Quality Managment

Question 1

Quality : definition

Answer 1

Providing goods/services that satisfy the customers’ needs and expectations.

Question 2

A firm could measure quality by :

Answer 2

Customer satisfaction : eg questionnaires.
Mystery visitors : or mystery shoppers, purposely ask difficult questions or behave irrationally to monitory have staff treat customers.
Staff : quality inspection checks, quality assurance (prevent mistakes instead of checking for mistakes after they’re made).
Failure or reject rates. Level of product returns. Number of complaints. Customer loyalty.

Question 3

Evaluation of quality :

Answer 3

Quality is subjective : matter of personal opinion.
Not all aspects of quality are tangible.
Quality is always evolving : improved technology etc.
Costly to control quality of firm.

Question 4

Costs to achieving better quality :

Answer 4

Cost of inspection and checking.

OST of training staff to check their own quality.

Question 5

Costs of poor quality :

Answer 5

Cost of recalling faulty products.
Replacing faulty goods.
Cost of waste.
Cost of producing goods no one wants.
Cost of legal action if you’re sued for poor quality.

Question 6

How to maintain consistent quality :

Answer 6

Make sure suppliers are reliable and produce good quality.
Train staff to do job properly.
Ensure staff have right equipment.
Inspect products at every stage of production to ensure no defects.
Involve staff in improving process.

Question 7

Why quality is important in Business :

Answer 7

Markets are highly competitive : customers are more knowledgeable and demanding, prepared to complain about poor quality, social media enable sharing poor quality experience.
Reputation for good quality provides competitive advantage.

Question 8

Quality and competitiveness :

Answer 8

Fewer businesses are competing solely on price.
At a similar price, higher quality product is likely to win.
Quality enables differentiation of products from competition.

Question 9

High quality products lead to :

Answer 9

Increased customer loyalty.
Fewer complaints.
Longer product lifecycle.
Reduced promotional costs.
Ability to charge higher price.

Question 10

Low quality products lead to :

Answer 10

Poor reputation.
Poor product placement.
Shorter product life cycles.
Higher promotional costs.
Having to reduce price.

Question 11

Quality assurance : definition

Answer 11

The processes established throughout the organisation to ensure that all activities associated with producing/supplying goods or services meet the nighest possible standards of quality for customers.

Question 12

Advantages of quality assurance :

Answer 12

Costs are reduced because there’s less wastage and reworking of faulty products as the products is checked at every stage.
Improve worker motivation (more ownership and recognition).
All staff responsible for quality ie helps firm gain marketing advantages arising from consistent level of quality.

Question 13

Disadvantages of quality assurance :

Answer 13

Difficult to achieve cooperation of all staff members.
Time consuming ie requires a lot of time to train staff.
High initial costs.

Question 14

Total quality management : definition

Answer 14

A culture of quality embraced by everyone within an organisation. The emphasis is on getting is right the first time to make the organisation more cost efficient and to build up a good reputation for high quality products/services.

Question 15

Advantages of TQM :

Answer 15

Cost reduction.
Increased efficiency.
Increased customer satisfaction.
Reduced waste and errors.
Employee motivation.

Question 16

Disadvantages of TQM :

Answer 16

Cost of training.
Difficult and time consuming to introduce.
All employees must get involved to ensure high success.
May take a long time to implement and train staff.

Question 17

Quality control : definition

Answer 17

Operational checks carries out at various stages of the products manufacture to ensure all errors are eliminated and the highest standards of quality has been maintained.

Question 18

Quality inspectors : definition

Answer 18

Measure or tests every products, as appropriate to the kind of product.

Question 19

2 main methods of quality control :

Answer 19

1. ) Inspection

2. ) Statistical process control. Ie the continuous monitoring and charting of a process while it’s operating.

Question 20

Advantages of quality control :

Answer 20

Inspection is intended to prevent faulty products researching the customer. This mean specially trained inspectors, rather then every individual being responsible for own work.
Inspectors may be better to identify widespread problems ie quick and cost efficient.

Question 21

Disadvantages of quality control:

Answer 21

Individuals not necessarily encourages to take responsibility for quality of work.
Rejected products is expensive for a firm as it has incurred the full cost of production but cannot be sold.
If defect levels are high, company’s profitability will suffer.
Poor quality may be missed by inspection process.

Question 22

Quality assurance vs quality control

Answer 22

QA : focus on processes QC : focus on outputs
QA : improve production QC : sampling and inspection
QA : target whole business QC : target production activities.
QA : emphasises customer QC : emphasises required standards
QA : quality built into products QC : defected products inspected out

Question 23

Quality standards ie ISO 9000 : definition

Answer 23

A series of quality standards developed by the International Organisations for Standardisation that are designed as a guide to ensure quality of products, services and management in a wide range of organisations.
ISO : International Standards of quality management and quality assurance.

Question 24

Advantages of getting ISO9000 :

Answer 24

Process involved in obtaining award contributes to making firm more efficient and effective.
Indicates high quality to customers ie increased sales.
Justifies charging higher prices.
Source of competitive advantages.
Access to new markets ie prevents trade barriers and opens global markets.

Question 25

Disadvantages of getting ISO9000 :

Answer 25

Costly in terms of management time and paperwork involved.
May mean new suppliers have to be found.
Involved target setting and quantitative analysis ie can be demotivation for employees.
Slow down production process.

Question 26

The need for quality policy :

Answer 26

There will be a policy document on quality when a firm is implementing a quality system or has one in place. It outlines the firms approach to quality. It will contain a quality manual and info about the methods of measuring quality within the firm against targets.

Question 28

Advantages of quality policy :

Answer 28

Enhanced brand image, charge higher prices, reduced costs, reduces number of returned products, avoid complaints, motivates employees, increase customer confidence, may be a legal requirement.

Question 29

Disadvantages of quality policy:

Answer 29

Time consuming
Customer of monitoring is high
Puts pressure on employees
Resources are used up to meet quality award