Plastics News Europe - July/August 2019 - 4

Reflection

Quality matters

he past years have seen major changes in the thinking about quality.
Quality, it turns out, now involves
more, much more, than just rounding
up defective products before they reach the customer - even though this is largely the approach
still used today in many processing plants.
However, as quality experts point out, addressing issues after they happen is putting
the cart before the horse. Next to being
highly inefficient, it costs money, reduces
productivity and ultimately profitability as
well. Many processors in the plastics manufacturing industry like to think that by a
focus on cost control they can remain
competitive and enhance productivity. Investing in quality is not usually on the
agenda. Yet the costs of quality-related
issues such as product reruns due to processing or material issues, or product returns by
unsatisfied customers, can be very considerable.
Delivering poor quality, say the experts, is a fast
and sure way to ruin a company's reputation
and to lose even the most loyal customer base.
Instead of chasing quality, however, managing it is another option. The idea in that
case is relatively straightforward: to focus on

EDitoriAL

intErnAtionAL ADVErtiSinG

Editor
+31 (0)643 004972

Karen Laird
klaird@crain.com

Reporter
+43 (0)664 8707581

Shahrzad Pourriahi
spourriahi@crain.com

Markets Editor
+44 20 8253 9616

David Platt
davidkplatt@aol.com

Art Director
+44 (0)7778 964300

John Woodhatch
jwoodhatch@crain.com

Editorial Director
+1 313 446 6767

Don Loepp
dloepp@crain.com

ADVErtiSinG
Sales Director
+44 (0)7739 302081

Matthew Barber
mabarber@crain.com

Sales Manager
+44 (0)1273 251277

Darren Tindal
Dtindal@crain.com

Media Services Manager
+1 313 446 0387

Patrick Alfes
palfes@crain.com

Vice President/Group Publisher Brennan Lafferty
+1 313 446 6768
blafferty@crain.com
Chairman
Vice Chairman
President
Senior Executive Vice President

Karen Laird, Editor

preventing quality issues from happening in
the first place. For example, by aiming at not
producing any defective products at all.
Yet getting to that point involves more
than having a quality control department
with an employee assigned to check every
hundredth product.
Quality is something that can be achieved,
managed and maintained with the help of a
quality management system, a system that
incorporates quality assurance, control and
improvement. It does require work and it
also demands effort from the top down.
Resources need to be set aside to implement it and to invest in good quality control tools and equipment. However, these
are investments that have been shown to
pay for themselves in a very short time.
Running a company on visible figures
alone is something W. Edwards Deming, quality guru avant la letter, called one of the Seven
Deadly Diseases of Management. Those in the
industry who would nonetheless prefer to
stick with controlling costs rather than quality,
might want to take note of something else he
said, namely: learning is not compulsory... neither is survival.

Keith E Crain
Mary Kay Crain
K C Crain
Chris Crain

Benelux, France
Arthur Schavemaker
Kenter & Co. B.V., Spoorstraat 21,
NL-7470 AC Goor, The Netherlands
Tel: +31 (0)547-275005 Fax: +31 (0)547-271831
Email: Arthur@kenter.nl
Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Eastern Europe
Randolf Krings
Emcmedia UG, Kaiser-Friedrich-Ring 46,
D-65185, Wiesbaden, Germany
Tel: +49 (0)611 5324 416
Mobile: +49 (0)176 384 23044
Fax: +49 (0)611 5324 519
Email: epn@emcmedia.de
Italy
Fabio Potestà
Mediapoint & Communications SRL,
Corte Lambruschini, Corso Buenos Aires,
8, V piano - interno 7, 16129 Genova - Italy
Tel: +39 010 570 49481 Fax: +39 010 553 0088
Email: info@mediapointsrl.it
United States
Patrick Cannon
Sales Director, Plastics News
1155 Gratiot Avenue, Detroit,
Michigan, 48207, USA
Tel: +1 313 446 1625
Email: pcannon@crain.com

Plastics News Europe is published in print and digital
versions in March, June, September and October. Digital-only
versions are available in February, May, July and December for
which subscribers will receive an announcement email.
Plastics News Europe (incorporating European Plastics News)
is published by Crain Communications Ltd.
Registered Office: 100 New Bridge Street, London EC4V 6JA
United Kingdom
Registered No. 1576350 England. V.A.T. No. GB 577 6905 84
Printed by Warners Midlands, Bourne, Lincolnshire.
ISSN 2058-7902
Advertising terms and conditions are available at
www.plasticsnewseurope.com
© 2019 Crain Communications Ltd. All rights reserved. Contents
may not be reprinted without the permission of the publishers.
EDITORIAL SUBMISSIONS Email to: epnnews@crain.com

SubScriptionS

Subscriptions, circulation, and credit card payments:
Circulation Department, Plastics News Europe,
1155 Gratiot Ave. Detroit, MI 48207, United States.
Tel: +1 313 446 0450
Email: customerservice@plasticsnewseurope.com
Europe £220 (per year surface mail)
Rest of World £240 (per year airmail)
Single copy £22
A member of

july/August 2019

http://www.plasticsnewseurope.com

Plastics News Europe - July/August 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Plastics News Europe - July/August 2019