Built-In Quality: How It Leads to Customer Satisfaction and How HARMAN Gets It Right
Originally published on HARMAN News Room
Every year, HARMAN celebrates World Quality Month: a time when our employees around the globe recommit to our focus on the role that quality plays in delivering products, services, and business operations that enhance consumer experiences.
This year, we decided our Quality Month theme around the idea of “Built-in Quality.” At HARMAN, we strive to keep quality in mind from the very first step of the product development process so that we can get it right the first time, every time. By getting things right-by-design, we can reduce production costs while driving innovation and eliminating costly reworks. This quality-led mindset is key to maintaining our position as a preferred technology partner for our customers.
As part of our Quality Month recognitions, HARMAN employees participated in 18 informative panel sessions, “Power Hours,” and self-paced learning programs that all reinforced the importance of acting with a quality-first mindset, utilizing predictive tools, and fostering a culture of continuous learning to maintain our quality amidst an environment where rapidly changing technology is the norm. Throughout the month, close to 4500 global employees across all HARMAN business divisions, functions, and regions participated in these dedicated programming events that will enable them to lead change in these key focus areas.
To kick off our Quality Month program, Mark Quint, our Vice President of Quality Excellence, discussed HARMAN’s commitment to quality and how it is a critical aspect of our long-term critical to quality in today’s rapidly changing business environment. Members of HARMAN’s Senior Leadership Committee expanded on this idea during a keynote panel that deeply explored the quality-first mindset in their division’s business goals and operations.
Carolin Reichert, our Chief Strategy Officer, emphasized the importance of quality during the keynote panel, “We are living in a resource-constrained world. So, we have to prioritize, and by doing things right the first time, we can save resources for more opportunities, and for more innovation. Built-in quality is not only a driver for strategic options, but also the result of a robust strategy.”
The panel participants also examined our quality goals and the roadmap ahead for ensuring our teams continue developing customer expectations for performance, reliability, and price. Employees were also encouraged to join various quality-focused “power hours” throughout the month, such as how HARMAN used Built-in Quality to achieve GM’s Supplier of the Year recognition.
While World Quality Month always reminds us to reflect on the importance of quality, our pledge to execute with a quality-first mindset at HARMAN never wavers throughout the year. We remain focused on our commitment to “Built-in Quality” to help us anticipate customer needs, exceed expectations, and deliver with the quality that we are known for. To stay up to date on the exceptional products and solutions that we have in store, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and our blog.
