3.4.4 Flashcards
What is quality?
Quality is the extent to which a product or operation meets its customers’ requirements. This means that it is ‘fit for purpose’. Achieving the desired quality has a number of benefits for a business, but quality is a subjective concept. What one customer considers high quality, another may consider low quality.
The importance of quality:
Quality is the key to achieving customer needs. A high quality product is one that meets customer expectations.
- Products must have high quality to be able to compete at the right price
needs. Some businesses will differentiate themselves on having a premium quality.
Methods of achieving quality:
- clear understanding of customer needs
- achieve a quality award/mark (recognition from external organisation)
- involve all employees in managing quality
- work with high quality suppliers
- adopt processes that assure quality
- invest in technology
- train employees in quality procedures
What is quality control?
- about the product
- quality is checked at the end of the production process
- focus on identifying faults
- quality control is a specific role - maybe one person
What is quality assurance?
- about the process
- all employees are involved in quality assurance
- quality is considered at every step of the production process
- focus on continual improvement of quality
Difficulties in improving quality:
- customers’ perception of quality is constantly changing
- a successful business could let quality slip if there is no incentive to outperform rival businesses.
- improving quality can add more work so might be naturally opposed by the workforce
- measuring quality can be difficult and expensive.
Consequences of poor quality
- If products need recalling this can be extremely expensive.
- Poor quality can damage brand reputation.
- There may be legal costs if customers sue the company.
- Correcting poor quality can be very expensive.
