IX Encontro

Lars Sorqvist will in this speech give his views of the future of quality, how this will affect the future of Portugal and Europe and what is needed to be done to succeed. The world is today turning into a new situation where quality more and more become the global success factor. We are moving from a situation based on mass production, to a situation where fulfillment of customer needs will be the major success factor. Today countries like China, India and Korea rapidly develop in the area of quality something that creates a new global quality based competition situation. To be successful as a company, the ability to deliver good quality will be more and more critical.

Quality is also necessary when developing a more sustainable world. A lot of waste today has to do with low-quality products and processes. By understanding customer needs better and developing highly effective processes, many of the resources used today can be reduced. Smart use of resources with focus on quality is also of highest importance for the development of future welfare in a world with a growing population that needs more and more.

New technology and new innovations are changing the world rapidly. To be able to get benefits out of such technology it has to be developed with focus on meeting needs of customers. When making the world step by step more digital it is of highest importance that all processes being digitalized have the ability to deliver quality. Otherwise the risk is high that we are locked into an ineffective situation. The use of quality management methods in the development and implementation of new technology is therefore very important.

Portugal is a country that today goes through a transformation from being in an economical hard situation towards a positive financial development and into more international business. The future of Portugal is a lot about delivering quality products that creates high value to customers. Crucial for succeeding with this transformation is the ability to develop the philosophy, principles and methods of quality management further in companies and organizations all over the country!