Quality Definitions

Definitions of Quality

• Quality is a subjective term, its technical usage has two meanings: satisfying needs and free from deficiencies
• Per Armand V. Feigenbaum, it is the total composite of marketing, engineering, manufacturing, and maintenance to meet customer expectations
• Per Robert A. Broh, it is the degree of excellence at an acceptable price with variability control
• Per ISO 8402: Quality Vocabulary, it is the features and characteristics of a product or service that satisfy needs
• IBM defines it as meeting customer requirements, both internal and external, for defect-free outputs
• According to Joseph Juran, fitness for use evaluates how well a product performs
• According to Philip Crosby, it is the conformance to requirements/specifications
• According to Dr. Genichi Taguchi, it's the loss a product causes to society after shipping, excluding intrinsic losses

Customer-Driven Definitions of Quality

• Value for price paid relates to the utility of the product or service for its cost
• Support services refers to quality based on support after purchase
• Psychological criteria focuses on judgmental evaluations of product or service excellence

Key definitions of quality

• Conformance to requirements (Crosby, 1979)
• Fitness for use (Juran, 1979)
• Continual improvement (Deming, 1982)
• Defined by customers (Ford, 1984; 1990)
• Loss to society (Taguchi, 1987)
• Six Sigma (Harry and Stewart—Motorola, 1988)
• Zero defects (Crosby, 1979)
• Meeting and exceeding customer expectations (Charantimath, 2006)
• Quality is about meeting the needs and expectations of customers

Garvin’s Approaches to Defining Quality

• David Garvin defined five approaches to quality
• These being The Transcendent, Product-based, User-based, Manufacturing-based, Value-based approaches

Garvin’s Transcendent Approach

• Quality is recognized through learning and experience in terms of innate excellence
• Quality is synonymous with "innate excellence"; absolute and universally recognizable

Garvin’s Product-based Approach

• Quality is precise and measurable, rankable, and an inherent part of the product
• Quality is a precise and measurable variable, a composite of attributes describing product excellence

Garvin’s User-based Approach

• This approach ensures that the customer's voice is incorporated during product design
• Approach reflects consumer demand curves

Garvin’s Manufacturing-based Approach

• Quality is defined as conformance to specifications
• Costs are reduced by reducing deviations, focusing on engineering and manufacturing

Garvin’s Value-based Approach

• Quality is performance or conformance at an acceptable cost
• A quality product provides performance or conformance at an acceptable cost, blending both the value and manufacturing aspects

Quality Management

• Quality management is a method for ensuring effective and efficient design, development, and implementation
• Key components of quality management include quality control, quality assurance, and quality improvement
• Quality improvement is purposefully improving processes to enhance reliability
• Quality control is ongoing efforts to maintain a process's integrity, ensuring reliable outcomes
• Quality assurance is the systematic action to provide confidence that requirements are met

Quality Assurance vs Quality Control

• QA focuses on preventing defects, while QC focuses on identifying defects
• QA is proactive, QC is reactive
• QA improves development and testing so that defects do not arise
• QA establishes a management system
• QC identifies and corrects defects in finished products
• QC identifies defects after a product has been developed

Importance of Quality

• Quality provides an organization with a competitive edge
• "No quality, no sales. No sale, no profit. No profit, no jobs"
• Quality is key to business success and customer satisfaction in a globalized world
• Quality is associated with consistency

Quality and Profit

• Quality = Fitness for use + Freedom from deficiencies
• The quality of design is based on product features
• The quality of conformance is freedom from deficiencies
• Quality is customer delight, product features have a big impact on sales, and freedom from deficiencies reduces costs

Types of Quality

• Three types of quality are: Quality of Design, Quality of Conformance and Quality of Performance

Types of Quality - Design

• Based on market research that identifies product characteristics valued by customers
• Begins with consumer research including analyses of sales calls, followed by adequate specification development
• Focuses on developing products that meet customer needs at a given cost.

Types of Quality - Design Notes

• Consumer research and sales call analysis can indicate the customer needs, both current and future
• The quality the producer intends to offer to the customer
• If quality of design does not reflect the customer's requirements, the design won't satisfy the customer even if the design conforms

Types of Quality - Conformance

• It's the measurement of firm and suppliers abilility to create products with uniformity at a given cost
• It's the level of produced quality through the production or service process
• Important note: When quality entirely conforms to its specifications the quality of conformance is considered excellent

Types of Quality - Performance

• Seeks to ascertain how the design charactistics improved and innovated through the quality of conformance perform in the market.
• Measuring if a profit was incurred or not
• The main tools used to deduce quality performance are: after-sales service and service call analysis
• Performance tools evaluate why consumers like or dislike a product.

Classifications of Quality

• Indifferent quality is not noticed or appreciated by customers
• Expected quality is something the customer expects and demands
• One dimensional quality is not expected, but if it is lacking the customer becomes displeased
• Exciting quality is above expectations, and attracts favourable attention