Pradip V. Mehta Satish K. Bhardwaj fal NEW AGE INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHERS ee el —— esIntroduction since after second world war it has been used more and more as a competitive weapon or competitive advantage. In order to understand this we have only to look at Japan which is a textbook case of how a nation used quality to become a world player in trade and industry. In the first few years after the second world war as Japan was rebuilding from the war, many business executives went through training in quality, which was conducted by Drs. Deming and Juran. These executives took the quality message to heart and we can see the results today, which are too obvious to mention. Soon on the heels of Japan, some of the other countries such as South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore in Asia/Pacific followed this model and became very successful in the world arena. This success resulted in raising standard of living for their citizens. These countries understood very well that in order to grow and prosper they had to tap the world market, and the only way they will be able to do that would be to offer quality products. Customers all over the world have become so demanding and expecting good quality that increasingly, quality is no longer a competitive advantage, but it is becoming a sheer necessity to survive in the marketplace. Therefore, quality has to be designed and built into products and not just “inspected” into products. In order to design and manufacture quality into products, quality must be managed, and in order to effectively manage quality, it must be clearly understood just what is quality? Ox has been with us since the dawn of civilization, however,2 Managing Quality i the Apparel Industry 1.1 Just What is Quality? ity is unusually sli and difficult to come to grips with and eae someone has Sud, "quality is something Lknow when I see it.” To some, quality defined is like ‘love’ explained. Once the concept » Of quality is understood fundamentally it stops being slippery and becomes something which you can hold by the tail. oo The simplest way to answer the question “What is quality?’ is to look it up in a dictionary. According to Webster’s II New Revised University Dictionary, quality is essential character: nature, an ingredient or distinguishing attribute: property, a character trait, superiority of kind, degree of grade or excellence. Quality means different things to different people. If we asked ‘several people, “What is quality?”, we may get answers like: ~The best money can buy ~ Meeting a specification or conformance to specifications Craftsmanship The degree of excellence that an item possesses No more than 1% defective lot Anything Japanese or German These responses, of course, depend on peoples’ perception of the value of a product or service under consideration and their expectation of performance, durability, reliability, etc. of that product or service. Quality can also mean the absence of variation in its broadest sense.) For example, consider the case of Ford vs. Mazda....which unfolded just a few years ago [1]. Ford owns about 25% of Mazda and asked the Japanese company to build transmissions for a car it was selling in the US. Both Ford and Mazda were supposed to build to identical specifications. Ford adopted zero defects as its standard. Yet, after the cars had been on the road for a while, it became clear that Ford’s transmissions were generating far higher warranty costs and customer complaints about the noise. To it’s credit, Ford disassembled and carefully measured samples of transmissions made by both companies. At first, Ford engineers thought their gauges were malfunctioning. Ford parts were all in spec., but Mazda gear boxes betrayed no variability at all from target. Could that be why Mazda incurred lower production, scrap, rework, and warranty costs? That was precisely the reason.Introduction 3 Automobile battery is another example [2] An automobile battery is charged with an alternator. The aitemator has a regulator that controls the charge to the battery The alternator voltage regulator assembly must let out a charge of 13.2 volts to keep the battery’s charge at.12 volts. If the alternator produces a charge \of less than 13.2 volts, the electrolyte (acid) in the battery will gradually turn into water resulting in failure of the battery. The lower the alternator output, the more quickly this will happen. If the alternator output is more than 13.2 volts, excessive heat will build up in battery. As the alternator output increases, this effect will occur more quickly. Quality can also-mean meeting or exceeding customer e —all the time. The key here is to know accurately customer e1 on a continuing basis because unless you know customer e how can you meet or exceed them? The expectations of the ability to distinguish various quality characteristics al: one group of customers to another. Generally, the more educated and Sophisticated the customer, the more specific are the expectations of quality and more precise th 'e ability of the customers to explore those ‘expectations, John Rabbitt of The Foxboro Company [3] defines quality as ~~ - the ability to exceed a customer's ex cost competitive market position. tations xpectations xpectations quality and so vary from ‘pectations while maintaining a Garvin [4] proposed that a definition of quality can be product based, user based, manufacturing based or value based A product based definition of quality views quality as.a precise and measurable variable. Differences in quality reflect differences in the quantity of some ingredient or attribute possessed by a product, For example, we tend to associate finer rugs with a higher number of knots Per square inch — therefore higher, better quality & user based definition of quality simply means that quality is whatever the customer says or wants — which or exceeding customers requirements and expe A manufacturing based definition of specifications, conformance to requirements, meeuny ements means poor quality. goes back to meeting ectations quality means meeting etc, Any devie“on from4. Managing Quality in the Apparel Industry ‘A value based definition of quality takes into consideration cost or ice of a product or service. The question from aoa s view. cont is what is the value of this Prodi or service to us? Or how iven product or service? Rana a on Re say that companies may want to take a multiple approach to defining quality, that is, start out with a product based approach which identify quality characteristics or properties through market research that cannote quality. Then use a user based approach to translate those characteristics into manufacturing base approach as products are being manufactured and finally usea value based approach to offer the customer better value than your competitors. When defining quality this way, everyone in the company has a role in “quality.” Garvin also proposed that there are eight dimensions of quality They are performance, features, ‘reliability, tonformance/ durability, « serviceability? aesthetics, and perceived quality. Performance is based on primary(operating characteris . Features of a product are those secondary characteristics that Supplement a product's basic functioning) Reliability refers to the OF a product's malfunctioning or failing within a specified period of time? Conformance refers to th /Gepreoretenltowhicia pix tent to which a product's design and operating characteristics meet pre-established standards/Durability meanslength of time a product will last or product life. Serviceability refers to the peed, courtesy, competence, and ease of répair of a product\ Aesthetics refers tolhow a product looks, feels, sounds, tastes, or smells.) Perceived quality refers to{what customers perceive to be the quality.af a produc based on image, advertising, and brand name reputation, By influencing or varying any one or more of these eight dimensions of quality, a company can position itself in the market place, so quality s then a strategic variable. Why do we buy a product? We buy a product primarily because we want to use that product. Now, if the product we bor thas some. deficiency, what happens? We can’t use it, so, in that case, can we say that the product we could not use is defective? Sure, we can, isn’t it? Therefore, quality can be defined in terms of “fitness for use”[5]. Dr. Joseph M. Juran came up with this concept sometime in the late 50's or early 60's . Companies should judge fitness for use of a product from a customer's viewpoint and not from a manufacturer's or seller’s viewpoint.Introduction 5 The “fitness for use” concept can be applied to garments also. For a garment to be fit for use, provided it’s style is acceptable, 1. It must be free from defects such as stains, material (fabric) defects, open seams, loose hanging (untrimmed) threads, misaligned buttons and buttonholes, defective zippers, etc. 2._1t must fit properly for the labelled size. 3. It must perform satisfactorily in normal use, meaning that a garment must be able to withstand normal laundering/ drycleaning/pressing cycles without color loss or shrinkage, seams must not come apart, fabric must not tear, etc. Quality is also a reflection of customers’ opinion of the value they see in your product compared to that of your competitor’s. In other words, quality is whatever the customer says it is or the customer is the final judge of quality. We have tried to define quality from several viewpoints, now let us see how ISO (International Standards Organization) defines quality. Quality is defined by ISO [6] as “the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs.” It is interesting to note that the ISO definition of quality reflects some of the concepts discussed earlier. For example, “ability to satisfy stated or implied needs” refers to fitness for use. An ability to satisfy stated or implied needs also refers to durability, reliability, and serviceability, three of the eight dimensions of quality discussed earlier. The totality of features and characteristics refer to performance and failures — two of the eight dimensions discussed earlier. Quality should not be confused with grade. Grade is defined [7] as a category or rank indicator of the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service intended for the same functional use or purpose, oriented at a specified cost related consumer/user market. Grade reflects that additional ‘features and characteristics may be desirable, usually for added cost, and that a diferent version of the product or service is thus defined. For example, both, Chevrolet and Cadillac cars can be of equally good quality but they are certainly not in the same grade. Cadillac is targetd for upscale, luxury automobile market while Chevrolet is targeted for an average consumer or middle class market. Similarly, Holiday Inn and Hyatt Regency hotels are of different grades but both are good quality hotels.6 Managing Quality in the Apparel Industry i i ken from an American is some quality related terminology ta A n Res ‘Standard “ANSI/ASQC A3 Quality Systems Terminology, published by the American Society for Quality [7]. © Quality Management: That aspect of the overall management function that determines and implements the quality policy. © Quality System: The organizational aie Beer he 1 procedures, processes, and resources for implementing quality management. : Quality Plan: A document setting out the specific quality practices, resources, anc activities relevant toa particular product, service, contract, or project. ; Qualify Policy: The overall intentions and directions of an organization as regards quality as formally expressed by top gement. lity Assurance: All those planned or systematic actions necessary to provide adequate confidence that a product or service will satisfy given requirements for quality. ty Control: The operational techniques and the activities used to fulfill requirements of quality. Statistical Quality Control: The application of statistical techniques to the control of quality. Afispection: Activities, such as measuring, examining, testing, “gauging, one or more characteristics of a product or service, and comparing these with specified requirements to determine conformity. Testing: A means of determining the capability of an item to meet specified requirements by subjecting the item to a set of physical, chemical, environmental, or operating actions and conditions. . We hope it is clear by now that in order to address quality, there must be companywide understanding of just, what is quality, or there should be a corporate/official definition of quality. For example, in the company where one of the authors works, quality is defined in terms of “fitness for use.” Anything that adversely affects serviceability, salability, or appearance of an item is considered a defect. Having such.an understanding at all levels of the company will enable you to address quality as a business function.Introduction 7 Having some idea of what quality is, let us look at some of the factors that influence consumers’ perception of quality. These factors are: _1-Price. Consumers tend to associate quality with higher price. There is some evidence that price is used by shoppers in quality estimates and that for some products consumers’ estimates of quality are affected by price [8]. 2. Technology. This indicates factors such as fabric and seam strength, colorfastness, shrinkage, and other properties that are affected by the state of technology in the industry. 3. Psychology. A garment can be reasonably priced and the best that technology can offer, but if it is not attractive in a) if it is not fashionable, if it does not_meet the aesthetic Peuieamnenls of he customers then it is not a quality garment. 4. Time Orientation. This includes durability. Of course, the importance of durability varies with categories of garments, that is, children’s garments are expected to be more durable than ladies’ high fashion garments. 5. Contractual. This refers to a product guarantee, the refund policy of a store, etc. 6. Ethical. This refers to honesty of advertising, courtesy of sales personnel, etc. If you can positively influence any one or more of the preceeding factors, then you will be able to increase the quality (and therefore the value) of your product in a customer’s mind and he or she will most likely come back to buy from you again.