Quality Management

What is Quality?

• Ability of Product/Service to Consistently Meet or Exceed Expectations

• ASQ Definition: Totality of Features and Characteristics of a Product or Service that Bears on Its Ability to Satisfy Given Needs

Quality Determinants: Manufacturing

• Performance

• Features

• Reliability

• Conformance

• Durability

• Serviceability

• Aesthetics

• Safety

• Goodwill and Subjective Perceptions

Quality Determinants: Services

• Timeliness

• Completeness

• Courtesy

• Consistency

• Accessibility and Convenience

• Accuracy

• Responsiveness

Costs of Good Quality

• Quality Planning• Inspection• Test Equipment• Operation Downtime• Preventive Maintenance• Product/Service Design• Process• Training• Information

Costs of Inferior Quality

• Scrap

• Rework

• Troubleshooting

• Process Downtime

• Disposal of Inferior Products

• Complaint Costs

• Warranty and Recalls

• Liability

• Loss of Goodwill

Quality Cost Tradeoffs

• More Quality Effort Leads to Lower Costs of Inferior Quality but Higher Costs of Good Quality

• Problem is that Many Costs of Inferior Quality Hard to Assess and Measure

• Short-Term Thinking in Firms Can Lead to Poor Quality

Types of Quality Control

5. Acceptance Sampling – Inspect Samples of Inventory and Weed Out Defective Items (1920’s)

6. Statistical Process Control (SPC) – Inspect Directly from Process, On-Line (1950’s)

7. Quality at the Source – Prevention of Mistakes (1980’s)

Quality Process

1. What Does the Customer Want? From Surveys and Marketing Analysis, Set Standards – Both Qualitative and Quantitative.

2. Design Product/Service that Conforms to Standards. Make It Easy to Produce and Use.

3. Design Process that Has Checkpoints for Inspection Built In.

Quality Process

4. Check Actual Results and Compare with Standards. Take Appropriate Action.

5. Extend Practices to Suppliers and Distributors – Supply Chain Issues.

Recent Quality Innovations

• Pareto Analysis – Identify Causes of Poor Quality

• Quality Circles – Process Improvement Teams

• Continuous Improvement

• Fishbone Diagram (Page 115) – Cause and Effect

• ISO 9000 – World Quality Standards

• Six Sigma – Prevents Defects