Quality has become an increasingly important and critical success factor at higher education institutions, particularly universities. Numerous discussions have been held about education quality in the context of sustainable development. However, the quality of that education strongly depends on the overall quality of the management system which operates at schools. The principal aim of this article is to present the approaches to the quality management systems’ development and their assessment at universities, and share some lessons learned from this area of research. Some possibilities of the ISO 9001 standard’s implementation, as well as the application of excellence models as a response to community demands, will be discussed, especially in the context of the recently-introduced Act No. 111/1998 Coll on Higher Education Institutions, which requires quality assurance and quality evaluation. A case study from The VSB-Technical University of Ostrava shows approaches, results and effects of the quality management system implementation.

Production companies throughout the world are currently facing challenges with the extensive transformation of their processes with regard to digitalisation and other features of Industry 4.0. Simultaneously, traditional quality management processes must be significantly changed, and the umbrella term “Quality 4.0” is used to represent this transformation. Many companies, including Czech enterprises, are still struggling with the concept of Quality 4.0, as there are a lot of uncertainties, misunderstandings, and false approaches. Additionally, a lot of questions arise about how to provide an objective and comprehensive assessment of the company’s maturity or readiness for Quality 4.0. Therefore, the main objective of this article is to present our proposal of a framework and methodology on how to assess and measure the maturity level for the implementation of Quality 4.0. This proposal will be supplemented by a presentation of the main results obtained from a special field study, which was conducted at Czech production companies with the aim of obtaining a representative set of information showing their readiness to adopt Quality 4.0 and convert existing quality management systems into the new era. The authors also identify some research gaps, including the necessity to confirm the mutual relationship between the dimensions and items of Quality 4.0 and the sustainable development of companies or society.

Purpose: The paper brings a set of original information related to analysis and description of the current state in the area of excellence models implementation in Czech organisations. It defines these terms, analyses results of special research in Czech organisations and proposes a comprehensive and generic framework how to achieve the organisational excellence. The principal goal of this paper is to present the main possibilities, benefits, limitations and risks related to the practical use of excellence models in Czech organisations.Methodology/Approach: Brainstorming conferences, field research and relevant data analysis, seminars with quality professionals and other managers, comparative literature analysis and interviews were used to reach the principal goal.Findings: The organisational excellence concept is now widely discussed and implemented throughout the world. Unlike, the real situation in most Czech organizations is rather else. Level of knowledge and overall people awareness related to this concept and various excellence models is very low. This finding supports the assumption that is necessary to change company culture towards never-ending excellence effort in Czech organisations by way of systematic knowledge (including best practices) sharing among all levels of organizations staff.Research Limitation/implication: Special research activities focused on analysis and description of current state in area of excellence models implementation, which was performed on a sample of 321 Czech organisations (with more than 20% response rate). Such level of response rate was seriously influenced by the fact that practical use of various excellence models in Czech organisations is rather limited in present days. However, we can suppose the obtained results should be valid or interesting also for another organization, not only in the Czech Republic.Originality/Value of paper: The paper brings an original set of information from special market research as well as the development of a creative and generic framework of the organisational excellence tailored to Czech organisations.

The article deals with the quality of measured data, which is necessary for effective quality management and successful implementation of the concept Industry 4.0 and the related concept Quality 4.0. The quality of the measured data is determined by the properties of the used measurement system, which are evaluated by measurement system analysis (MSA). Attention is paid to increasing the effectiveness of the repeatability and reproducibility analysis often used in practice. The importance of graphical tools of analysis, which are often neglected in practice, is emphasized in this regard, and new or modified graphical tools are proposed. The proposed graphical tools allow more detailed analysis of the data collected for the study and reveal the causes of the measurement system variability. The information obtained by applying these graphical tools is a valuable basis for proposals of appropriate actions to improve the measurement system. The use of the proposed graphical tools is presented in a real study of the repeatability and reproducibility of the measurement system.

With the proliferation of the Industry 4.0 paradigm, the inadequacy of conventional quality management tools has become increasingly apparent. The preliminary investigation presented in this paper focuses on the identification of the Quality 4.0 readiness level of organizations operating in the Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovakia, as well as affecting factors. The study is based on the review of relevant literature. The web-based questionnaire enabling organizations' representatives through Computer-Assisted Web Interviewing (CAWI) to take part in the study was used. Data from 298 completed responses were subjected to comprehensive analysis. Descriptive statistics and hypothesis testing were applied to analyse the data. Small and medium-sized organizations achieve low levels of Quality 4.0 readiness. Large organizations are better prepared. The study confirmed the dependence between the Quality 4.0 readiness level and whether the organization operates in automotive, while automotive organizations achieved a higher level of Quality 4.0 readiness than other organizations. The significant relationship between the Quality 4.0 readiness level and whether the organization has a certified management system was also confirmed. Received data also enabled the identification of the main barriers and benefits of Quality 4.0 implementation perceived by the organizations. The research findings identify the challenges that enterprises face regarding the Quality 4.0 implementation and the necessary support that organizations require. These findings can be a foundation for developing novel research initiatives and implementation programs. The research results contribute to the existing body of knowledge and bring new information and insights into the field of quality digitalization.

The main objective of this article is to present our proposal of complex customer loyalty measurement within external feedback loops as a response of Industry 4.0 concept in the area of advanced quality management for business-to-business (B2B) relationships, as customer loyalty and organisational sustainability are two critical factors for long-term success. To reach the goal, deep literature analysis, special field research, interviews with specialists, and development of a new model of closed-loop quality management systems, which are created for Quality 4.0 environment, were used. A new term, complex customer loyalty, is introduced, and twelve basic steps of its measurement are briefly explained, including a set of loyalty indicators, all regarding specific characteristics of B2B context. Special research confirmed that only about 15% of Czech organisations use some systematic approach to customer loyalty measurement within B2B area. In the majority of Czech B2B organisations, closed-loop quality management systems are mostly in early phases of their development. However, there is no doubt that complex customer loyalty measurement will be an important part of these systems. The proposals presented in this article are mostly universal and should be applied not only to Czech companies.