Quality Flashcards
What is a quality product/ service?
A product or service that meets customers’ expectations and is therefore ‘fit for purpose’
What are the Tangible Measures of Quality?
Appearance - fashion
Reliability - machinery in constant use
Durability - long-lasting strength
Functions (added extras) - mobile phones
After-sales service - cost, promptness and effectiveness - e.g. for a firm’s IT network
Repair and maintenances - a car requiring less servicing and few repairs would be considered higher quality
What does intangible mean?
something that you cannot touch or see but may represent good or bad quality
What are the Intangible Measures of Quality?
- Brand Image
- Reputation
- Exclusiveness
What are Quality Standards?
the expectations of customers expressed in terms of the minimum acceptable production or service levels
How do you measure services levels?
• Speed taken to answer the phone
• No indication of waiting time on the phone
• Queuing time in branches
• Contact with the same person on each occasion
• Number of accounts errors made
• Quality of financial advice given
• Downtime of internet based services
The key benefits of improved quality are:
• Improved image & reputation, which should result in
• Higher demand, which may in turn mean
• Greater production volumes (possibly providing better economies of scale)
• Lower unit costs because of less waste and rejected output
• Fewer customer complaints (& more satisfied customers)
• Potentially higher selling prices (less need to discount)
Poor quality and increase costs
• Product fails - e.g. a breakdown / unexpected wear and tear
• Product does not perform as promised (or what the customer thought was promised!)
• Product is delivered late
• Poor instructions/directions for use make using the product difficult or frustrating
• Unresponsive customer service
Poor customer service as listed above results in additional business costs:
• 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
What are the different ways to monitor quality?
Quality Control and Quality Assurance
What is Quality Control?
This is based on inspection of the product or a sample of products. (normally once the product is complete and ready to go to the customer)
What is Quality Assurance?
This is a system of agreeing and meeting quality standards at each stage of production to ensure consumer satisfaction.
What are drawbacks of Quality Control?
- 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
What are benefits of Quality Assurance?
- increased motivation: ownership of the product is with the workers a sense of recognition and responsibility for quality
responsibility for quality - costs are reduced: less waste, less re- work
- higher and more consistent level of quality: marketing advantages
- fewer faulty products as inspection effectively takes place at the beginning and end of every part of the production process
Info about Quality Assurance
• A medium to long-term process; cannot be implemented quickly
• Focus on processes - how things are made or delivered
• Achieved by improving production processes
• Targeted at the whole organisation
• Emphasises the customer
• Quality is built into the product
