Quality Management

The following definition of quality management is taken from the quality standard DIN EN ISO 9000:2005. This standard provides internationally recognized and clear definitions of the terms. Here, a quality management system is defined as “that part of an organization’s management system which, in relation to quality objectives, is directed towards achieving results to satisfy, as far as is reasonable, the needs, expectations and requirements of interested parties”. Thus, a quality management system is essentially responsible for ensuring that customer requirements are met. In doing so, many factors such as employees, processes, machines or information must be taken into account, coordinated and managed. The task of the quality management system is to integrate these factors into an integrated system in order to successfully design and manage them within the company. In accordance with the meaning of the word prevention, preventive quality management can be defined as a “management system for meeting customer requirements with the intention of anticipating non-fulfillment of customer requirements and detecting and eliminating errors or deviations as early as possible”. According to DIN EN ISO 9000:2005, a quality management system has three core elements: quality planning, quality assurance and quality control, which are explained below.