When I studied engineering at university in the 1980s, "Designing for Quality" was a hot topic

The headline in this year's "Which?" report on car reliability was the ascent to the top category of Ford, joining the various Japanese brands which have been camped there for years. It can't be a coincidence that Ford's reliability has coincided with a period where its design in general has been held in such high regard. All of its mainstream models, such as the class-leading Focus, have been major hits with motoring journalists and the public alike. But it would seem the good design was not limited to the driving experience.

When I studied engineering at university in the 1980s, "Designing for Quality" was a hot topic, alongside "Designing for Manufacture". I don't hear as much about those topics today; perhaps that's just because they've been so assimilated into the engineering culture, but I'm not so sure. It's more likely that the consultants have found other things to move on to. Yet outside the Far East, the need to cut manufacturing costs is more critical than ever. Design has a crucial role to play here.

Whilst the popular perception is that quality is a manufacturing issue, we know that in practice, it stems from design and engineering. Get the design process right, and exemplary product quality should be as much of a result as good product performance.