Crosby’s “quality is free”

– Quality is free. When Philip Crosby introduced this idea in 1979 it was immediately embraced by companies in the United States. His book was an overnight bestseller. And in a very short time, he became one of the best known quality gurus in the business world. Everything he said made sense to managers and employees alike. You see, U.S. companies in the late 70s and 80s were suffering from low quality standards in production operations and designing new products. Many CEOs were actively looking for help when Crosby came along. I worked for one of those companies back then, in fact our CEO even invited Philip Crosby to give a talk at my company to kick off a major quality effort. Crosby told a very interesting story about how he became a so-called quality guru. He was the quality director in a factory for a major defense contractor. They made missiles for the U.S. government. One day on the factory floor, his boss said that he wanted to completely eliminate defects. Crosby said “Boss, it’s not possible to have zero defects.” And his boss said “Phil, somewhere in this world, “there’s a quality director who can give me zero defects “that can be you, or that can be someone else.” Crosby did his best to make it happen, to keep his job and he became famous for it. He taught corporate America several things. First, the quality goal should always be zero defects. Put measures in place to prevent defects instead of fixing them after you find them. Crosby also believed there’s no such thing as a quality problem. Poor quality is caused by a process error or an incorrect accounting practice. Or a product design issue. It’s important to always investigate the root cause of any problem. And it’s always cheaper to do the job right the first time. when you don’t follow specifications or meet customer requirements. Doin’ it right the first time is free. In my company we asked, if you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over? This became our motto as we tried to eliminate defects. Now, keep in mind that zero defects is a goal. It’s not possible to be perfect every day in everything you do. But most companies know that even a good process can be made a little better. You can see Crosby’s approach in every continuous improvement program today. How about your programs? Is quality free in your organization? Make sure your processes focus on preventing mistakes rather than fixing them. rather than fixing them.