Masonry Magazine December 1992 Page. 8
FROM THE PRESIDENT
By RICHARD MATTHEWS
President, Mason Contractors
Association of America
Industry's Survival May Depend On Not Losing the Quality Battle
IN EVERY PUBLICATION YOU PICK UP, everywhere you go, people are talking about quality and the importance of making it better. Some argue that it should be done one way; others are equally committed to their own approaches. How do you know what approach is best?
The MCAA/NCMA Masonry Quality Institute was established for that reason. Attendance has been outstanding. The attending companies all take pride in their quality efforts and are striving to raise their quality standards.
Many know, for instance, how important it is to seek customer feedback-welcoming it even when it's unfavorable and using it to improve their finished products or services. They understand that it's essential for their employees to be well trained to have the know-how to avoid costly mistakes.
They also know that the commitment to quality can't end with a quality department. To be successful, it must be a company-wide effort.
"An organization with all of its muscle, machinery, equipment, money and facilities can't do anything unless it's got a brain. The brain is the people." This quote on the importance of quality is from Gary Berryman, director of Honda's training center in Ohio. MCAA and NCMA and all their people are deadly serious about the importance of quality within the masonry industry.
If you haven't started your quality program, do it now. Our industry can't afford to lose the quality battle. Our very survival may depend on it. But remember, change doesn't come overnight. Improvement programs will take an average of two years for the benefits of a total quality program to emerge.
Unfortunately, the entire masonry industry is not part of this effort. For instance, the brick industry hasn't even entered the battle. This is short-sighted on their part, but the norm for the fragmented industry in which we work.
Customer satisfaction is the cornerstone of any business. It's really quite simple! If customers don't like your product, they won't be back for more. And even if you have a great product but aren't providing top quality customer service, you'll drive off the customers just the same.
Quality service keeps current customers satisfied, ensures a better reputation, gains new business and increases market share.
Recommend Joint MCAA/NCMA Quality Awards Competition
It's important that all of the different organizations in the masonry industry engage in self-assessment. Competition always helps. For this reason I would like to see MCAA and NCMA set up a quality awards competition. If anything, the awards criteria would provide a common ground, a structure, which a company can judge itself against. Such an awards program could start as early as Expo '94.
Quoting Ronald Ohmes, of F. K. Kirchner, a St. Louis block producer, "The Masonry Quality Institute is a unique team approach; not only are we learning as an individual company, but we are learning and applying the concept with our customers-the mason contractor. Never before in our industry has this been accomplished in a formal program. MQI enhances the effort to satisfy the end user."
Very little can be added to that statement, except we need all the players involved-all contractors and manufacturers. How about you?
8 MASONRY-NOVEMBER/DECEMBER, 1992