A Lean Journey 
On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.
“The Customers Do Not Feel The Average. They Feel The Variation.” — Tom Groark
The customer’s affection for a company can very quickly turn into enmity at the first encounter with inconsistency. Like beauty and truth, quality is in the eye of the beholder, your customer. Quality is an ever evolving perception by the customer of the value provided by a product. It is not a static perception that never changes but a fluid process that changes as a product matures (innovation) and other alternatives (competition) are made available as a basis of comparison.
Quality and excellence are not what you say they are. Quality and excellence are what your customers say they are. Customers of your products and services define quality!
Customers want quality that is appropriate to the price that they are prepared to pay and the level of competition in the market.
Very quickly, you swing from appreciation to disdain. And this is how variation kills us.
This is the very reason why consistency is important in business. Not only does it cost you a lot, but more importantly it builds your integrity. This is also the reason why Six Sigma and other quality strategies avoid defects or variation like a plague.
Quality and excellence are not what you say they are. Quality and excellence are what your customers say they are. Customers of your products and services define quality!
Customers want quality that is appropriate to the price that they are prepared to pay and the level of competition in the market.
Very quickly, you swing from appreciation to disdain. And this is how variation kills us.
This is the very reason why consistency is important in business. Not only does it cost you a lot, but more importantly it builds your integrity. This is also the reason why Six Sigma and other quality strategies avoid defects or variation like a plague.
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