Quality Objectives: The What and Why

The quality objectives are the main method used by companies to focus the goal(s) from the Quality Policy into plans for improvement. The

Quality Policy is created with the Customer Requirements in mind, then quality objectives are linked back to the Customer Requirements

through the Quality Policy. The quality objectives take the goal(s) stated in the Quality Policy and turned these into statements for

improvement against which plans can be made.

For example, if the Quality Policy of a widget manufacturer had identified a customer need for just-in-time delivery with no defects as the

most important requirements, the goal from the Quality Policy might read: “To deliver widgets to our customers when they need them, with no

defects, every time.” This company might then have two Quality Objectives: the first being to address improvement of on-time delivery, and

the second to address defective parts shipped to the customer. The first objective might be: “to improve on-time delivery from 90% to 95%

within the next year” and the second could be: “to reduce field escapes to the customer from 4% to 3% within the next year”. In doing so, the

improvement derived from the Quality Objectives is directly linked to the needs of the customer.

These quality objectives would then be communicated to each level of the organization with corresponding objectives and plans at each level

to help meet the overall planned goal. If your company uses a Balanced Scorecard, this is a good format to use for this communication of

quality objectives.

The objectives need to be set for the different levels of the organization right down to objectives for the product (e.g. one objective for the

whole QMS, then individual objectives for the product or process that supports the overall objective). These product or process objectives are

often referred to as Key Performance Indicators (or KPIs). By utilizing the KPIs that the company has identified as the important indicators

that the processes are functioning well the overall QMS objectives for improvement become much easier to measure.