Assessing product sustainability measurement within quality management systems: A case study in automotive industry

Quality management systems (QMS) are widely acknowledged to be a strategic tool to rationalise and to improve industrial processes and product performances. One of the main reasons of this success may be mainly addressed to: 1) the measurement of quality performances with quality pointers; 2) non-conformities management. Yet, together with the need to guarantee customer's satisfaction, the attention for environmental sustainability of products and processes has raised the question to measure the environmental sustainability of a QMS. The objective of this research is twofold. First, we aim to investigate the impact of quality NC on product sustainability, seeking a measurement of environmental impact on a quality NC. Secondly, we address the development of an integrated method for NC evaluation encompassing production and economic parameters with the goal to have an NC ranking that may help the quality manager to address the most appropriate NC prioritisation