At quality management many people still think of thick binders with procedures, checklists and reports, preferably carrying a dozen signatures. What matters however is that customers come back, not the products. The main challenge of modern quality management in a continuously changing environment is to timely identify relevant quality risks and take appropriate measures. It all starts with a thorough understanding of customer expectations (both explicit and implicit) and proceeds with translating the expectations into clear requirements for design, suppliers and processes.

Innovation can be defined as a first commercial application of something new. Innovations can be found in products or services but also in the processes used to produce them or the supporting organization. In all cases it is about something that has never been done before and will be delivered to a customer. Although there is no experience with all aspects of the innovation one wants to safeguard the customers from products or services that do not meet their expectations or, at the very least, be able to effectively correct in case of potential problems.