Thinking Differently About Quality
On 13 November 2025, the day recognised worldwide as “World Quality Day” will be celebrated. This special day is organised to highlight the importance of the concept of quality in every field, from services to manufacturing, technology to healthcare, and to provide an opportunity for organisations to re-evaluate their understanding of quality.
Why is Quality Important?
Quality does not simply mean that a product or service is flawless. It is also essential for ensuring customer satisfaction, making processes safe and effective, preventing waste, and protecting an organisation’s reputation. Failing to focus sufficiently on quality can lead to increased return rates, decreased customer confidence, and increased inefficiencies. This results in both financial and moral losses.
The Road to World Quality Day
- 1911 – The Birth of Quality Control
Frederick W. Taylor’s Principles of Scientific Management was published; the concept of systematic measurement and standardisation became widespread.
- 1946 – The Founding of ASQ
The American Society for Quality Control (now ASQ) was founded; it pioneered the standardisation of quality practices.
- 1960s – The Japanese Quality Revolution
Japanese manufacturers adopted Total Quality Management (TQM) principles; strengthened the perception of “high quality” in the global market.
- 1987 – First ISO 9000 Series
ISO published the first ISO 9000 standards for quality management and assurance, creating a common language worldwide.
- 1990 – World Quality Day
The Chartered Quality Institute (CQI) launched World Quality Day, celebrated annually on the second Thursday of November.
- 2010 – Global Awareness
World Quality Day was incorporated into corporate programmes in numerous countries; quality awareness rapidly spread throughout the business world and daily life.
What does “Thinking differently about quality” mean?
This year’s theme, “Thinking differently about quality,” means taking quality beyond traditional perspectives. In other words, quality is not just about avoiding mistakes or following procedures; it is a process of creating value, learning, and development. For organisations, the following questions come to the fore:
- How meaningful is our service or product for customers?
- How simple and effective are our processes?
- What measures are we taking for the future?
Clear answers to these questions reveal the invisible yet powerful impact of quality management.
As a special corporate application for Quality Day, you can achieve visible improvement and increased satisfaction in your organisation with a 30-day Quality Improvement Plan.
This plan enables you to create a simple yet effective roadmap to assess your organisation’s current state, identify process bottlenecks, and achieve tangible improvements in a short timeframe.
Sample Action Plan:
- Week 1: Determine your quality level.
For example, examine key indicators such as customer return rate, number of complaints, or service defect rate.
- Weeks 2-3: Create process maps.
Identify the 2-3 steps where the most errors occur and focus on the question “Why did this happen?”
- Week 4: Analyse the sources of errors.
Develop solution proposals and clarify the responsible individuals and timeline for each step.
- Subsequent Months: Monitor the effects of the implementations, proceed with the data, and evaluate the results regularly.
Errors in production directly translate into costs. Disruptions in services and technology undermine customer trust, while in education and healthcare, quality is trust itself. Therefore, a quality approach yields results at every scale and in every sector.
13 November, World Quality Day, presents an important opportunity for your organisation to rethink the concept of “quality”. This special day requires preparation for the subsequent questions of who, what, and how. Because true success lies not merely in declaring “no errors,” but in being able to say “value exists.”
As CFECERT, we provide services in planning and executing Training, Internal Audits, Gap Analyses and Certification processes in areas such as quality, information security, business continuity, service management, compliance and many more. For detailed information, please contact us at info@cfecert.co.uk