Quality Flashcards
Define quality
The ability of a product or service to meet customers expectations
What is interpretation of quality dependent upon
Price, brand, personal experiences and nature of product or service
How can quality be measured
Aesthetics, features, core aspects, actual aspects, augmented aspects (warranty), performance and intangible aspects
How can quality of a service be measured
Friendliness of staff, speed of service, efficiency, staff knowledge, cleanliness of facilities and appearance of environment
What are the competitive advantages of quality management
Less waste meaning lower unit cost, positive customer image, USP, pricing decisions and motivated workforce
What are the benefits of improving quality
Achieving operational objectives, gaining a competitive advantage, reducing unit cost, enhanced reputation, motivated workforce striving to achieve common goals
What are the drawbacks of improving quality
Reluctance of employees to adapt or change or take on additional responsibility, requires finance to invest in training and test and implement new systems, reliant on good relationships with resource providers and suppliers, must be monitored
What is quality control
The checking of a good or service before its delivered to a customer, normally relies on an inspection process
What are the advantages of quality control
Quality can be monitored, stops faulty products reaching the customer, common problems can be identified, inspector takes responsibility, often a robust system
What are the disadvantages of quality control
Takes responsibility away from operatives, requires specialist and additional personnel, problems only identified at the end of the process, waste levels are often high
What is quality assurance
The checking of a product or service at each stage of its production
What are the advantages of Quality assurance
Spots any faults early which saves resources being wasted at the next stage of the production process, motivates workers, aims to achieve zero defects
What are the disadvantages of Quality assurance
Requires staff training and high levels of staff commitment, can slow down production process leading to higher unit cost, can demotivate workers that feel under pressure, opportunity cost of managers time
What is total quality management
TQM sees quality as the responsibility of all employees, each employees is a link in the chain and treats the next link as if they were an external customer, only pass on the product if it is correct and holds a philosophy of get it right the first time
What are the methods of achieving total quality management
Quality chains, empowerment, monitoring, team work, zero defects, quality circles and benchmarking
