3.25 Quality
The pursuit of quality - in terms of products, systems, enterprise, housekeeping and cleanliness - is unyielding and is a centrepiece of the overall MAYA ORGANIC learning programme. The reasons for this focus on quality are multiple. Without the ability to produce high quality goods, collectives will not obtain work orders from outside companies. In the long term, having the highly developed skills associated with high quality work will offer members opportunities that would not be available if they had few or no special skills. Higher quality goods also command more money in the market. This ability to produce such goods offers greater income security, and ultimately, is essential for the viability of the collectives. Finally, MO believes that an emphasis on quality in the workplace will translate into better quality functioning in the home and community.
A major goal is for groups to develop an eye for quality, and to be able to adjust quality levels according to specified criteria. From the very beginning, members are encouraged to take responsibility for the quality of their own products. Internal training, feedback session, external training, and exposure visits with garment professionals all contribute to improving quality. Quality indicators are considered in both group and individual assessments. Quality also serves as a criterion for determining wage levels and assigning work orders.
Quality is a focus at every level of the production process. Before a sample garment is made and provided to a potential client for review, the facilitators discuss with the sample-maker any issues of quality for that product. Facilitators meet again with the functional group on quality to review and discuss prevention of likely problems. The quality group - working with the facilitators on more complex orders - creates a quality criteria sheet for that order, including time, thread colour, type of stitch, and distance of stitch. These criteria are often posted on the wall for all to see.
While initially MAYA ORGANIC takes responsibility for all quality-checking, the staff gradually hand this duty over to the collectives (Level 2). MAYA ORGANIC has instituted an extensive, multi-level quality checking system which spreads responsibility for the majority of the quality checking across many people. This system prevents any widespread rejection, and distributes the burden of checking hundreds of garments. Each member checks his/her own work before the functional group on quality gives a second check. The approved products go to the unit-level quality checker, and the products he/she approves go to a MAYA ORGANIC facilitator for a final check. In the Gottigere unit, each woman checks her own work with a prepared checklist and also checks the work of the tailor who stitched the garment previously. In Level 3, members create their own instruction sheets, use books to develop templates, and apply new and more advanced techniques for quality assurance.
The ability to carry out these activities successfully with an eye towards market changes will be the crucial indicator of readiness for a collective to succeed as an enterprise.
In the future, the staff will conduct more formal and broad-based training to ensure that financial performance and records are transparent and information is available to all members.