives;
- a mobile app to set, document, and communicate quality objectives to teams; and
- free quality objectives templates you can download, customize and use.
Quality Objectives Examples
Quality objectives vary greatly depending on the industry, company, product, or service. Here are a few general examples:
- Increase total sales by 10% from Q1 to Q2
- Decrease failed customer resolutions by 20% by the end of the month
- Ensure 100% availability of product for all store branches
- Ensure that customers will not wait more than 5 minutes to be served
- Have at least 3 people trained for every task in the process
Quality Objectives Examples
How to Write Better Quality Objectives
Every now and then, a team will fail to meet their quality objectives. Perhaps, the initially-written quality objectives were unrealistic or they were unmeasurable. When this happens, it’s important to know what can be done in order to do better in the future. Here are some things teams can do to better their chances when they fail to meet quality objectives:
- Document the data
Make sure to have complete documentation as this will prove useful in determining what went wrong so the right adjustments can be made. Be thorough and include details such as the personnel involved, dates, numbers, incidents, and other notable information. - Assess your resources against the quality objective
Sometimes, not meeting the quality objective is a mere symptom of failing to set an attainable one. Assign a person or team to reassess the viability of meeting the set objective considering the resources provided (equipment, time frame, materials, personnel, etc). Depending on the findings, adjustments can be made by providing additional resources, introducing a new process for efficiency, or scaling the quality objective down to make it more doable. - Know your team’s skillset
Most managers and supervisors fail to capitalize on their team’s individual talents. Take time to know each member’s strengths and weaknesses so you can distribute them effectively and maximize team performance. - Perform a Root-Cause Analysis to pinpoint the reason for failure
Numerous internal and external factors may contribute to failure. Performing a root-cause analysis can help teams find the main cause of failure so corrective and preventive measures can be formulated against it. - Create an A3 Report to refine your approach
The A3 Model is a problem-solving technique that aims to identify, understand, and resolve problems in a business setting. It utilizes the PDCA Methodology (Plan-Do-Check-Act/Adjust), helpful for optimizing your approach in order to meet your quality objectives.
Quality Objectives Implementation with iAuditor
Once S.M.A.R.T Quality Objectives have been set, the person-in-charge must ensure that they are clearly communicated among teams. Additional measures such as internal audits help ensure that no steps toward meeting quality objectives are taken for granted. From the formulation of quality objectives, to their communication and implementation, iAuditor by SafetyCulture makes everything easier, faster, and more efficient.
Convenient data collection
- Collect data from the field anytime with your phone or tablet, even while offline!
- Use the collected data to formulate S.M.A.R.T Quality Objectives, or gather data to find the cause of failure
- Save and secure your information with unlimited cloud storage
Generate and share Quality Objectives instantly
- Immediately share the completed Quality Objectives Template to teams and stakeholders for instant implementation and visibility
- Easily customize our pre-made Quality Objectives Templates or create your own to fit your business needs
- Export your Quality Objectives Template in a variety of formats including PDF, DOC, and CSV
Manage teams better
- Assign and track corrective actions to team members in real-time
- Easily communicate updates and changes to quality objectives through the app
- World-class 24/5 customer support to assist you with your iAuditor queries
Featured Quality Objectives Templates
Quality Objectives Template
This template can be used to formulate and align quality objectives with quality policies, quality indicators, periodicity, and assignments. Managers and supervisors can share a report generated from this template to team members and use them as a reference guide for the specifics of quality objectives.
- Download and use as is or customize to fit your business preferences
- Capture photos and annotate them to provide visual examples of good and bad practices
- Automatically organize and retrieve reports secured in the cloud
A3 Report Template
This A3 report template can be used to identify, analyse, and resolve complex problems in a business setting. It is typically used by managers and supervisors who are looking to eradicate issues, inefficiencies, and ambiguities in business operations in order to maximize productivity.
Gap Analysis ISO 9001 Checklist
This Gap Analysis ISO 9001 Checklist can help you prepare for ISO 9001:2015 certification. Use this to evaluate if the Context of the organization, Planning, Operation, Quality control, and Product improvement complies with the ISO standard. It will also help determine the needs of consumers and your opportunities for improvements within the QMS. Use iAuditor to generate efficient on-site reports and assign corrective actions to appropriate team members.
8D Report Template
An 8D report template is used to document a comprehensive root-cause analysis based on the 8 Disciplines of Problem-Solving popularized by the Ford Motor Company. 8D Teams can use this template to generate their 8D report after completion.
