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Quality
defined:
The totality of characteristics of an entity that bear on
its ability to satisfy stated and implied needs.
(ISO-8402: 1994)
The concept of quality underlying ISO 9000 is meeting customers`
requirements. A product or service, therefore, has quality
when it satisfies the user's needs, both stated and implied.
For any business that depends for its ultimate survival on
satisfying a market, meeting customer requirements consistently
is clearly vital.
Quality cost:
Business competitiveness demands quality being delivered at
the lowest price that presupposes lowest cost. While fixed costs
based on state of the art are unavoidable, the costs incurred
by way of prevention, detection, and removal of errors and defects
can be minimised by a conscious effort at systematic quality
improvement. An effective quality management system provides
opportunities to keep prevention costs at a reasonable level
and helps to avoid unnecessary appraisal and failure costs.
A typical distribution of quality costs in a company beginning
the quality improvement journey is given below:
Prevention: 5% of total quality related costs
Appraisal: 30% of total quality related costs
Failure: 65% of total quality
related costs
With better expenditure on prevention, both appraisal and
failure costs can be considerably reduced, thus generating
larger profits from the same sales turnover. Or in a highly
competitive situation, such cost savings and consequent price
reductions and quality consistency can win markets and ensure
company survival and growth even in a saturated market.
Quality Management:
"All activities of the overall management function that
determine the quality policy, objectives and responsibilities,
and implement them by means such as quality planning, quality
control, quality assurance and quality improvement within
the quality system" (ISO-8402/1994) Thus quality management
falls within the overall management function of a company.
It requires top management commitment to be effectively
exercised. Successful quality management means ultimate
success of the enterprise in the face of competition.
Quality planning:
Comprises activities "that establish the objectives and
requirements for quality and for the application of quality
system elements" It covers the following:
Product planning;
Managerial and operational planning;
Preparation of quality plans; and
Making provisions for quality
improvement.
Quality control:
"Operational techniques and activities that are used to
fulfil requirements for quality" It involves both:
Process monitoring and
Eliminating the causes of unsatisfactory
performance at all stages.
It applies the Plan Do, Check, and Act cycle to each and every
stage of the operational process.
Quality assurance:
Comprises "planned and systematic activities implemented
within the quality system, and demonstrated as needed, to
provide adequate confidence that an entity (product or service)
will fulfil requirements for quality" Thus QA activities
do not control quality: they establish the extent to which
quality will be, is being or has been controlled. They serve
to build confidence both internally and externally in the
organisation's capability to deliver quality.
Quality system:
Comprises the "organisational structure, procedures, processes
and resources needed to implement quality management". The
purpose of the quality system is to enable an enterprise
to achieve, sustain and improve quality economically. Quality
does not happen by chance: it has to be managed.
Quality improvement:
ISO-8402: 1994 defines QI as "actions taken throughout the
organisation to increase the effectiveness and efficiency
of activities and processes in order to provide added benefits
to both the organisation and its customers." In simple terms,
quality improvement is anything that causes a beneficial
change in quality performance. The effectiveness of quality
improvement is usually measured in terms of improvement
in customer satisfaction and/or reduction of failure costs.
Total Quality Management
ISO-8402: 1994 defines Total Quality Management (TQM) as
a "management approach of an organisation, centred on quality,
based on the participation of all its members and aiming
at long-term success through customer satisfaction, and
benefits to all members of the organisation and to society."
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uality
management
