Quality 4.0 : reducing customer complaints

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to realise the positive change that comes from customer complaints experienced in the organisation. Analysis indicates by comparison that the number of customer complaints confirmed for the company in question did not decrease for a certain period. In the same period, the company lost market share to the opposition and the contribution to the bottom line was negatively affected. This prompted the research statement: “Despite the efforts made by the quality management fraternity to ensure excellence in quality, high levels of product quality complaints still impede operations excellence.” The research adopted a mixed-method methodology with an explanatory approach. Through this approach, the researcher was able to investigate possible opportunities for the reduction of customer complaints. Quality 4.0 emerged from the research, and in particular, the framework developed by the LNS Research company suggested a possible fit or integration to the research and was subsequently pursued. This approach realised the objectives and the major hypothesis to support the research question was: “H1: The Quality 4.0 concept facilitates optimisation of the customer quality complaints of the traditional QMS.” A survey questionnaire was adopted to support the research and the primary and secondary information analysed to form the opinion that is structured in Chapter 6 of this dissertation.