Quality is a people thing

I love forests and heathland, and I feel blessed to live on the edge of the Veluwezoom national park. A half-hour run takes me to the viewpoint at the top of the hill called the Posbank, and on an early Sunday-morning trail run I’ll often see wild animals such as deer and boar. It gives me an immense sense of freedom, plus the chance to think about articles for this magazine and topics for this column. What a great life I have!

‘Quality of life’ is defined in terms of how well a person functions physically, psychologically and socially, including a subjective evaluation. Hence, quality of life is a subjective term.

‘Quality of life’ plays an important role in many current issues in the healthcare sector. One example is scientists who are tackling malnutrition among people who have problems chewing and swallowing. Those people often don’t eat well because they can’t be bothered: they literally can’t face any more grey purees. Research has shown that 3D food printing can considerably improve their quality of life. I can believe that. Broccoli can be pureed and then printed out in the shape of broccoli florets again, which at least looks a lot more appealing.

Delivering quality means doing more than merely meeting the expectations, whether formalised or implicit ones, of internal and/or external customers. That vision is shared by Geke Naaktgeboren, director of quality assurance & safety at FrieslandCampina. Last year, she was named Quality Manager in Food 2013. The quality policy within the company’s Cheese, Butter & Milk Powder business group has been improved significantly. But how can that be implemented among the workforce in practice? In an extensive interview she explains about the change process that is in underway for the employees in production, the offices and the management team. The underlying idea is: if you want people to get involved, you have to involve them in the process.

Marcel Devilee, director of Daily Fresh Food, is another person who consciously opts for quality. He admits that he once bought a machine from a cheaper brand, but it didn’t perform well. “The operators literally begged me to buy another Multivac instead,” says the director. So you do. It leads to employees who are happy in their work. Because ‘quality’ is a people thing.

I recently returned from a Sunday morning run. I’d taken some photos along the way: the sun casting its light across a woodland pond, a slow worm on the path, wild horses on the heath. My children were impressed. “We want to see that too!” they said. Two hours later, I’d involved them in the process and we were running up a steep hill together. And when I looked at their smiling faces, I realised that there is one more aspect which is inextricably linked with ‘quality’: leading by example.      

Judith Witte

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