Quality Management Flashcards
What is quality control?
Checking output to find any faults in a production system. Traditional method used and relies on inspecting output, with inspection carried out by a person not involved in working on or making the products
What is quality assurance?
Focuses on producing methods to prevent quality problems arising.
Methods: checklists or procedures that form a sort of company policy.
Advantages of quality control
- can be used to guarantee that no defective item will leave the factory
- requires little staff training; therefore suits a business with unskilled or temporary staff
Disadvantages of quality control
- leaving quality for the inspectors to sort out may mean poor quality is built into the profit
- QC can be trusted when 100% of output is tested but not when it is based on sampling
What is total quality management?
a system of management based on the principle that every member of staff must be committed to maintaining high standards of work in every aspect of a company’s operations.
Advantages of TQM
- should become deeply rooted into the company culture e.g product safety at a producer of baby car seats
- once all staff think about quality, it should show through from design to manufacture and after sales service
Disadvantages of TQM
- staff sceptical of management initiatives may treat TQM as “hot air”; it lacks the clear concrete programme of QC or QA
- to get TQM into the culture of a business may be expensive as if requires extensive training among all staff
Advantages of quality assurance
- makes sure the company has a quality system for every stage in the production process
- some customers like the reassurance provided by keeping records about quality checks at every stage in production; they believe they will get a higher quality service and may be willing to pay more
Disadvantages of quality assurance
- QA does not promise a high quality product, only a high quality, reliable process; this process may churn out “okay” products reliably
- QA may encourage complacency; it suggests quality has been sorted, whereas rising customer requirements mean quality should keep moving ahead
What is meant by a quality circle?
A group of staff who meet regularly to find quality improvements
What is kaizen?
Encourages staff to put forward a stream of small ideas on how to do things better. Empowering staff to make changes to their working systems brings quality and productivity improvements
Key aspects of kaisen
- cell production
- quality circles
- small but frequent changes
- regular suggestions
- quality and production improvements
Competitive advantage from quality management
Spending money on quality management systems ensure high quality production and brings rewards:
- allows a price premium to be charged
- it helps the gain distribution, with retailers confident they will not need to deal with product returns and refunds
- creates brand loyalty and repeat purchase
- help build reputation