Definition of Quality

Quality is the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service

that bears on its ability to satisfy a given need. - American Society of Quality
Control – Standard A3-1987, – BS 4778 (1987), ISO 8402 (1986)

Quality refers to an equilibrium level if functionality possessed by a product

or service based on the producer’s capability and customer’s need. – Badiru
and Ayeni (1993)

Fitness for purpose or use – Juran

Quality should be aimed at the needs of the customer, present and future. –
Deming

The total composite product and service characteristics of marketing,

engineering, manufacturing and maintenance through which the product or
service in use will meet the expectation by the customer. – Feigenbaum

Conformance to requirements - Crosby

 Defining Quality- Different Views
Customer’s view (more subjective)

– the quality of the design (look, feel, function)

– product does what’s intended and lasts

Producer’s view

– conformance to requirements (Crosby)

– costs of quality (prevention, scrap, warranty)
– increasing conformance raises profits

Government’s view

– products should be safe

– not harmful to environment

Stout’s view
Quality = Performance/Expectation
 History of Quality Paradigms
Customer-craft quality paradigm:
– design and build each product for a particular
customer.
– producer knows the customer directly.

Mass production and inspection quality

paradigm:
– focus on designing and building products for mass
consumption.
– larger volumes will reduce costs and increases profits.
– push products on the customer (limit choices).
– quality is maintained by inspecting and detecting bad
products.

TQM or “Customer Driven Quality”

paradigm:
– potential customers determine what to design and
build.
– higher quality will be obtained by preventing
problems
 Quality Gurus

W. Edwards Deming
- Emphasis on statistical methods in quality
improvement (see Deming’s 14 points)

Joseph Juran
- Emphasis on managerial role in quality
implementation

Armand V. Feigenbaum
- Emphasis on organizational structure
 Business Functions and their
Responsibilities for Quality
• Top management: Top-level support and
encouragement of quality effort
• Quality control: Quality assurance plus
promotion, coordination and control of entire
quality effort
• Accounting: Measurement of quality costs and
quality effort
• Research: Quality of research – Proper design
and analysis of experimental data
• Sales and marketing: Selling a quality product
and providing information on field performance
• Design Engineering: Designing a quality product and
changing the design to achieve optimal quality condition

• Tool Engineering: Providing quality tools, jigs and fixtures

• Production Engineering: Providing a quality production

process

• Purchasing: Quality of conformance of purchased goods,

feedback of quality information

• Manufacturing: Quality conformance in manufacturing,

semi-finished and finished goods, feedback of quality
information
 Quality Characteristics
• Structural characteristics include such elements
as the length of a part, the weight of a can, the
strength of a beam, the viscosity of a fluid, and so
on

• Sensory characteristics include the taste of good

food, the smell of a sweet fragrance etc.

• Time-oriented characteristics include such

measures as a warranty, reliability, and
maintainability

• Ethical characteristics include honesty, courtesy,

friendliness, and so on.
 Variables and Attributes
• Quality characteristics fall into two broad classes:
variables and attributes.

• Characteristics that are measurable and are

expressed on a numerical scale are called variables.
The waiting time in a bank before being served,
expressed in minutes, is a variable, as are the density of a
liquid in grams per cubic centimeter and the resistance of
a coil in ohms.

• A quality characteristic is said to be an attribute if it is

classified as either conforming or nonconforming to a
stipulated specification. A quality characteristic that
cannot be measured on a numerical scale is expressed
as an attribute. For example, the smell of a cologne is
characterized as either acceptable or is not; the colour of
a fabric is either acceptable or is not.
• However, there are some variables that are treated as
attributes because it is simpler to measure them this
way or because it is difficult to obtain data on them.

• Examples in this category are numerous. For instance,

the diameter of a bearing is, in theory, a variable.

• However, if we measure the diameter using a go/no-go

gage and classify it as either conforming or
nonconforming (with respect to some established
specifications), the characteristic is expressed as an
attribute.

• The reasons for using a go/no-go gage, as opposed to

a micrometer, could be economic; that is, the time
needed to obtain a measurement using a go/no-go gage
may be much shorter and consequently less expensive.
 Defects and Standard/Specification
• A defect is associated with a quality characteristic
that does not meet certain standards. The modern
term for defect is nonconformity, and the term for
defective is nonconforming item.

• A standard, or a specification, refers to a precise

statement that formalizes the requirements of the
customer; it may relate to a product, a process, or a
service. For example, the specifications for an axle
might be 2 ± 0.1 centimeters (cm) for the inside
diameter, 4 ± 0.2 cm for the outside diameter, and
10 ± 0.5 cm for the length. This means that for an
axle to be acceptable to the customer, each of these
dimensions must be within the values specified.
 Dimensions of Quality
Dimension Description

Performance It is the primary operating characteristics, which

determines how the product or service performs the
intended function.

Features These are special features (secondary) that appeal to

customers.
Durability It is the time duration or amount of use before being
replaced or repaired.

Reliability Likelihood of breakdown, repair or expected time of

fault-free operation.
Serviceability Convenience and cost of repair and maintenance and
related to ease in resolving the customer complaints.
Appearance Look, taste, smell, sound or any other effect which is
felt by human beings.
 Dimensions of Quality
Dimension Description

Uniformity Limited variations among different products of same

type.
Consistency Conformance with standard, matching with
and documentation, being on-time etc.
conformance
Safety Harmless from health and environment point of view

Time Waiting time, completion time for a service

Customer After sales service, treatment received during or

service before sales
Compatibility Compatibility of the products/services with existing or
standard interfaces, peripherals or other
attachments, power source etc.
 Quality of Design
• Quality of design deals with the stringent conditions that
a product or service must minimally possess to satisfy
the requirements of the customer. It implies that the
product or service must be designed to meet at least
minimally the needs of the consumer.

• Generally speaking, the design should be the simplest

and least expensive while still meeting customer's
expectations.

• Quality of design is influenced by such factors as the

type of product, cost, profit policy of the firm,
demand for product, availability of parts and
materials, and product safety.
 Quality of Design
• For example, suppose that the quality level of the
yield strength of steel cables desired by the customer is
100 kg/cm2 (kilograms per square centimeter).

• When designing such a cable, the parameters that

influence the yield strength would be selected so as to
satisfy this requirement at least minimally.

• In practice, the product is typically overdesigned

so that the desired conditions are exceeded.

• The choice of a safety factor (k) normally

accomplishes this purpose. Thus, to design a product
with a 25% stronger load characteristic over the specified
weight, the value of k would equal 1.25, and the product
will be designed for a yield strength of 100 x 1.25 = 125
kg/cm2.
Quality of Design
 Quality of Conformance
• Quality of conformance implies that a manufactured product or
a service rendered must meet the standards selected in the
design phase.

• With respect to the manufacturing sector, this phase is

concerned with the degree to which quality is controlled from
the procurement of raw material to the shipment of finished
goods.

• It consists of the three broad areas of defect prevention,

defect finding, and defect analysis and rectification. As the
name suggests, defect prevention deals with the means to
deter the occurrence of defects and is usually achieved using
statistical process control techniques. Locating defects is
conducted through inspection, testing, and statistical analysis of
data from the process. Finally, the causes behind the
presence of defects are investigated, and corrective actions are
taken.
 Quality of Performance
• Quality of performance is concerned with how well a
product functions or service performs when put to use.

• It measures the degree to which the product or service

satisfies the customer.

• This is a function of both the quality of design and the

quality of conformance. Remember that the final test of
product or service acceptance always lies with the
customers. Meeting or exceeding their expectations is
the major goal. If a product does not function well
enough to meet these expectations, or if a service does
not live up to customer standards, adjustments need to
be made in the design or conformance phase.
 QUALITY COSTS
• Prevention Costs:

 They are incurred in planning, implementing, and

maintaining a quality system to prevent poor quality in
products and services.

 They include salaries and developmental costs for

product design, process and equipment design,
process control techniques (through such means as
control charts), information systems design, and all
other costs associated with making the product right
the first time.
 Also, costs associated with education and
training are included in this category.

 Other such costs include those associated

with defect cause and removal, process
changes, and the cost of a quality audit.

 Prevention costs increase with the

introduction of a quality system and, initially,
may be a significant proportion of the total
quality costs.
 Prevention Cost
Prevention costs
Quality planning Procurement planning
QC administration and Market research
system planning Vendor survey
Quality related training Reliability studies
Inspection of incoming, System development
in-process and final Quality measurement
products and control
Monitoring of processes Product qualification
Design review Qualification of
Quality data analysis materials
• Appraisal Costs:

 They are those costs associated with measuring,

evaluating, or auditing products, components,
purchased materials, or services to determine their
degree of conformance to the specified standards.

 Such costs include dealing with the inspection and

testing of incoming materials as well as product
inspection and testing at various phases of
manufacturing and at final acceptance.

 Other costs in this category include the cost of

calibrating and maintaining measuring
instruments and equipment and the cost of
materials and products consumed in a destructive
test or devalued by reliability tests.
 Appraisal costs
Incoming inspection Test and inspection
Testing material
Inspection in process Outside endorsements
Quality audits for certification
Incoming tests and Maintenance and
laboratory test calibration work
Checking labour Product engineering
review and shipping
Laboratory or other
measurement service Field testing
Setup for test and Final testing
inspection
• Internal Failure Costs:-

 These are the costs that are incurred when products,

components, materials, and services fail to meet
quality requirements prior to the transfer of
ownership to the customer.

 These costs would disappear if there were no

nonconformities in the product or service.

 Internal failure costs include scrap and rework costs

for the materials, labor, and overhead associated with
production.
 The cost of correcting nonconforming units, as in
rework, can include such additional manufacturing
operations as regrinding the outside diameter of an
oversized part.

 The costs involved in determining the cause of

failure or in reinspecting or retesting reworked
products are other examples from this category.
 Internal failure costs
Rejection Factory contact
Scrap at full shop cost engineering
Rework at full shop cost Machine down
Failure analysis QC investigations of
Scrap and rework, fault failures
of vendor Material review activity
Material procurement Repair and
Excess inventory troubleshooting
• External Failure Costs:

 External failure costs are incurred when a product does not

perform satisfactorily after ownership is transferred to the
customer or services offered are nonconforming.

 If no nonconforming units were produced, this cost would

vanish.

 Such costs include those due to customer complaints, which

include the costs of investigation and adjustments, and
those associated with receipt, handling, repair, and
replacement of nonconforming products.

 Warranty charges (failure of a product within the warranty

time) and product liability costs (costs or awards as an
outcome of product liability litigation) also fall under this
category.
 External failure costs
Recalls Returned material
Complaints handling processing and repair
Goodwill loss Fall in marker share
Warranty costs Replacement inventories
Bad publicity Low employee morale
Field maintenance and Strained distributor
product service relations
 Hidden Failure Costs
• The measurable components of failure costs include
those associated with scrap, rework, or warranty,
which are easily tracked by accounting systems.

• A significant segment of the failure costs are

"hidden." These include management and
engineering time associated with cause
identification and determination of remedial actions
associated with failures.

• Line downtime, the necessity to carry increased

inventory, the decrease in available capacity, and
orders lost due to poor quality are examples of costs
not easily tracked by accounting systems.
 QUALITY CONTROL

• Quality control may generally be defined as a

system that maintains a desired level of
quality, through feedback on product/service
characteristics and implementation of
remedial actions, in case of a deviation of such
characteristics from a specified standard.

• This general area may be divided into three main

subareas: off-line quality control, statistical
process control, and acceptance sampling
plans.
• Off-Line Quality Control:

 Off-line quality control procedures deal with

measures to select and choose controllable
product and process parameters in such a way that
the deviation between the product or process output
and the standard will be minimized.

 Much of this task is accomplished through

product and process design. The goal is to come
up with a design within the constraints of
resources and environmental parameters such that
when production takes place, the output meets the
standard. Thus, to the extent possible, the product and
process parameters are set before production begins.
• Statistical Process Control

 Statistical process control involves comparing the

output of a process or service with a standard and
taking remedial actions in case of a discrepancy
between the two.

 It also involves determining whether a process can

produce a product that meets desired specifications or
requirements.

 For example, to control paperwork errors in an

administrative department, information might be
gathered daily on the number of errors. If the number
observed exceeds a specified standard, then on
identification of possible causes, action should be taken
to reduce the number of errors.
• Acceptance Sampling Plans

 Acceptance sampling plans involve inspection of a product or

service. When 100% inspection of all items is not feasible, a
decision has to be made as to how many items should be
sampled or whether the batch should be sampled at all.

 The information obtained from the sample is used to decide

whether to accept or reject the entire batch or lot.

 In the case of attributes, one parameter is the acceptable

number of nonconforming items in the sample. If the number
of nonconforming items observed is less than or equal to this
number, the batch is accepted. This is known as the acceptance
number.

 A plan that determines the number of items to sample and

the acceptance criteria of the lot, based on meeting certain
stipulated conditions (such as the risk of rejecting a good lot or
accepting a bad lot), is known as an acceptance sampling plan.
 QUALITY ASSURANCE
• The objective of the quality assurance function is to have
in place a formal system that continually surveys the
effectiveness of the quality philosophy of the company.

• The quality assurance team thus audits the various

departments and assists them in meeting their
responsibilities for producing a quality product.

• Quality assurance may be conducted, for example, at

the product design level by surveying the procedures
used in design. An audit may be carried out to determine
the type of information that should be generated in the
marketing department for use in designing the product.
• Is this information representative of the customer's
requirements?

• If one of the customer's key needs in a food wrap is that

it withstand a certain amount of force, is that information
incorporated in the design?

• Do the data collected represent that information? How

frequently are the data updated?

• Are the forms and procedures used to calculate the

withstanding force adequate and proper?

• Are the measuring instruments calibrated and accurate?

Does the design provide a safety margin?
 QUALITY CIRCLES
• A quality circle is typically an informal group of people that
consists of operators, supervisors, managers, and so on, who
get together to improve ways to make a product or deliver a
service.

• The concept behind quality circles is that in most cases, the

persons who are closest to an operation are in a better
position to contribute ideas that will lead to an improvement in it.

• Thus, improvement-seeking ideas do not come only from

managers but also from all other personnel who are involved in
the particular activity.

• A quality circle tries to overcome barriers that may exist within

the prevailing organizational structure so as to foster an open
exchange of ideas.
 QUALITY IMPROVEMENT TEAMS
• A quality improvement team is another means of
identifying feasible solutions to quality control
problems.

• Such teams are typically cross-functional in nature

and involve people from various disciplines.

• It is not uncommon to have a quality improvement team

with personnel from design and development,
engineering, manufacturing, marketing, and
servicing.

• A key advantage of such a team is that it promotes

cross-disciplinary flow of information in real time as
it solves the problem.
• When design changes are made, then feasibility of
equipment and tools in meeting the new
requirements must be analyzed.

• It is thus essential for information to flow between

design, engineering, and manufacturing.

• Furthermore, the product must be analyzed from the

perspective of meeting customer needs.

• Do the new design changes satisfy the unmet needs

of customers?

• What are typical customer complaints regarding the

product? Including personnel from marketing and
servicing on these teams assists in answering these
questions.
 CUSTOMER NEEDS AND MARKET SHARE
• Kano Model: Noriaki Kano, a Japanese consultant,
developed a model relating design characteristics to
customer satisfaction.

• Customer needs or expectations can be divided into three

prioritized categories: basic needs (dissatisfiers);
performance needs (satisfiers); and excitement needs
(delighters).

• Basic needs are those that are taken for granted by the
customer. Meeting these needs may not steeply increase
customer satisfaction; but not meeting them will definitely
cause dissatisfaction. For example, in a city public library,
it is taken for granted that current editions of popular
magazines will be available. Not having them will lead to
dissatisfied consumers.
• Performance needs are those that the consumer expects.
Thus, the better these are met, the more satisfied the
customer.

• Typically, customer satisfaction increases as a linear

function of the degree to which such needs are met.
Ease of checking out a book or video at a city library could
be one such need.

• Excitement needs, also known as delighters, are those

that surprise the customer unexpectedly. The consumer
does not necessarily expect these and hence may not
express them.

• So, when they are met, it increases customer

satisfaction in an exponential manner. For example, if
the city library offered free consultation on tax-form
preparation, customers might be delighted beyond bounds.
 BENEFITS OF QUALITY CONTROL
• First and foremost is the improvement in the quality of
products and services. Production improves because a
well-defined structure for achieving production goals is
present.

• Second, the system is continually evaluated and

modified to meet the changing needs of the customer.
Therefore, a mechanism exists for rapid modification of
product or process design, manufacture, and service to
meet customer requirements so that the company remains
competitive.

• Third, a quality control system improves productivity,

which is a goal of every organization. It reduces the
production of scrap and rework, thereby increasing the
number of usable products.
• Fourth, such a system reduces costs in the long run. The
notion that improved productivity and cost reduction do not go
hand in hand is a myth. On the contrary, this is precisely what a
quality control system does achieve. With the production of few
nonconforming items, total costs decrease, which may
lead to a reduced selling price and thus increased
competitiveness.

• Fifth, with improved productivity, the lead time for

producing parts and subassemblies is reduced, which
results in improved delivery dates. One again, quality control
keeps customers satisfied. Meeting or exceeding their needs on
a timely basis helps sustain a good relationship.

• Last, but not least, a quality control system maintains an

"improvement" environment where everyone strives for
improved quality and productivity.
Customers’ view – Requirement and
assessment