2. What this topic is about
• Meaning and
importance of quality
• Quality control
compared with quality
assurance
• Approaches to
monitoring and
improving quality
3. The Business Need for Quality
• Quality is one of the most important
challenges facing a business
• Markets are more competitive: customers
are more
– Knowledgeable
– Demanding
– Prepared to complain about poor quality
– Able to share information about poor quality (e.g.
via email & social networking)
• If a business can develop a reputation for
high quality, then it may be able to create
an advantage over its competitors
4. What is Meant by Quality?
• Quality is about meeting the needs and
expectations of customers
• Customer needs & expectations: e.g.
– Performance (fit for purpose)
– Appearance
– Availability & delivery
– Reliability / durable
– Price / value for money
• If a product or service meets all those
needs - then it passes the quality test
• If it doesn't, then it is sub-standard
5. Examples of Poor Quality
• Product fails – e.g. a breakdown or
unexpected wear and tear
• Product does not perform as
promised
• Product is delivered late
• Poor instructions/directions for use
• Unresponsive customer service
6. Costs of Poor Quality
• Many costs of poor quality, including:
– Lost customers (expensive to replace – and
they may tell others about their bad experience)
– Cost of reworking or remaking product
– Costs of replacements or refunds
– Wasted materials
• Poor quality is a source of competitive
disadvantage
– If competitors are achieving higher quality, then
a business will suffer
7. Quality Management
• Achieving high quality does not happen
by accident
• The production process must be
properly managed
• Quality management:
– Concerned with controlling activities with the
aim of ensuring that products and services are
fit for their purpose and meet the specifications
• Two main approaches
– Quality control
– Quality assurance
8. Quality Control - Definition
The process of
inspecting products to
ensure that they meet
the required quality
standards
9. Quality control (1)
• Traditional way of managing quality
• Concerned with checking and
reviewing production
• Quality control is mainly about
"detecting" defective output - rather
than preventing it
• Quality control can be a very
expensive process
10. Quality control & Inspection
Three main points in production when inspection is used in quality
control
• When raw materials are
received prior to entering
production
• Whilst products are going
through the production
process
• When products are finished -
takes place before products
are despatched to
customers
11. Problems with quality inspection
• Costly
• Often at the end of the production
process – i.e. too late
• Inconsistent inspections
• Often not compatible with modern
production systems
• Done by inspectors rather than
workers themselves
12. Quality Assurance - Definition
The processes that
ensure production
quality meets the
requirements of
customers
13. Quality Assurance (1)
• How a business can design the way a
product of service is produced or
delivered to minimise the chances that
output will be sub-standard
• Focus of quality assurance is on the
product design/development stage
– If the production process is well controlled -
then quality will be "built-in“
– If the production process is reliable - there is
less need to inspect production output (quality
control)
14. Quality Assurance v Quality Control
Quality Assurance Quality Control
Focus on processes Focus on outputs
Achieved by improving Achieved by sampling &
production processes checking (inspection)
Targeted at the whole Targeted at production
organisation activities
Emphasises the customer Emphasises required standards
Quality is built into the product Defect products are inspected
out
15. TQM – Approach to Quality Assurance
A management philosophy
committed to a focus on
continuous improvements of
product and services with the
involvement of the entire
workforce
16. Total Quality Management (“TQM”)
• TQM is essentially an “attitude”
• Whole business understands need
for quality and seeks to achieve it
• Everyone in workforce is concerned
with quality at every stage of
production process
• Quality is ensured by workers and
not inspectors
17. Advantages of TQM
• Puts customer at heart of
production process
• Motivational since workers feel
more involved and are making
decisions
• Less wasteful than throwing out
defective finished products
• Eliminates cost of inspection
18. Disadvantages of TQM
• Requires strong leadership – often
missing in a business
• Substantial investment in training &
support – but return on investment
not immediate
• May become bureaucratic
• Disruption and costs may outweigh
benefits
