Industry 4.0, referred to as the fourth industrial revolution, is becoming part of business life and it fundamentally influences the quality of business processes and products. In particular, intelligent technologies that are indispensable in this industrial revolution play a dominant role. This paper presents the results of empirical research focusing on the current state with implementing intelligent technologies, which are grouped into four categories: smart devices, identification technologies, localisation/navigation technologies and information technology/robotics. The empirical research was conducted from a large sample of industrial enterprises in the Slovak Republic. All enterprises were multinational companies whose parent companies reside abroad. Another question was what the expectations of quality managers with the deployment of intelligent technologies in 2025 are. Together, we have identified 14 technologies and 26 manufacturing and logistics processes. Based on the difference between the current state of use of intelligent technologies and their future deployment, we can identify their growth potential. This growth is quantified as the difference between the current state of the technology in the process and its future. In addition to the expectations of quality managers, we also determined the direction of product development in technological enterprises.

This research paper examines the issue of quality management practices (QMPs) as a supporting tool for managing and improving the performance and competitiveness of enterprises. The aim of the paper is to present the interconnection of the practical use of QMPs concerning the performance in the Slovak manufacturing enterprises. One of the main causal factors that may influence the different utilization of QMPs is the capital structure of the surveyed enterprises. The consequence factor is the achieved performance, parameterized in this research through Return on Sales. During the period 2020 to 2021, 364 manufacturing enterprises were interviewed through a questionnaire. In order to keep the population, the industrial structure stratified sampling method was applied and the sample representativeness was assessed by using the Chi-square goodness-of-fit test. Pearson’s chi-square test, interval estimates of proportions, and analysis of contingency were implemented to test the stated research hypotheses. The results of performed analyses revealed the existence of significant relations among capital structure, the scale of the use of QMPs and performance measured by Return on Sales. The survey results also point to differences in the practical use of quality management within the analysed industries. The difference factor is the size of the enterprise, the industry itself, and partly also the technology and performance of the industry given by the added value. At the same time, space for the implementation of selected approaches and concepts related to quality management in manufacturing enterprises that have the potential for more effective management has been identified to increase competitiveness.

This paper deals with the quality costs control in small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises (SMEs) in Slovakia and also presents the results from the questionnaire survey. The empirical study attempts to determine the level of understanding and level of implementation of quality costs control in SMEs in Slovakia. The research is based on the prevention–appraisal–failure model. In the paper we also propose a suitable model for quality costs control in small and medium manufacturing enterprises based on the results of the research. The empirical study focused on SMEs where quality cost control often works as a latent management subsystem. Managers of SMEs use indicators for monitoring process performance and production quality, but they usually do not develop a separate framework for measuring and evaluating quality costs. We asked them to what extent and on what level quality costs control was used in their manufacturing.

The main purpose of the paper is to identify the group of indicators that are most widely used in the manufacturing area worldwide, to identify the responsibility and authority for measuring and evaluating business performance, and to create an illustrative competency-based model for a performance management system within a business. The paper covers two areas that are important in the maintenance of sustainable business performance. The first area focuses on a performance management system and its key performance indicators as an important element in every performance management system within a business. The article also presents the theoretical background of the Z-MESOT method, which is applied to define the consistency of these indicators in practice. The second area is dedicated to defining a competency-based model and competences related to the measurement and assessment of performance, which have been extracted from other general competences. This paper presents findings from qualitative research to eliminate the bottlenecks of the Z-MESOT matrix that was transposed into a questionnaire. The questionnaire, as well as structured interviews, helped identify differences in responsibility attributes of the Z-MESOT matrix regarding the size of the researched businesses. The paper offers a list of competences related to the key performance indicators that can be used for following theoretical and practical research.

The purpose of this article is to present the results of an empirical study conducted in Slovak companies certified to the ISO 9001 standard. We assume that some of these companies have developed business process models during the implementation of the ISO 9001 standard. Generally, the ISO 9001 standard creates a space for various opportunities for creating business process models and their real utilisation in managerial practice. Our research looks for answers mostly to these questions: (1) to what extent, and in which way are business process models utilised in Slovak firms which are certified to ISO 9001; and (2) what are the causes of the different ways of utilisation of the business process models in the managerial practice of these companies? Our research focuses on the elements of the corporate system included in a process model, as well as the possibilities for their application. This empirical study also points out the linear dependence between the extent of the process model (X) and its actual utilisation (Y). It also looks into the causes why some firms use the process model more than others. The results of this research serve as a foundation for the requirements of the process-oriented companies independently of their certification to ISO 9001.

The contribution deals with the measurement and evaluation of the service quality. It is carried out through the proposed quality criteria for the field of education and information services provided to customers by the institution. The customers evaluate proposed criteria through questionnaires, using the five-grade rating scale, through which reflect the level of their satisfaction, respectively dissatisfaction with the criterion. The evaluation of individual quality criteria determines in which areas of the process of providing services improvement is needed. The measurement results are evaluated statistically and graphically, and also by the correlation analysis on the basis of which can be determined dependence between the quality criteria. These results are of great importance in determining in the quality management process, they allow determining of the impact of changes of one criterion on the other criteria, and the more precise determination of priorities for improving of the services quality.