Buildingand maintainingquality into an organizations goods and services,

and more importantly, into the infrastructure of the organization itself, is not an
easy task.
Quality Assurance
...is any action directed toward providing customers with goods and services of
appropriate quality.
While quality initiatives can lead to business success, they cannot guarantee it,
and one must not infer that business failures or stock price dives are the result of
poor quality.
Formal Definitions of Quality
Transcendent definition: excellence
Product-based definition: quantities of product attributes
User-based definition: fitness for intended use
Value-based definition: quality vs. price
Manufacturing-based definition: conformance to specifications
Because individuals in different business functions speak different languages,
the need for different views of what constitutes quality at different points inside
and outside an organization is necessary to create products of true quality that
will satisfy customers needs.
Principles of Total Quality
Customer and stakeholder focus
Participation and teamwork
Process focus supported by continuous improvement and learning
all supported by an integrated organizational
infrastructure, a set of management practices,
and a set of tools and techniques
Customer and Stakeholder Focus
Customer is principal judge of quality
Organizations must first understand customers needs and expectations in
order to meet and exceed them
Organizations must build relationships with customers

 Customers include employees and society at large

To meet or exceed customer expectations, organizations must fully understand
all product and service attributes that contribute to customer value and lead to
satisfaction and loyalty.
Participation and Teamwork
Employees know their jobs best and therefore, how to improve them
Management must develop the systems and procedures that foster
participation and teamwork
Empowerment better serves customers, and creates trust and motivation
Teamwork and partnerships must exist both horizontally and vertically
In any organization, the person who best understands his or her job and how
to improve both the product and the process is the one performing it.
Process Focus and Continuous Improvement
A process is a sequence of activities that is intended to achieve
some result
Continuous Improvement
Enhancing value through new products and services
Reducing errors, defects, waste, and costs
Increasing productivity and effectiveness
Improving responsiveness and cycle time performance
Major improvements in response time may require significant simplification of
work processes and often drive simultaneous improvements in quality and
productivity.
Three Levels of Quality
Organizational level: meeting external customer requirements
Process level: linking external and internal customer requirements
Performer/job level: meeting internal customer requirements
Quality and Personal Values
Personal initiative has a positive impact on business success
Quality begins with personal attitudes

 Quality-focused individuals often exceed customer expectations

Attitudes can be changed through awareness and effort (e.g., personal
quality checklists)
In the daily attempt to bring about change in the individual parts of the
organizational universe, managers, employees, professors, and students can
find that personal quality is the key to unlock the door to a wider
understanding of what the concept really is all about. Unless quality is
internalized at the personal level, it will never become rooted in the culture of
an organization. Thus, quality must begin at a personal level (and that means
you!).
A system is a set of functions or activities within an organization that work
together for the aim of the organization.
Manufacturing Systems (1 of 2)
Marketing and sales
Product design and engineering
Purchasing and receiving
Production planning and scheduling
Manufacturing and assembly
Tool engineering
Industrial engineering and process design
Finished goods inspection and test
Packaging, shipping, and warehousing
Installation and service
Quality in Product
Design
Product design and engineering functions develop technical specifications for
products and production processes to meet the requirements determined by the
marketing function.
Critical Differences Between Service and Manufacturing (1 of 2)
Customer needs and performance standards are more difficult to identify
and measure
Services requires a higher degree of customization

 Output is intangible
Services are produced and consumed simultaneously
Customers are often involved in actual process
Services are more labor-intensive than manufacturing
Services handle large numbers of transactions