OM - Module 7

Quality Management I

Quality:
Quality refers to the sum of attributes or properties that describe the product.

Quality is the totality of features and characteristics of a product or services that bear on
its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs.

According to ISO 8402, Quality is “the totality of features and characteristics of a

product or services that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs”.

The above definitions bring out certain distinct features of the term „quality‟ –
1. Fitness for use (Juran): The components are said to possess good quality, if they
work well in the equipment for which they are meant. Quality is thus defined as
fitness for purpose.
2. Grade: Quality is the distinguishing feature or grade of the product in appearance,
performance, life, reliability, taste, odour and maintainability etc. These are
generally called as quality characteristics.
3. Degree of preference: Quality is the degree to which a specified product is
preferred over competing products of equivalent grade. This is based on
comparative tests by customers and is normally called customer preference.
4. Degree of excellence: Quality is a measure of the degree of general excellence of
the product.
5. Conformity to requirements (Philip Crosby): Confo rmity to requirements is
concerned with how well a product conforms to design and other specifications.

W. Edward Deming, a leading quality guru called quality as “continuous improvement”.

Another expert, Joseph M. Juran, speaks of quality as “fit to use” while Philip Crosby
uses the phrase “conformance to requirements”. American speak of “value received for
dollars spent”, while Europeans emphasize quality “engineered into their goods”. Kaoru
Ishikawa, another quality guru, thought in terms of products “most economical, most
useful and always satisfactory to the consumer”.

Five Vie ws of Quality:

Garvin‟s review of literature identifies five different definitions of quality:
1. Transcendental View:
- Quality id synonymous with “innate excellence”. This approach claims that
quality cannot be defined precisely; we learn to recognize quality only
through experience.
2. Product-based View:
- Quality as a precise and measurable variable. Differences in quality reflect
differences in the quality of some ingredient or attribute possessed by a
product.
- However, the limitations of this approach are:
 (a) A one-to-one correspondence between product attribute and quality does
not always exist and
(b) When quality is a matter of aesthetics, this approach fails to accommodate
differences in tastes
3. User-based View:
- The goods and services that best satisfy individual consumer‟s different wants
or needs are regarded as having the highest quality.
- This view of quality is personal i.e., perceived quality.
- It is highly subjective and focuses on issues of “fitness for use” by the
individual consumer
4. Manufacturing-based View:
- Focus on producers of goods and services and identify quality as
“conformance to requirements”. Once designs or specifications have been
established, any deviation implies a reduction in quality.
5. Value-based View:
- Quality in terms of costs and price. A quality product is one that provides
performance or conformance at an acceptable price or cost.
- An inexpensive product is expected to be of lower quality than a similar and
more expensive product.

Seven faces of quality:

1. Performance
2. Features
3. Reliability
4. Conformance
5. Durability
6. Serviceability
7. Aesthetics

Dimensions of Quality:
A. Dimensions of product quality
1. Performance
2. Features
3. Reliability
4. Serviceability
5. Durability
6. Appearances
7. Customer service
8. Safety

B. Dimensions of service quality

1. Reliability
2. Responsiveness
3. Competence
4. Access
5. Courtesy
 6. Communication
7. Credibility
8. Understanding
9. Security
10. Tangibles

Benefits of Quality:
1. It gives a positive company image
2. It improves competitive ability both nationally and internationally
3. It increases market share, which translated into improved profits
4. Overall, it reduces costs, which also translates into improved profits
5. It reduces or eliminates product liability problems, avoiding unnecessary costs
6. It creates an atmosphere for high employee morale, which improves productivity

Types of quality:
Kano breaks down quality into four categories to understand its relationship to
competition. These types of categories of quality are:
(i) Indifferent quality
- Quality that the customer does not notice or appreciate.
(ii) Expected quality
- Quality that customer expects and demands.
(iii)One-dimensional quality and
- Quality that the customer expects, but that does not necessarily result in lots of
order or displeased customer, when lacking.
(iv) Exciting quality
- Quality that exceeds the customer‟s expectations, attracting favourable
attention of customers. It is the quality that pleasantly surprises customers,
perhaps creating an order winner.

Custome r driven definitions of Quality:

Quality has multiple dimensions in the mind of the customer and one or more of the
following definitions may apply at any one time:
(i) Conformation to specifications
(ii) Value
(iii)Fitness for use
(iv) Support
(v) Psychological impression
“Quality is meeting or exceeding customer expectations”

Levels of Quality:
An organization that is committed to quality must examine quality at three levels:
(i) Organizational level
- Quality concerns centre on meeting external customer requirements. An
organization must seek customer input on a regular basis. Customer-driven
performance standards should be used as the basis for goal setting, problem
 solving, performance appraisal, incentive compensation, non- financial
rewards and resources allocation.
(ii) Process level
- Organizational units are classified as functions or departments, such as
marketing, design, product development, operations, finance, purchasing,
billing and so on. Since most processes are cross- functional, the managers of
particular organizations units may try to optimize the activities under their
control, which can sub-optimise activities for the organization on a whole.
(iii)Performance / job level
- Standards for output must be based on quality and customer-service
requirements that originate at the organizational and process level. These
standards include requirements for accuracy, completeness, innovation,
timeliness and cost.

Determinants of Quality:
(i) Quality of design
- Is determined before the product is produced. After identifying who its
customers are, a company must determine what its customers want from its
products and services. Then products and services are designed to exhibit the
attributes necessary to meet its customers‟ expectations.
(ii) Quality capability of production processes
- Production processes must be designed and built that have the capability of
producing products with the attributes wanted by customers.
(iii)Quality of conformance
- Means producing a product to meet the specifications. Production facilities
and processes are used to produce products and services that meet design and
performance specifications, aimed at quality expectations of customers. When
the product conforms to specifications, it is considered as a quality product
regardless of the quality of the design specifications.
(iv) Quality of customer service
- All contacts between customers and companies must be managed so that
customers perceive that they have been treated fairly and courteously with
their needs, attended to promptly and with care and concern
(v) Organization quality culture
- The entire organization must become energized to doing what is necessary to
design, products, and services that meet customers‟ expectations. Mechanisms
must be in place to continuously improve every fact of the organization
towards the objective of building ever- increasing levels of customer
satisfaction

Quality Circles:
Quality circles are small groups of employees who meet regularly for solving different
problems related mainly with cost, quality, efficiency, equipment, tools, morale, process
control, missed work, safety, ;earning and maintenance, etc.
In their more developed forms, quality circles are known as „voluntary management
groups‟ (Jishu Kanri), i.e., voluntary groups of workers contributing to management
functions.

Quality Assurance:
It refers to any action directed towards providing consumers with products (goods and
services) of appropriate quality.

Quality Control:
Those activities which assure that quality creation is performed in such a manner that, the
resulting product will in fact perform its intended function.

Quality control helps achieve the qualitative objectives of the production system by
keeping a check on all these parts of a production system that may have an impact on the
quality of product.

Quality Planning Quality Control Quality Improve ment

Establish quality goals
Identify customers
Discover customer needs
Develop product features
Develop process features
Establish process controls
Transfer to operations
Choose control subjects Prove the need
Choose unit to measure Identify projects
Set goals Organize project teams
Create a sensor Diagnose the causes
Measure actual performance Provide remedies, prove
that the remedies are
effective
Interpret the difference Deal with the resistance
Take action on the Change and control
difference

Quality control is a staff function concerned with the prevention of defects in

manufacturing so that, items may be made right at the first time and not to be rejected
later.

Seven quality control tools:

Prof. Karou Ishikawa, known as „the father of QCC‟s, developed the seven QC too ls:
1) Process Flowchart
2) Check Sheet
3) Histogram
4) Pareto Analysis
5) Cause & Effect Analysis
6) Scatter Diagram and
7) Control Charts

Ensuring Quality:
Quality control involves the following steps:
A. Control of engineering quality
 (i) Assist in the evaluation of customer requirements to arrive at a clear
understanding of the product quality objectives.
(ii) Review design documentation for conformance to design standards and
practice and for identification of potential quality problems.
(iii) Validate the accuracy and completeness to design proof tests and
qualification tests.
(iv) Audit the release and distribution of design documents to assure that all
drawings and specifications in use are current and correct.
(v) Provide information on previous quality problems encountered for
consideration in new product designs or current product improvements.

B. Control of purchased material quality

(i) Assist in the evaluation and selection of potential suppliers or sub-
contractors
(ii) Review purchase orders and sub-contracts for correctness and
completeness of quality requirements
(iii) Assure that purchased material conforms to the requirements of purchase
orders and specifications
(iv) Initiative corrective action with suppliers and sub-contractors when
purchased material is not of an acceptable quality level

C. Control of manufacturing quality

(i) Evaluate and approve manufacturing equipment, processes, testing and
test equipment
(ii) Assure that measuring and test equipment is properly calibrated and
maintained
(iii) Establish points of inspection and tests at selected points in the productio n
processes
(iv) Perform inspection and tests at selected points in the production processes
(v) Collect and analyse inspection and test data and provide information on
process and product quality levels
(vi) Initiate corrective action on out-of-control conditions and related quality
problems
(vii) Conduct follow-up to assure that corrective action is accomplished in a
timely manner
(viii) Control the handling, preservation, and packaging of material and
equipment from receipt through shipment of the final product

D. Actions supporting the product after delivery

(i) Assure that product service specifications are clear and correct
(ii) Assure that spare parts conform to quality requirements
(iii) Assure that repair and modification are performed in accordance with
company quality requirements
(iv) Gather and analyse complaint data from the field to measure the degree of
customer satisfaction and initiate appropriate corrective action
Quality control techniques:
1. Just-In-Time (JIT)
2. Quality at the Source
3. Inspection
4. Quality circles
5. Statistical Quality control
6. Total Quality management