Theresa L. Utlaut, Intel Corporation, and Richard Warr, Brigham Young University

During its November meeting, the ASA Board unanimously voted to endorse the 2021 Quality Manifesto from the International Academy for Quality (IAQ), a nonprofit organization of elected members dedicated to advancing quality management around the world. The IAQ was formed in 1966 to unite thought leaders in North America, Europe, and Asia who were using the principles of quality control to transform the post-war economies of Japan and Europe.

The new document, written by N. (Ram) Ramanathan and Gregory Watson, is an update to the IAQ’s 2001 Quality Manifesto. The authors note in an accompanying paper that much in the world has changed since the first document, including a greater demand for using resources efficiently, minimizing environmental damage, and incorporating new biotechnology. “Therefore, there is evident need for a revitalized expression about the meaning and application of quality,” they write. “This enhanced quality perspective must be as much at home integrating environmental questions as with humanistic applications for society.”

The 2021 Quality Manifesto lists 10 ways quality professionals can revitalize their dedication to global leadership through quality. Quality has two critical foundations, it says: “the discipline of science coupled with mutual respect for all human beings.”

ASA members might be particularly interested in the ninth resolution: “Bring data into daily conversation: rendering, in an age of data profusion, everyone from board members to frontline associates skillful in generating and interpreting data for applications in control, improvement, and daily conversation.”