Blog: Italian wisdom: Quality over speed in process management

We often tend to design processes to be faster, more efficient and cheaper. This is understandable, of course, as it saves time and money. But don't we sometimes forget quality and value for our end customers? And what happens to quality for our end customer if we only push those buttons?

Last week, as a true Italy lover, I visited a small pasta factory in a centuries-old castle in Tuscany: Pastificio Famiglia Martelli. This factory is all about craftsmanship using traditional methods and attention to the pasta that dries for up to 50(!) hours. No rush, then, and quality always takes precedence over quantity. The result? Pasta that not only tastes better but also has a perfect structure. So good, in fact, that this relatively small factory supplies pasta to delicatessens worldwide.

This got me thinking as a process consultant. Of course there are ways to make pasta faster and cheaper: using hot water, shorter kneading, machine drying (4 hours), etc. But every shortcut comes at a price: loss of flavour, texture and nutritional value. In the quest for efficiency, we sometimes forget the quality of the final product or service for the customer. Be careful that your well-intentioned optimisation does not lead to a result that no longer fulfils the promise to your end customer.

In short: craftsmanship, passion and patience are values that also deserve a place in process management. Efficiency is important but also ask yourself the question: ‘What happens to quality if we speed up?’ Sometimes “slower” is actually the way to more value!