The Federation of Industry announced the establishment of a Quality Management Committee within the organisation. The need for this committee has been noted for some time, as the importance of quality management is becoming more and more apparent.

Quality management is a culture that is still being introduced as well as practised in companies all over the world. This involves the participation of all members in the organisation who are normally trained to aim at long-term success through customer satisfaction and benefits to all members of the organisation and to society.

Total quality management or rather, continuous business improvement requires that a company maintains a high-quality standard in all aspects of its business; ensuring that things are done right the first time and that defects and waste are eliminated from operations and processes, not just in production or sales.

The committee’s objectives are in the form of three deliverables. These are:

• Awareness – To instill awareness among top management on the importance of a quality management culture.

• Education – To introduce formal training courses that would lead to accredited/certified qualifications in quality management.

• Services – To guide and offer contact points to members on a number of possible quality issues such as improvement product quality, obtaining certification, interpretation of standards, etc, as well as providing information on possibilities to tap on funds in relation to quality management and product development.

The committee members are Emidio J. Friggieri as chairman, Ing. Stephen Rizzo, Mark Spiteri, Ing. Ronald Attard Pullicino, Patrick Camilleri Mercieca, Nonzio Bonello, and Ing. Ray Muscat.