Quality (business)

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This article is about quality in a business context. For other uses, see Quality.
In business, engineering, and manufacturing, quality has a pragmatic interpretation as
the non-inferiority or superiority of something; it's also defined as being suitable for its
intended (fitness for purpose) while satisfying customer expectations. Quality is a
perceptual, conditional, and somewhat subjective attribute and may be understood
differently by different people.[1][2] Consumers may focus on the specification quality of a
product/service, or how it compares to competitors in the marketplace. Producers might
measure the conformance quality, or degree to which the product/service was produced
correctly. Support personnel may measure quality in the degree that a product
is reliable, maintainable, or sustainable.

Contents

 1Description
o 1.1Notable definitions
 2Market sector perspectives
o 2.1Operations management
o 2.2Manufacturing
o 2.3Service sector
 3Quality management techniques
 4Quality awards
 5See also
 6References
 7Bibliography
 8External links

Description[edit]
There are many aspects of quality in a business context, though primary is the idea the
business produces something, whether it be a physical good or a particular service.
These goods and/or services and how they are produced involve many types of
processes, procedures, equipment, personnel, and investments, which all fall under the
quality umbrella. Key aspects of quality and how it's diffused throughout the business
are rooted in the concept of quality management:[1][2]

1. Quality planning is implemented as a means of

"developing the products, systems, and processes
needed to meet or exceed customer
expectations."[1] This includes defining who the
customers are, determining their needs, and developing
 the tools (systems, processes, etc.) needed to meet
those needs.
2. Quality assurance is implemented as a means of
providing enough confidence that business
requirements and goals (as outlined in quality planning)
for a product and/or service will be fulfilled. This error
prevention is done through systematic measurement,
comparison with a standard, and monitoring of
processes.
3. Quality control (QC) is implemented as a means of
fulfilling quality requirements, reviewing all factors
involved in production. The business confirms that the
good or service produced meets organizational goals,
often using tools such as operational
auditing and inspection. QC is focused on process
output.
4. Quality improvement is implemented as a means of
providing mechanisms for the evaluation and
improvement of processes, etc. in the light of their
efficiency, effectiveness, and flexibility. This may be
done with noticeably significant changes or
incrementally via continual improvement.
While quality management and its tenets are relatively recent phenomena, the idea of
quality in business is not new. In the early 1900s, pioneers such as Frederick Winslow
Taylor and Henry Ford recognized the limitations of the methods being used in mass
production at the time and the subsequent varying quality of output, implementing
quality control, inspection, and standardization procedures in their work. [3][4] Later in the
twentieth century, the likes of William Edwards Deming and Joseph M. Juran helped
take quality to new heights, initially in Japan and later (in the late '70s and early '80s)
globally.[2][5]
Customers recognize that quality is an important attribute in products and services, and
suppliers recognize that quality can be an important differentiator between their own
offerings and those of competitors (the quality gap). In the past two decades this quality
gap has been gradually decreasing between competitive products and services. This is
partly due to the contracting (also called outsourcing) of manufacturing to countries like
China and India, as well internationalization of trade and competition. These countries,
among many others, have raised their own standards of quality in order to meet
international standards and customer demands. [6][7] The ISO 9000 series of standards are
probably the best known international standards for quality management, though
specialized standards such as ISO 15189 (for medical laboratories) and ISO 14001 (for
environmental management) also exist. [8]
Notable definitions[edit]
The project management triangle view on quality

The definition of "quality" has changed over time, and even today some variance is
found in how it is described.[1] However, some commonality can still be found. The
common element of the business definitions is that the quality of a product or service
refers to the perception of the degree to which the product or service meets the
customer's expectations. Quality has no specific meaning unless related to a specific
function and/or object.
The business meanings of quality have developed over time. Various interpretations are
given below:
1. American Society for Quality: "A combination of
quantitative and qualitative perspectives for which each
person has his or her own definition; examples of which
include, "Meeting the requirements and expectations in
service or product that were committed to" and "Pursuit
of optimal solutions contributing to confirmed
successes, fulfilling accountabilities". In technical
usage, quality can have two meanings:
a. The characteristics of a product or service that bear
on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs;
b. A product or service free of deficiencies." [9]

2. Subir Chowdhury: "Quality combines people power and

process power."[10]
3. Philip B. Crosby: "Conformance to requirements." [9]
[11]
 The requirements may not fully
represent customer expectations; Crosby treats this as
a separate problem.
4. W. Edwards Deming: concentrating on "the efficient
production of the quality that the market expects," [12] and
he linked quality and management: "Costs go down and
productivity goes up as improvement of quality is
accomplished by better management of design,
engineering, testing and by improvement of
processes."[13]
 5. Peter Drucker: "Quality in a product or service is not
what the supplier puts in. It is what the customer gets
out and is willing to pay for."[14]
6. ISO 9000: "Degree to which a set of inherent
characteristics fulfills requirements."[15] The standard
defines requirement as need or expectation.
7. Joseph M. Juran: "Fitness for use."[9] Fitness is defined
by the customer.
8. Noriaki Kano and others, present a two-dimensional
model of quality: "must-be quality" and "attractive
quality."[16] The former is near to "fitness for use" and the
latter is what the customer would love, but has not yet
thought about. Supporters characterize this model more
succinctly as: "Products and services that meet or
exceed customers' expectations."
9. Robert Pirsig: "The result of care."[17]
10. Six Sigma: "Number of defects per million
opportunities."[18]
11. Genichi Taguchi, with two definitions:
a. "Uniformity around a target value."[19] The idea is to
lower the standard deviation in outcomes, and to keep
the range of outcomes to a certain number of standard
deviations, with rare exceptions.
b. "The loss a product imposes on society after it is
shipped."[20] This definition of quality is based on a more
comprehensive view of the production system.

12. Gerald M. Weinberg: "Value to some person".[21]

Market sector perspectives[edit]

Operations management[edit]
Traditionally, quality acts as one of five operations/project performance objectives
dictated by operations management policy. Operations management, by definition,
focuses on the most effective and efficient ways for creating and delivering a good or
service that satisfies customer needs and expectations. [22] As such, its ties to quality are
apparent. The five performance objectives which give business a way to measure their
operational performance are:[23][24]

 quality, measuring how well a product or service conforms

to specifications;
 speed (or response time), measuring the delay between
customer request and customer receipt of a product or
service;
  dependability, measuring how consistently a product or
service can be delivered to meet customer expectation;
 flexibility, measuring how quickly the business can adapt to
a variety of market changes; and
 cost, measuring the resources (and by extension, financed)
required to plan, deliver, and improve the finished good or
service.
Based on an earlier model called the sand cone model, these objectives support each
other, with quality at the base.[25][24] By extension, quality increases dependability, reduces
cost, and increases customer satisfaction.[24]
Manufacturing[edit]
The early 1920s saw a slow but gradual movement among manufacturers away from a
"maximum production" philosophy to one aligned more closely with "positive and
continuous control of quality to definite standards in the factory." [26][4] That
standardization, further pioneered by Deming and Juran later in the twentieth century, [2]
[5]
 has become deeply integrated into how manufacturing businesses operate today. The
introduction of the ISO 9001, 9002, and 9003 standards in 1987 — based on work from
previous British and U.S. military standards — sought to "provide organizations with the
requirements to create a quality management system (QMS) for a range of different
business activities."[27] Additionally, good manufacturing practice (GMP) standards
became more common place in countries around the world, laying out the minimum
requirements manufacturers in industries including food and beverages,[28] cosmetics,
[29]
 pharmaceutical products,[30] dietary supplements,[31] and medical devices[32] must meet
to assure their products are consistently high in quality. Process improvement
philosophies such as Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma have further pushed quality to the
forefront of business management and operations. At the heart of these and other
efforts is often the QMS, a documented collection of processes, management models,
business strategies, human capital, and information technology used to plan, develop,
deploy, evaluate, and improve a set of models, methods, and tools across an
organization for the purpose of improving quality that aligns with the organization's
strategic goals.[33][34]
Service sector[edit]
The push to integrate the concept of quality into the functions of the service industry
takes a slightly different path from manufacturing. Where manufacturers focus on
"tangible, visible, persistent issues," many — but not all — quality aspects of the service
provider's output are intangible and fleeting. [35][36][37] Other obstacles include management's
perceptions not aligning with customer expectations due to lack of communication and
market research and the improper or lack of delivery of skill-based knowledge to
personnel.[35][36] Like manufacturing, customer expectations are key in the service
industry, though the degree with which the service interacts with the customer definitely
shapes perceived service quality. Perceptions such as being dependable, responsive,
understanding, competent, and clean (which are difficult to describe tangibly) may drive
service quality,[38] somewhat in contrast to factors that drive measurement of
manufacturing quality.

Quality management techniques[edit]

 Quality management systems  Continuous improvement
 Total quality management (TQM)  Six Sigma
 Design of experiments  Statistical Process Control (SPC)
o Fractional factorial design  Quality circles
o Optimal design  Requirements analysis
o Response surface methodology  Verification and validation
 Zero Defects
 Service quality
 SERVQUAL

Quality awards[edit]
Main article: List of national quality awards
 Deming Prize
 EFQM Excellence Award
 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award

See also[edit]
 Common law of business balance
 Eight dimensions of quality
 Innovation and Tax reduction
 ISO 9000
 Metaphysics of quality
 Quality assurance
 Quality control
 Quality engineering
 Quality investing
 Six Sigma
 Software quality
 Theory of constraints
 W. Edwards Deming

 List of economics topics

 List of production topics

References[edit]
1. ^ Jump up to:        Nanda, V. (2016). Quality Management System
a b c d

Handbook for Product Development Companies. CRC Press.

p. 352.  ISBN  9781420025309.
2. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Gitlow, H.S. (2000). Quality Management Systems: A
Practical Guide. CRC Press. p.  296. ISBN 9781574442618.
3. ^ Papp, J. (2014).  Quality Management in the Imaging Sciences.
Elsevier Health Sciences. p.  372. ISBN 9780323261999.
4. ^ Jump up to:a b Wood, J.C.; Wood, M.C., eds. (2003). Henry Ford: Critical
Evaluations in Business and Management. 1. Taylor and Francis.
p. 384.  ISBN  9780415248259.
5. ^ Jump up to:a b "Total Quality". Learn About Quality. American Society for
Quality. Retrieved  16 February  2018.
6. ^ Hagerty, J.R. (13 December 2013). "Bad News for U.S. Industry:
China is Closing the Quality Gap".  The Wall Street Journal.
Retrieved 16 February 2018.
7. ^ Shirouzu, N. (28 September 2017). "China carmakers narrow quality
gap on global rivals: Report".  Reuters. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
8. ^ "What Is A Quality Management System (QMS)? ISO 9001 & Other
Quality Management Systems". American Society for Quality.
Retrieved 16 February 2018.
9. ^ Jump up to:a b c American Society for Quality, Glossary – Entry: Quality,
retrieved 2008-07-20
10. ^ Chowdhury, Subir (2005). The Ice Cream Maker: An Inspiring Tale
About Making Quality The Key Ingredient in Everything You Do. New
York: Doubleday, Random House. ISBN 978-0-385-51478-1.
11. ^ Crosby, Philip (1979). Quality is Free. New York: McGraw-
Hill. ISBN 0-07-014512-1.
12. ^ Edwards Deming, W. (1986).  Out of the Crisis. Cambridge,
Massachusetts: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Center for
Advanced Engineering Study. ISBN 0-911379-01-0.
13. ^ Walton, Mary; W. Edwards Deming (1988).  The Deming
management method. Perigee. pp.  88. ISBN 0-399-55000-3.
14. ^ Drucker, Peter (1985).  Innovation and entrepreneurship. Harper &
Row. ISBN 978-0-06-091360-1.
15. ^ TC 176/SC (2005). ISO 9000:2005, Quality management systems --
Fundamentals and vocabulary. International Organization for
Standardization.
16. ^ Kano, Noriaki (1984-04-01). "Attractive quality and must-be
quality".  The Journal of the Japanese Society for Quality Control: 39–
48.
17. ^ .Pirsig, Robert M. (1974). Zen and the art of motorcycle
maintenance  : an inquiry into values. New York, N.Y.:
Morrow.  ISBN  0-688-00230-7. Cited by: Jones, D.R. (September
1989). "Exploring quality: what Robert Pirsig's "Zen and the Art of
Motorcycle Maintenance" can teach us about technical
communication".  IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication.
IEEE.  32  (3): 154–158.
18. ^ Motorola University. "What is Six Sigma?". Motorola, Inc. Archived
from  the originalon December 6, 2007. Retrieved 2008-07-20.
19. ^ Taguchi, G. (1992). Taguchi on Robust Technology Development.
ASME Press.  ISBN  978-99929-1-026-9.
20. ^ .Ealey, Lance A. (1988). Quality by design: Taguchi methods and
U.S. industry. Dearborn, Mich.: ASI Press.  ISBN  978-1-55623-970-
0. Cited by: Sriraman, Vedaraman, A primer on the Taguchi system of
quality engineering  (PDF), retrieved 2008-07-20
21. ^ Weinberg, Gerald M. (1991).  Quality Software Management:
Volume 1. Systems Thinking. 1. New York, NY.: Dorset House.
p. 7. ISBN 978-0-932633-72-9.  OCLC 23870230.
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International Thomson Business Press.
p. 323.  ISBN  9781861523983.
23. ^ Slack, N.; Chambers, S.; Johnston, R. (2007). Operations
Management (5th  ed.). Prentice Hall. pp. 728.  ISBN  9780273708476.
24. ^ Jump up to:a b c Greasley, A. (2007).  Operations Management. SAGE.
p. 176.  ISBN  9781849202374.
25. ^ Hill, A.V.; Render, B., eds. (2012). "sand cone model".  The
Encyclopedia of Operations Management: A Field Manual and
Glossary of Operations Management Terms and Concepts. Pearson
Education, Inc. p.  312. ISBN 9780132883733.
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Ronald Press Company. pp.  404.
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(ed.).  Global Regulatory Issues for the Cosmetic Industry. Elsevier.
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 37. ^ Dean, E.R.; Kunze, K. (2012). "Bureau of Labor Statistics
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Bibliography[edit]
 Boone, Louis E. & Kurtz, David L., Contemporary Business
2006, Thomson South-Western, 2006
 Rochfort Scott, Charles & Hamerton, Robert
Jacob, Rambles in Egypt and Candia: With Details of the
Military Power and Resources of Those Countries, and
Observations on the Government, Policy, and Commercial
System of Mohammed Ali, Volume I, H. Colburn, London,
1837

External links[edit]
Look up quality in
Wiktionary, the free
dictionary.

 Quality Management links

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