Quality Management in Different Business Sectors
Quality of Economic Sectors
1. Types of Companies in Relation to Quality
The methodologies of quality management may be common in their basic features. However, the application of this methodology is specific to each company.
Each company must define, therefore, what quality management approach is most suited to their characteristics, although there are general characteristics such as the type of business and economic sector.
A classification of enterprises for the management of quality:
Companies that sell to other companies (Business to Business). They have a number of customers who know or can know their most important characteristics. Products are almost always sold to specifications, and customer relations are almost personal.
Consumer goods companies that sell to final consumers (Business to Consumer). They have an indeterminate number of buyers who are unaware, and the sale of their products or services is done through distribution companies (wholesalers, retailers, or department stores), which are their real customers.
2. Industrial Companies that Sell to Other Companies
This is the case of the chemical industry, metallurgy, petroleum, plastic, cement, or basic electronics. In these cases, quality differentiation is not associated only with the product or meeting the specifications; it also includes the service that accompanies the product.
In this case, the industrial or product quality is based on technology, systems of quality assurance, and certification of the company and product.
The manufacturing company that sells to other companies sets up management of quality.
They are also introducing systems of quality assurance.
3. Automotive Supplier Industries
These companies implemented management systems that allow them to manufacture quality products that regularly meet the specifications agreed upon with their client firms.
These industries have imposed on their suppliers approved systems that rely primarily on quality assurance.
Auto manufacturers regularly conduct quality audits of their suppliers with respect to those conditions to continue holding them as such.
The automotive supplier industries are managed by systems of “quality assurance”, with a high content of inspection and control, enabling them to continuously meet the specifications agreed upon with the automaker.
4. Companies that Sell Services to Other Companies
In this group, we find freight companies or facilities that sell infrastructure to large customers. This group also includes cleaning companies, security, and other services to client firms.
Companies that buy services from other businesses demand certificates to ensure the quality of their services.
5. Intensive Industrial Companies
Here is a large number of industrial enterprises: domestic manufacturers of electro-brown goods, the food industry, and the garment industry.
In these cases, product quality regarding specifications is, on many occasions, standardized and is based on control and inspection. However, the quality perceived by the consumer is associated with the brand created by advertising and promotion.
Many manufacturers, for existing UNE specifications for their products, have the certificate of product, brand N AENOR, especially in appliances and lighting.
In this sector, the distribution channel of large surfaces has recently burst onto the scene.