Avoid The Slipshod

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Do you wonder whether the quality of your company's products compares favorably with that of your competitors? A consulting firm specializing in quality improvement has devised a free checklist that will tell you the score.

The checklist, called Qualitiscore, consists of questions about the reliability of aspects of a company's quality system. Each answer is given a numerical point value. When the checklist is completed, the points are added together and the total is compared with 1 of the 20 or so industry standards provided with the questionnaire.

American Loose Leaf Business Products Inc., a $14-million maker and distributor of office supplies in St. Louis, started using Qualitiscore on a quarterly basis about a year ago. "At first, we fell way below our industry's median score," says plant manager Lou Sengheiser. "The checklist pinpointed areas that needed improvement, and we addressed them with remedial action." According to Sengheiser, customer complaints about defective products already have dropped dramatically. "We used to get about 20 complaint letters a week," he says. "Now we get only 3 or 4."

For a free Qualitiscore checklist with industry standards, send a stamped, self-addressed company letterhead envelope to Management Sciences International Inc., 15 Mt. Rascal Rd., Hackettstown, NJ 07840.