Jaguar regains its reputation Answer

1. What does quality mean for a motor vehicle manufacturer such as Jaguar? This box highlights how Jaguar have always been regarded as excellent at some aspects of quality (such as performance and aesthetics) but very poor at other (such as product reliability). This gives us a clue as to the various dimensions of quality which are important to Jaguar. They are as follows. erformance ! The speed" power" cornering and other aspects of the way the car drives. #ast speed" powerful acceleration" responsive handling" and so on are generally regarded as the mar$ of a prestige car. %esthetics ! The overall appearance of the car should reflect its values. % Jaguar is smooth" luxurious" dashing and sporty& The $ey question for Jaguar is does the overall appearance and shape of the car reflect these values and appeal to its target customers' (quipment ! )s the car equipped with the type of things one would expect from a luxury car such as leather seats" global position system equipment" ad*ustable headlights and so on' #inish ! %re the visible areas of the car free from any mar$s or blemish' This means an absence of scratches or small mar$s as well as an appropriate surface finish to all visible surfaces. +uild quality ! This normally refers to how the car feels as doors open and close" windows are raised and lowered and so on. )s there a satisfying solidity about the feel of the car' ,eliability ! -hen in use does the car (or some part of the car) brea$ down' .o things go wrong' %fter sales service ! /hould the owner have any problems or wishes to $now something more about the car" is it easy for him or her to do so'

%ll of these can be expanded considerably but the list does give an overall indication of the very many dimensions of quality which are important to Jaguar. 2. ow did the changes which Jaguar made to its operations practice affect the quality of its products?

The changes made by Jaguar (at least those described in the box) were all to the processes within the operation. #or example" Training would equip operators with the s$ills to assemble the car in the correct manner without ma$ing mista$es.

Chapter2/Boxes/Jaguar

/tatistical rocess 0ontrol (covered in 0hapter 12) would enable the operators to ma$e sure that shopfloor processes operating as they should be an preferably improving. 0hanging the payment system both encouraged operators to learn more s$ills and prevents them sacrificing quality in order to earn higher wages in the short term. 3ulti4s$illed teams would allow any absent wor$ers to be covered for by people with equivalent s$ills and" more importantly" encourage continuous improvement to production processes. Totally productive maintenance" improvement teams and benchmar$ing would li$ewise allow everyone wor$ing at the company to contribute to the general improvement effort.

%ll these changes were important but it is also vital to realise that" without the necessary investment" the changes in Jaguar would have been difficult or even impossible. 5et these issues are connected. )t was the success of the companys management in starting these changes which encouraged the parent group (#ord) to invest considerable sums of money in the company" which in turn allowed the changed described above to have a real impact.

Chapter2/Boxes/Jaguar