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Meaning of quality: “ A degree or level of Excellence”
Definition:The totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bears on its
ability to satisfy given needs.
Meaning of quality from different perspective
1. Consumer’s Perspective: “The consumer is the most important part of the product line. Quality
should be aimed at he needs of the consumer, present and future.” From this perspective, product and
service quality is determined what the consumer wants and is willing to pay for. Since consumers have
different product needs, they will have different quality expectations. These results in a commonly used
definition of quality as a services or products fitness for its intended use, or fitness for use, means how
well the product or service does what it is supposed to.
The dimensions of quality for manufactured products a consumer looks for
i. Performance: The basic operating characteristics of a product; for example, how well a car
handles or its gas mileage.
ii. Features: The ‘extra’ items added to basic features such as CD or leather interior in a car.
iii. Reliability: The probability that a product will operate properly within an expected time
frame.
iv. Conformance: The degree to which a product meets pre-established standards.
v. Durability: How long the product lasts; its life span before replacement.
vi. Service ability: The ease of getting repairs, the speed of repairs and the courtesy and
competence of the repair person.
vii. Aesthetics: How a product looks, feels, sounds smells or tastes?
viii. Safety: Assurance that he customer will not suffer injury or harm from a product; an
especially important consideration for automobiles.
ix. Other Perceptions: Subjective perceptions based on brand name, advertising and the like.
Dimensions of service quality:
i. Time and timeliness: How long a customer must wait for service and if it is completed on
time.
ii. Completeness: Is everything the customer asked for provided? For example, is a mail
order from a catalog company complete when delivered?
iii. Courtesy: How customers are treated by employees. For example, are catalog phone
operators at Lands’ End nice and are their voices pleasant?
iv. Consistency: is the same level of service provided to each customer each time? Is your
newspaper delivered on time every morning?
v. Accessibility and Convenience: How easy it is to obtain the service. For example, call
centers provide their services easily.
vi. Accuracy: is the service performed right every time? Is your bank or credit card statement
correct every month?
vii. Responsiveness: How ell the company reacts to unusual situations?
2. Producer’s Perspective: Once the product design has been determined, the producer
perceives quality to be how effectively the production process is able to conform to the specifications
required by the design referred to as the quality of conformance, which make sure that the product or
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service is produced according to design, depends on technology, production process, raw materials,
training and supervision of employees and cost.
Quality is approached from two perspectives, the consumer’s and the producer’s. These two perspectives
are dependent on each other. Although product design is customer motivated, it cannot be achieved with
the coordination and participation of the production process.
(Ref: Taylor, p-56)
Total Quality Management (TQM)
Total quality management (TQM ) is a philosophy that stresses three principles for achieving high levels
of process performance and quality: customer satisfaction, employee involvement and continuous
improvement in performance.
Principles of TQM: Total quality management represents a set of management principles that focus on
quality improvement as the driving force in all functional areas and at all levels in a company. These
principles are;
1. The customer defines quality, and customer satisfaction is the top priority.
2. Top management must provide the leadership for quality.
3. Quality is a strategic issue and requires a strategic plan.
4. Quality is the responsibility of all employees at all levels of the organization.
The Meaning of Quality
Consumer’s PerspectiveProducers Perspective
Quality of Conformance
Conformance to
specification.
Cost
Quality of Design
Quality
characteristics
Price
Fitness for consumer use
Production
Marketing
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5. All functions of the company must focus on continuous equally improvement to achieve
strategic goals.
6. Quality problems are solved through cooperation among employees and management.
7. Problem solving and continuous quality improvement use statistical quality control
methods.
8. Training and education of all employees are basis for continuous quality improvement.
# The Cost of Quality
Quality costs fall into two categories, the cost of achieving good quality, also known as the cost of
quality assurance and the cost associated with poor quality products, also referred to as the cost of not
conforming to specifications.
The cost of achieving good quality:
There are two types of cost involved in quality management programs
1. Prevention costs: Prevention costs are the costs of trying to prevent poor-quality products
from reaching the customer which includes
i. Quality planning costs: The cost of developing and implementing the quality management
program.
ii. Product design costs: The costs of designing products with quality characteristics.
iii. Process cost: The cost of productive process conforms to quality specifications.
iv. Training cost: The cost of quality training programs for employees and management
v. Information cost: The cost of acquiring and maintaining data related to quality.
2. Appraisal costs: Appraisal costs are the cost of measuring, testing and analyzing materials,
parts, products and the productive process to ensure that product quality specifications are being met,
which includes
i. Inspection and testing: The costs of testing and inspecting materials, parts and the product at
various stages and the end of the process.
ii. Operator costs: The cost of the time spent by operators to gather data for testing product
quality to make equipment adjustments to maintain quality and to stop work to assess quality.
The cost of Poor Quality:
Cost associated with poor quality are also referred to as the cost of non conformance or failure costs.
Which can be categorize as internal failure costs or external failure costs.
1. Internal failure cost: Internal failure costs are incurred when poor quality products are
discovered before they are delivered to customer. Which includes
i. Scrap costs: The cost of poor-quality products that must be discarded including labor, material
and indirect costs.
ii. Rework cost: The costs of fixing defective products to conform to quality specifications.
iii. Process failure costs: The costs of determining why the production process is producing poor-
quality products.
iv. Process downtime costs: The cost of shutting down the productive process to fix the problem.
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2. External failure cost: This is incurred after the customer has received a poor quality product and
are primarily related to customer service, which includes
i. Customer complaint costs: The costs of investigating and satisfactorily responding to a
customer complaint resulting from a poor quality product.
ii. Product return costs: The costs of handling and replacing poor-quality products returned by
the customer.
iii. Warranty claims costs: The costs of complying with product warranties.
iv. Product liability costs: The litigation costs resulting from product liability and customer
injury.
v. Lost sales costs: The costs incurred because customers are dissatisfied with poor quality
products and do not make additional purchases.
# The Effect of Quality Management on Productivity
Productivity is the ratio of output to input. Improving quality by reducing defects will increase good
output and reduce inputs
Productivity = Output/ Input
Measuring Product Yield and Productivity
Product yield is a measure of output used as an indicator of productivity. It can be computed for the entire
production process ( or for one stage in the process) as follows
Yield = (Total input) (% good units) + (Total input) (1-%good units) (% reworked)
Y = ( I ) (% G) + ( I ) (1-%G) (%R)
Where I = Planned number units of product started in the production process
% G = Percentage of good units produced
Cost of Quality
Cost of poor qualityCost of achieving good quality
Prevention Cost
Quality Planning
Product design
Process cost
Training cost
Information cost
Appraisal Cost
Inspection and
testing
Test equipment
Operator costs
Internal failure
Scrap cost
Rework
Process failure
Process downtime
External failure
Customer
complaint
Product return
Warranty claims
Product liability
Lost sales.
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% R = Percentage of defective units that are successfully reworked.
Example: Taylor, p- 83 ( 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6)
p- 94 (1, 2)
Exercise: Taylor, p-97 (2-2, 2-4, 2-6, 2-10)
