Quality Management (QM) has come a long way since its inception. Initially, it focused on quality planning, quality assurance, quality control, and continuous improvement. However, with the advent of Industry 4.0 (I4.0)-driven digitalisation, the role of QM professionals has transformed from "supervisor" to "change agent." Digital technologies, such as big data analytics, IoT, cloud-based platforms, and digital dashboards, have significant implications for integrating QM systems with other enterprise-wide systems like ERP.
Although there is growing academic interest in QM and digitalisation, there is still a lack of evidence on the usage of actual digital practices for the digitalisation of QM processes. This is where this scientific paper comes in. It focuses on the practices for the digitalisation of QM processes and work practices and examines the digitalisation journey of a multinational corporation offering filtration technology and thermal management solutions for the automotive sector.
The study contributes to theory and practice by providing empirical data from a real-world case to understand how digitalisation affects QM processes and explores the nature of digitalisation practices. It also proposes a conceptual framework for the Quality 4.0 transition, adding to the existing literature on the digitalisation of business processes such as QM and providing a strategic action plan to practitioners leading this transition.
Quality 4.0 is the future of QM, which integrates digital capabilities into traditional QM systems to help organizations achieve operational excellence. The literature on Quality 4.0 is still evolving and mostly conceptual in nature. Scholars have identified certain systems, processes, and people-level competencies that are needed for the effective realization of Quality 4.0.
The paper presents a case study of a manufacturing company's digitalization initiatives aimed at improving product design and development processes, operator productivity, and safety on the shop floor. The company implemented various digital tools, such as 3D printing, AI-powered wearable devices, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis, thermal imaging, and a digital gauge measurement system. These tools helped the company anticipate quality issues across the stages of the product life cycle, monitor mould temperature, eliminate manual data entry, and take immediate corrective action to enhance process performance.
The paper proposes a Quality 4.0 transition framework that can help organizations effectively digitize their QM practices. The framework is based on the potential benefits and challenges of digitalization of QM practices and the dimensions for effective digitalization of business processes related to QM. The framework can support organizations in achieving organizational agility, sustainability, and financial performance in the digital age.
The proposed Quality 4.0 transition framework emphasizes the need for a systematic assessment of an organization's digitalization maturity level, followed by the integration of QM processes through horizontal and vertical networking and the reinforcement of TQM principles through the use of I4.0 enabling technologies. Integrating systems, the proposed framework suggests that I4.0 technologies can help in creating a seamless flow of information and data across different process areas, thereby enabling better decision-making and problem-solving.
The article also discusses the implementation of Quality 4.0 in an Italy-based multinational corporation that faced product recalls in 2019. The case company used I4.0 maturity models to assess its digitalization maturity and deployed an enterprise-wide QMS platform to centralize the QM function across its eight manufacturing facilities. Other actions taken include creating a dashboard to track and report progress of project-level initiatives for QM, implementing a product/part traceability system, and introducing auto ballooning for inspection plan generation. These actions helped the case company improve its digitalization maturity and achieve its digitalization goals.
In conclusion, this scientific paper provides valuable insights into the digitalisation of QM processes and work practices. Its case study and proposed Quality 4.0 transition framework offer practical guidance for organizations seeking to digitize their QM practices and achieve operational excellence in the digital age. Although its focus is limited to specific QM practices related to documentation, inspection data capture, quality metrics, and reporting, this study provides a foundation for future research in this field.
Authors
Prashar, A. (2023). Towards digitalisation of quality management: conceptual framework and case study of auto-component manufacturer. The TQM Journal, (ahead-of-print). https://doi.org/10.1108/TQM-09-2022-0289