C215-WGU QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS LATEST UPDATE
TQM: Total Quality Management
is an integrated organizational effort designed to improve quality at every level.
Customer Defined Quality
TQM is about meeting quality expectations as defined by the customer.
Conformance to specification
measu...
TQM: Total Quality Management
is an integrated organizational effort designed to improve quality at every level.
Customer Defined Quality
TQM is about meeting quality expectations as defined by the customer.
Conformance to specification
measures how well the product or service meets the targets and tolerances determined
by its designers.
Example of Conformance to specification
The wait for hotel room service may be specified as 20 minutes, but there may be an
acceptable delay of an additional 10 minutes.
Also, consider the amount of light delivered by a 60-watt light bulb. If the bulb delivers
50 watts, it does not conform to specifications.
Fitness for use
focuses on how well the product performs its intended function or use.
Example of Fitness for use
For example, a Mercedes-Benz and a Jeep Cherokee both meet a fitness for use
definition if one considers transportation as the intended function. However, if the
definition becomes more specific and assumes that the intended use is for
transportation on mountain roads and carrying fishing gear, the Jeep Cherokee has a
greater fitness for use. You can also see that fitness for use is a user-based definition in
that it is intended to meet the needs of a specific user group.
Value for a price paid
is a definition of quality that consumers often use for product or service usefulness. This
is the only definition that combines economics with consumer criteria; it assumes that
the definition of quality is price sensitive.
Examples of Value for a price paid
For example, suppose that you wish to sign up for a personal finance seminar and
discover that the same class is being taught at two different colleges at significantly
different tuition rates. If you take the less expensive seminar, you will feel that you have
received greater value for the price.
Support Services
provided are often how the quality of a product or service is judged. Quality does not
apply only to the product or service itself; it also applies to the people, processes, and
organizational environment associated with it.
Example of Support Services
For example, the quality of a university is judged not only by the quality of staff and
course offerings but also by the efficiency and accuracy of processing paperwork.
Psychological Criteria
,is a subjective definition that focuses on the judgmental evaluation of what constitutes
product or service quality. Different factors contribute to the evaluation, such as the
atmosphere of the environment or the perceived prestige of the product.
Examples of Psychological Criteria
For example, a hospital patient may receive average healthcare, but a very friendly staff
may leave the impression of high quality. Similarly, we commonly associate certain
products with excellence because of their reputation; Rolex watches and Mercedes-
Benz automobiles are examples.
Manufacturing Organizations
Manufacturing organizations produce a tangible product that can be seen, touched, and
directly measured. Examples include cars, CD players, clothes, computers, and food
items.
Quality in manufacturing organizations
quality definitions in manufacturing usually focus on tangible product features.
Common quality definition in manufacturing
1. Conformance: the degree to which a product characteristic meets preset standards.
2. Performance: such as acceleration of a vehicle
3. Reliability: meaning that the product will function as expected without failure
4. Features: the extras that are included beyond the basic characteristics
5. Durability: the expected operational life of the product
6. Serviceability: how readily a product can be repaired
Service Organizations
service organizations produce a product that is intangible. Usually, the complete product
cannot be seen or touched. Rather, it is experienced. The intangible nature of the
product makes defining quality difficult.
Examples of Service Organizations
delivery of healthcare, the experience of staying at a vacation resort, and learning at a
university.
Quality of Service is defined by perceptual factors
1. Responsiveness to customers needs/
2. Courtesy and friendliness of staff.
3. Promptness in resolving complains.
4. Atmosphere
5. Time: the amount of time a customer has to wait for the service.
6. Consistency: the degree to which service is the same each time.
Quality Control Costs
Cost necessary for achieving high quality.
Two types of Quality Control Costs
1. Prevention costs.
2. Appraisal costs.
Prevention Costs
are all costs incurred in the process of preventing poor quality from occurring. Costs
includes the following.
1. quality planning costs, such as the costs of developing and implementing a quality
plan.
2. cost of product and process design.
,3. Employee training in quality measurement.
4. Cost of maintaining records of information and data related to quality.
Appraisal Costs
incurred in the process of uncovering defects. They include the following;
1. Cost of quality inspections.
2. Product testing.
3. performing audits to make sure that quality standards are being met.
4. costs of worker time spent measuring quality
5. cost of equipment used for quality appraisal.
Quality Failure Costs
Cost consequences of poor quality.
Two types of Quality Failure Costs
1. External Failure Costs
2. Internal Failure Costs
Internal Failure Costs
are associated with discovering poor product quality before the product reaches the
customer site.
1. rework: the cost of correcting the defective item.
2.Scrap: when item is so defective that it cannot be fixed and must be thrown away.
Scrap cost includes all the material, labor, and machine cost spent in producing the
defective product.
3. cost of machine downtime due to failures in the process and the costs of discounting
defective items for salvage value.
External Failure Costs
are associated with quality problems that occur at the customer site. These costs can
be particularly damaging because customer faith and loyalty can be difficult to regain.
1. Customer complaints
2. Product returns
3. repairs to warranty claims
4. recalls
5. litigation costs resulting from product liability issues
6. lost sales and lost customers
Example of External Failure Costs
manufacturers of lunch meats and hot dogs whose products have been recalled due to
bacterial contamination have had to struggle to regain consumer confidence. Other
examples include auto manufacturers whose products have been recalled due to major
malfunctions such as problematic braking systems and airlines that have experienced a
crash with many fatalities. External failure can sometimes put a company out of
business almost overnight.
External Failure Costs are particularly high where?
External failure costs tend to be particularly high for service organizations. The reason
is that with a service the customer spends much time in the service delivery system,
and there are fewer opportunities to correct defects than there are in manufacturing.
, Examples of external failure in services include overbooking airline flights, long delays
in airline service, and lost luggage.
Walter A. Shewhart
"grandfather of quality control"
-developed quality control charts that are used to identify whether the variability in the
process is random or due to an assignable cause, such as poor workers or
miscalibrated machinery.
W. Edwards Deming
"father of quality control"
-Deming prize: an annual award given to firms that demonstrate outstanding quality.
-"14 points": upper management must develop a commitment to quality and provide a
system to support this commitment that involves all employees and suppliers.
Joseph M. Juran
-considered to have had the greatest impact on quality management.
-defines quality as fitness for use which takes in to account customer intentions for use
of the product instead of focusing on technical specifications.
-develpped the concept of cost of quality which allows measuring quality in dollar terms
rather than on the basis of subjective evaluations.
-originated the quality trilogy.
Quality Trilogy
1. quality planning
2. quality control
3. quality improvement.
Quality planning
companies identify their customers, product requirements, and overriding business
goals. Process set up so quality standards can be met.
Quality control
stresses the regular use of statistical control methods to ensure that quality standards
are met and to identify variation from the standards.
Quality improvement
quality improvement should not be just breakthroughs, but continuous as well.
Armand V. Feigenbaum
-introduced the concept of quality control.
-promoted idea that quality developments are integrated throughout the entire
organization/
-managers & employees have a total commitment to improve quality and people can
learn from each other's success.
-adapted by the Japanese and called "company-wide quality control.
Philip B. Crosby
-developed phrase "Do it right the first time" and the notion of zero defects, assuming
that no amounts of defects should be considered acceptable.
-coined the phrase "quality is free" and for pointing out the many costs of quality.
-stressed role of management in the quality improvement effort and the use of statistical
control tools in measuring and monitoring quality.
Kaoru Ishikawa
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