New Needed Quality Management Skills for Quality Managers 4.0

Gilberto Santos, Jose Carlos Sá, Maria João Félix, Luís Barreto (), Filipe Carvalho, Manuel Doiro, Kristína Zgodavová and Miladin Stefanović
Additional contact information
Gilberto Santos: ESD–Design School–Polytechnic Institute Cavado Ave, 4750-299 Barcelos, Portugal
Jose Carlos Sá: Engineering School, Polytechnic of Porto, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
Maria João Félix: ESD–Design School–Polytechnic Institute Cavado Ave, 4750-299 Barcelos, Portugal
Filipe Carvalho: Escola Superior de Ciências Empresariais–Instituto Politécnico de Viana do Castelo, 4930-600 Valença, Portugal
Manuel Doiro: Industrial Engineering School/IEA, Vigo University, 36208 Vigo, Spain
Kristína Zgodavová: Faculty of Materials, Metallurgy and Recycling, Technical University of Košice, 040 01 Košice, Slovakia
Miladin Stefanović: Center for Quality, Faculty of Engineering, University of Kragujevac, 34000 Kragujevac, Serbia

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 11, 1-22

Abstract: Digitalization is rushing throughout the world, namely, in industrial and societal infrastructures. Hence, digital transformation becomes a pillar of industrial policy, known in Europe as “Industry 4.0,” in China as “made in China 2025,” in Asia as “Smart Cities,” in Japan as “Society 5.0,” and in North America as “Industrial Internet.” These transformations will change the industrial landscape, toward Quality 4.0 and therefore, our lives. The presented research was conducted on quality management employees in Portugal and it aims to analyze if such employees have the perception of the impact of Industry 4.0 in the quality management profession and the required and needed skills. After analyzing the answered questionnaires, 90 results were considered valid. This is the sample of our study. Simultaneously, the goal of this research is also to review and analyze the main topics in progress related to quality management for the fourth industrial revolution and how quality emerges of this change. The professionals that work on quality management must have creative thinking, be leaders, know how to communicate and work as a team, as well as, to have knowledge and understanding of ICT (Information and Communications Technology), and main pillars of Industry 4.0. These are the main findings. Besides that, they must know how to motivate their work teams, be open to change, know how to use Big Data to make decisions and above all, they must know how to manage conflicts. In addition, quality professionals must promote the design and production of first class products, be the defenders of their customers within the organization, and finally, they must create value for the stakeholders.

Keywords: quality management skills; digitalization; industry 4.0; quality 4.0; sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

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