Introduction

Quality:
 Quality refers to the characteristics of a product or service that defines its ability to consistently
meet or exceed customer expectations.
 In simple words, quality means “Fitness for Use”, which typically means its performance,
conformance, safety, durability and reliability.

Quality can be defined as:

i. Fitness for purpose: the component is said to possess good quality, if it works well in the
equipment for which it is meant. Quality is thus defined as fitness for purpose.
ii. Grade: Quality is a distinguishing feature or grade of the product in appearance, performance,
life, reliability, taste, odor, maintainability, etc. This is generally called as quality characteristics.
iii. Degree of performance: Quality is degree to which a specified product of equivalent grade,
based on customer’s preference.
iv. Degree of excellence: Quality is the measure of degree of general excellence of the product.

Different Aspects of Quality:

The commonly considered aspects of quality that the customer may value include:
 Performance: Will the product do the intended job?
 Reliability: How often does the product fail?
 Durability: How long does the product last?
 Serviceability: How easy is it to repair the product?
 Aesthetics: What does the product look like?
 Features: What does the product do?
 Perceived quality: What is the reputation of the company or its product?
 Conformance to standards: Is the product made exactly as the designer intended?

Implications of Quality:
 There are the several things which have direct implications with quality. Either they want it
and use it, or they are responsible for delivering it. In other words, these are the key elements
that have direct relation with quality.
 The basic elements those have implications with quality are of four categories:
1. Customers (Ultimate users or beneficiaries)
2. Processes (Responsible for transforming the inputs to quality outputs)
3. Employees (Internal customers who need to be kept satisfied in order to deliver quality product)
4. Materials (Role of suppliers in delivering quality goods)

Consequences of poor quality:

The consequences of poor quality are grave and of many folds in business term. Poor quality means
rework, rejection, it adversely affects productivity in manufacturing process. Some are worth
explaining.
 Lower productivity
 Loss of productive time
 Loss of material
 Loss of business
 Liability
 Quality Control:
 In a word, controlling quality of a product by a suitable reference is called quality control.
 Sometime, it is the process of sorting good from bad.

Aims and Objectives of Quality Control:

 Improvement of quality
 Reduction of scrap and rework
 Efficient use of men and machines
 Decreased inspection cost
 Reduction in customer complaints
 To prevent the poor quality product reaching to customer

Quality Control Process

The quality control process is divided into three separate processes, which are IQC(incoming quality
control), IPQC(in-process quality control) and OQC(outgoing quality control).
Incoming Quality Process:
 Incoming quality control is the process to inspect the raw & component materials from
suppliers upon arrival.
 When defective parts are found, you need to negotiate with the supplier for return or exchange,
and the final purpose is to make sure your product quality will not be affected.
In-process quality control:
 In-process quality control refers to the quality control during the assembly process.
 It is very important because you can detect and handle the problem that occurs ah ead of time.
Outgoing quality control:
 Outgoing quality control is the inspection of products before shipping.

Classification of cost of quality:

Non-conformance: Cost “for loosing quality”. It incurs for several reason like
 Rework
 Scrap
 Down time
Conformance: “For achieving quality”. It occurs for-
 Planning
 Documentation
 Training
 Auditing
Cost of Quality:
 The cost of carrying out the company’s quality functions (meeting the quality needs of
customers) are known as costs of quality.
 Total quality costs are the sum of prevention costs, appraisal costs, and internal and external
failure costs.

 Costs of quality or quality costs does not mean the use of expensive or very highly quality
materials to manufacture a product.
 The term refers to the costs that are incurred to prevent, detect and remove defects from
products.

Quality costs are categorized into four main types. These are:
1. Prevention costs
2. Appraisal costs
3. Internal failure costs and
4. External failure costs.

Prevention costs:
 It is much better to prevent defects rather than finding and removing them from products.
 The costs incurred to avoid or minimize the number of defects at first place are known as
prevention costs.
 Some examples of prevention costs are improvement of manufacturing processes, workers
training, quality engineering, statistical process control etc.
Appraisal costs:
 Appraisal costs (also known as inspection costs) are those cost that are incurred to identify
defective products before they are shipped to customers.
 All costs associated with the activities that are performed during manufacturing processes to
ensure required quality standards are also included in this category.
 Identification of defective products involve the maintaining a team of inspectors. It may be
very costly for some organizations.
Internal failure costs:
 Internal failure costs are those costs that are incurred to remove defects from the products
before shipping them to customers.
 Examples of internal failure costs include cost of rework, rejected products, scrap etc.
External failure costs:
 If defective products have been shipped to customers, external failure costs arise.
 External failure costs include warranties, replacements, lost sales because of bad reputation,
payment for damages arising from the use of defective products etc.
 The shipment of defective products can dissatisfy customers, damage goodwill and reduce
sales and profits.

Optimum Quality Cost:

 The goal of any quality cost system is to reduce quality costs to the lowest practical level. Juran
and Gryna (1988) present these costs graphically as shown in Fig.
 In the figure it can be seen that the cost of failure declines as conformance quality levels improve
toward perfection, while the cost of appraisal plus prevention increases.
 There is some “optimum” target quality level where the sum of prevention, appraisal, and failure
costs is at a minimum.
 Efforts to improve quality to better than the optimum level will result in increasing the total quality
costs.
  Juran acknowledged that in many cases the classical model of optimum quality costs is flawed.
 It is common to find that quality levels can be economically improved to literal perfection.
 For example, millions of stampings may be produced virtually error free from a well-designed
and well-constructed stamping die.
 The classical model created a mind-set that perfection was not cost effective.
 The new model of optimum quality cost incorporates the possibility of zero defects and is shown
in Fig.

Juran’s Quality Trilogy

Juran’s Quality Trilogy consists of quality planning, quality control and quality’s improvement.
 Quality planning provides a system that is capable of meeting quality standards.
 Quality control is used to determine when corrective action is required.
 Quality improvement seeks better ways of doing things.

 The role of quality planning is to design a process that will be able to meet established goals under
operations condition.
 The role of quality control is to operate and when necessary, correct the process so that it performs
with optimal effectiveness.
 The role of quality improvement is to devise ways to take the process to unprecedented levels of
performance.
Crosby: Zero Defects, Quality is free
 The phrase "zero defects" was first coined by Philip Crosby in his 1979 book titled, "Quality is
Free."
 Zero defects is a way of thinking and doing that reinforces the notion that defects are not acceptable,
and that everyone should "do things right the first time."
 The idea here is that with a philosophy of zero defects, you can increase profits by eliminating the
cost of failure and increasing revenues through increased customer satisfaction.
 Crosby's position was that, where there are zero defects, there are no costs associated with issues
of poor quality. As a result, quality becomes free.

Let’s discuss
1. What is quality? What are the different types of cost of quality? Explain.
2. What is quality? What is the importance of controlling quality?
3. Describe classification of quality.
4. What is the function of a quality control engineer (manager) in an industry?
5. Discuss the objectives of quality control? Name a few tools for quality control.
6. What is the concept of optimum cost of quality? Explain with figure.
7. Define IQC & OQC. Distinguish between quality conformance and non- conformance.
8. Explain different aspects of quality that the customer may value.
9. Define Quality. Mention the dimensions of quality.
10. State Deming Philosophy. What do you mean by Zero defect? Briefly discuss its importance
in manufacturing?
11. What are examples of quality prevention, appraisal and failure costs?
1. What is quality? What are the different types of cost of quality? Explain.

Quality refers to the characteristics of a product or service that enable it to consistently meet or exceed
customer expectations. It is commonly described as "fitness for use" and includes attributes such as
performance, conformance, reliability, and safety.

Types of Cost of Quality: Quality costs are broadly categorized into:

 Prevention Costs: Costs to prevent defects (e.g., training, quality planning).

 Appraisal Costs: Costs to inspect and test products (e.g., inspection teams, audits).
 Internal Failure Costs: Costs from defects found before delivery (e.g., rework, scrap).
 External Failure Costs: Costs from defects found after delivery (e.g., warranty, loss of reputation).

2. What is quality? What is the importance of controlling quality?

Quality means fitness for purpose, grade, performance, and excellence.

Importance of Controlling Quality: Controlling quality helps:

 Reduce scrap and rework

 Improve customer satisfaction
 Lower costs
 Enhance productivity
 Ensure efficient use of resources
 Prevent defective products from reaching the customer

3. Describe classification of quality.

Quality can be classified as:

 Fitness for Purpose: How well a product serves its intended function.
 Grade/Characteristics: Appearance, taste, reliability, etc.
 Degree of Performance: Based on customer expectations.
 Degree of Excellence: Overall excellence of the product or service.

4. What is the function of a quality control engineer (manager) in an industry?

A Quality Control Engineer is responsible for:

 Setting quality standards

 Inspecting and testing materials and products
 Ensuring compliance with standards
 Identifying and resolving quality issues
 Coordinating with production and suppliers
 Minimizing quality-related costs
5. Discuss the objectives of quality control. Name a few tools for quality control.

Objectives of Quality Control:

 Improve product quality

 Reduce wastage and rework
 Increase efficiency
 Minimize inspection cost
 Lower customer complaints
 Prevent defective deliveries

Tools for Quality Control (Examples):

 Control charts
 Cause and effect diagrams
 Statistical process control
 Histograms
 Pareto analysis

6. What is the concept of optimum cost of quality? Explain with figure.

The optimum cost of quality is the point where the combined cost of prevention, appraisal, and failure is at
its minimum. Initially, investing in prevention and appraisal increases costs, but it significantly reduces
failure costs.

:

 As conformance quality improves, failure costs decline.

 Prevention and appraisal costs rise slightly.
 The optimum quality level minimizes total quality costs.

7. Define IQC & OQC. Distinguish between quality conformance and non-conformance.

IQC (Incoming Quality Control): Inspection of raw materials/components before production.

OQC (Outgoing Quality Control): Final inspection before shipping to ensure product quality.

Quality Conformance: Meeting predefined standards and specifications.

Non-Conformance: Deviating from required standards; includes defects and quality failures.

8. Explain different aspects of quality that the customer may value.

Customers value:

 Performance: Functionality of the product

 Reliability: Frequency of failure
 Durability: Product lifespan
 Serviceability: Ease of repair
  Aesthetics: Visual appeal
 Features: Extra functions or capabilities
 Perceived Quality: Brand reputation
 Conformance to Standards: Compliance with design specifications

9. Define Quality. Mention the dimensions of quality.

Quality is the degree to which a product meets customer expectations and requirements — essentially, its
fitness for use.

Dimensions of Quality:

 Performance
 Features
 Reliability
 Conformance
 Durability
 Serviceability
 Aesthetics
 Perceived Quality

10. State Deming Philosophy. What do you mean by Zero Defect? Briefly discuss its
importance in manufacturing.

Deming’s Philosophy:

 Focus on process improvement and variation control

 Promote quality at all levels
 Use statistical methods
 Emphasize management’s role

Zero Defect (Philip Crosby):

 A mindset of "doing things right the first time"

 No acceptable level of defects

Importance:

 Reduces cost of failures

 Enhances customer satisfaction
 Boosts productivity
 Builds strong brand reputation

11. What are examples of quality prevention, appraisal and failure costs?

 Prevention Costs: Training, process improvement, quality planning

 Appraisal Costs: Product inspections, testing, audits
 Internal Failure Costs: Rework, scrap, downtime
 External Failure Costs: Warranties, recalls, legal issues, lost customers