Mastering Quality at Scale: From Common Standard to Integrated Sustainability?
A column by Margaux Cotillon, Quality Director, JJA
Quality is more than just a final inspection: it is organized from upstream to downstream of production, with requirements that go far beyond mere regulations. At JJA, this approach is based on common standards for numerous product references, adaptation to uses and markets, and integration of sustainability right from the product design stage.
In all sectors, quality is no longer confined to regulatory compliance or end-of-line control. It encompasses a wide range of dimensions, such as safety, performance and durability. For companies, quality is a strategic issue in its own right, as it determines customer satisfaction, risk management and business model solidity.
Quality becomes truly strategic when it holds up over time, on large volumes, without becoming diluted. It's a daily challenge for our teams: managing a product range of around 20,000 items, with a wide variety of materials, uses, manufacturing processes and supplier profiles.
This diversity of references changes the scale of control. With a homogeneous range, the rules are simpler. With a wide and heterogeneous range like ours, quality must remain consistent despite the wide variety of product types and industrial processes. This is why we have structured our system around common standards and shared management tools.
Our organization is based on a simple principle: firmly establish the fundamentals, then fine-tune them according to product use, identified risks and the expectations of our customers and consumers alike. In concrete terms, quality plans and specifications lay the foundations, while the automation of part of the monitoring process enables our teams to focus their expertise on sensitive points.
The same high standards in all our markets
Added to this complexity is another reality: the diversity of customer expectations, for which we strive to maintain a constant level of high standards. This is also a decisive factor in our international development strategy: maintaining the same standard of quality, whatever the market addressed.
We have set up a multi-stage control system, starting with documentary validation, followed by supplier tests, then tests carried out by our own teams and factory inspections. This system is regularly adjusted to ensure that it remains effective over time.
When it comes to such large-scale production logics, proximity to the field is essential. Our work at head office anchors requirements right from the product design stage, and our presence in the production basins enables us to quickly resolve any problems that may arise with our industrial partners. Our physical presence in China and India enables us to build and nurture strong partnerships with our suppliers to enhance our industrial expertise.
The durability of our products, a quality standard
Today, our quality requirements are inseparable from our sustainability demands. We have therefore created a position dedicated to CSR compliance within the quality department, to reinforce the integration of environmental and societal issues into our product standards.
And it's upstream, right from the product design stage, that the key factors come into play. The choice of materials, finishes and processes determines a product's future robustness. Outdoor use, for example, calls for different technical responses than indoor use.
To achieve the best possible results, we first carry out a functional analysis, then identify the risks of failure, target the critical components to be strengthened and attach great importance to their repairability. This enables us to concentrate our efforts where the impact on longevity is most tangible. These requirements guide our choices. Our tool The Good Living Score helps us to combine control of materials, understanding of impacts and extension of service life.
Our ambition is clear: to guarantee, in all our markets, products that are compliant, long-lasting and adapted to real-life uses, with a view to continuous improvement. Quality is thus a central commitment in our vision of Home Beauty, as our approach gives concrete expression on a daily basis to our promise of an interior that is beautiful, useful and responsible.
