What is Quality

Few general answers:

The best money can buy
Meeting a specification or conformance to
specifications
Craftsmanship
The degree of excellence that an item can
possesses
No more than 1% defect
Anything Japanese or German
 Few Definitions
HOLISTIC PERSPECTIVE

According to Webster’s University Dictionary- Quality

is essential character: nature, an ingredient or
distinguishing attribute: property, a character trait,
superiority of kind, degree of grade or excellence.

As per ISO- The totality of features and characteristics

of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy
stated or implied needs.
PRODUCT PERSPECTIVE

A product based definition of quality views

quality as precise and measurable variable.
Differences in quality reflect differences in the
quality of some ingredient or attribute
possessed by a product.
PRODUCER PERSPECTIVE

From manufacturer’s perspective, quality is

often defined as consistent conformance to
specifications and standards. Any deviation
from meeting requirements means poor quality.
By this definition quality is achieved when
products consistently fall within a range of
acceptable measures for all dimensions of
quality.
PRODUCER PERSPECTIVE
The producer’s definition of quality addresses a
company’s ability to produce products that
consistently meet predetermined criteria and
can be sold in the market at full price.

Philip Crosby states that QUALITY IS FREE,

the production and material costs are the same
for First Quality products as for substandard
products.
CUSTOMER PERSPECTIVE
From a customer’s perspective, quality depends on
the dimensions of a product or service that are of
importance to that user. These dimensions will differ
by product or service type, as well as by customer.

This recognizes the primary role of the customer in

determining whether or not a product or service
meets or exceeds expectations. Here quality reflects
an ever-changing marketplace and satisfies needs of
the customer in that market.
The Deming Cycle ,which links production, target
markets, and business objectives, can be
summarized as a five step approach-

Plan

Analyse Do
The
Deming
Cycle

Act Check
VALUE BASED PERSPECTIVE

A value based definition of quality takes into

consideration cost or price of a product or
service. The question from a customer’s view
point is what is the value of this product or
service to us ? Or how valuable is a given
product or services? Here , value is expanded
to incorporate service, delivery, and financial
arrangements.
 Dimensions of Quality
 Performance-Primary operating characteristics of a product
 Features- Secondary characteristics that supplement a
product’s basic functioning.
 Reliability-Probability of a product’s malfunctioning or failing
within a specified period of time
 Conformance-The degree or extent to which a product’s design
and operating characteristics meet pre-established standards.
 Durability- Length of time a product will last or product life
 Serviceability- The speed, courtesy, competence, and ease of
repair of a product.
 Aesthetics- How a product looks, feels, sounds, tastes, or
smells.
 Perceived Quality- What customers perceive to be the quality of
a product based on image, advertising, and brand name
reputation.
 Quality Systems Terminology
 Quality Management : That aspect of the overall management
function that determines and implements the quality policy.

 Quality System : The organizational structure, responsibilities,

procedures, processes, and resources for implementing quality
management.

 Quality Plan: A document setting out the specific quality

practices, resources, and activities relevant to a particular
product, service, contract, or project.

 Quality Policy : The overall intentions and directions of an

organization as regards quality as formally expressed by top
management.

 Quality Assurance : All those planned or systematic actions

necessary to provide adequate confidence that a product or
service will satisfy given requirements for quality.
 Quality Systems Terminology
 Quality 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.

 Inspection : 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.
 Factors that influence consumer’s
perception of Quality
 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.

 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.

 Psychology. A garment can be reasonably priced and the

best that technology can offer, but if it is not attractive in
appearance, if it is not fashionable, if it does not meet the
aesthetic requirements of the customers, then it is not a
quality garment.
Factors that influence consumer’s
perception of Quality
 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.

 Contractual. This refers to a product guarantee, the

refund policy of a store, etc.

 Ethical. This refers to honesty of advertising, courtesy

of sales personnel, etc.
 Why is Quality Important
Benefits:
Greater market share
Higher earnings
Loyal customers
Higher growth rate
Premium price
Highly motivated employees
Why is Quality
Important?
 Why have Apparel buyers suddenly
become quality conscious?
• Customers do not want to be taken for a ride.
• Customers are too busy to come back to complain, they rather
change the loyalty
• Customers are too busy to take special care of the apparel.
• Recession has marginalized consumer spending in general and
specially on apparel.
• Quality has become order qualifier.
• Stringent consumer protection laws in western countries.
• It is very expensive to work with non-quality vendors.
• In difficult days stores can’t afford to have dissatisfied
customer.
Why do exporters and their staff feel that
the demands of buyers in relation to
quality are unrealistic and unjustified?
• They fail to “Put Themselves in customers
Shoes”
• Totally different retail scenario in India and
western market region.
• Staff members lack exposure to international
quality product.
• The belief that Quality and cost don’t go
together.
 Crosby’s 14 steps to Quality Improvement

1. Make it clear that management is committed to quality.

2. Form quality improvement teams with representatives from each
department
3. Determine where current and potential quality problems lie.
4. Evaluate the cost of quality and explain its use as a management
tool.
5. Raise the quality awareness and personal concern of all employees.
6. Take actions to correct problems identified through previous steps.
7. Establish a committee for the zero defects programs.
 Crosby’s 14 steps to Quality Improvement

8. Train supervisors to actively carry out their part of the quality

improvement program.
9. Hold a ‘zero defects day’ to let all employees realize that there
has been a change. .
10. Encourage individuals to establish improvement goals for
themselves and their groups.
11. Encourage employees to communicate to management the
obstacles they face in attaining their improvement goals.
12. Recognize and appreciate those who participate.
13. Establish quality councils to communicate on a regular basis.
14. Do it all over again to emphasize that the quality improvement
program never ends.
 Deming’s 14 Points
1. Create constancy of purpose towards improvement of product and
service, with the aim to become competitive and to stay in business, and
to provide jobs.
2. Adopt the new philosophy. We are in a new economic age. Western
management must awaken to the challenge, must learn their
responsibilities, and take on leadership for change.
3. Cease dependence on inspection to achieve quality. Eliminate the need
for inspection on a mass basis by building quality into the product in the
first place.
4. End the practice of awarding business on the basis of price tag. Instead,
minimize total cost. Move toward a single supplier for any one item, on a
long-term relationship of loyalty and trust.
5. Improve constantly and forever the system of production and service, to
improve quality and productivity, and thus constantly decrease costs.
 Deming’s 14 Points
6. Institute training on the job.
7. Institute leadership. The aim of supervision should be to help people and
machines and gadgets to do a better job. Supervision of management is in
need of overhaul, as well as supervision of production workers.
8. Drive out fear, so that everyone may work effectively for the company.
9. Break down barriers between departments. People in research, design,
sales, and production must work as a team, to foresee problems of production
and in use that may be encountered with the product or service.
10. Eliminate slogans, exhortations, and targets for the work force asking for
zero defects and new levels of productivity. Such exhortations only create
adversarial relationships, as the bulk of the causes of low quality and low
productivity belong to the system and thus lie beyond the power of the work
force.
– Eliminate work standards (quotas) on the factory floor. Substitute leadership.
– Eliminate management by objective. Eliminate management by numbers, numerical
goals. Substitute leadership.
 Deming’s 14 Points
11. Remove barriers that rob the hourly worker of his right to pride of
workmanship. The responsibility of supervisors must be changed from
sheer numbers to quality.
12. Remove barriers that rob people in management and in engineering of
their right to pride of workmanship. This means, inter alia, abolishment of
the annual or merit rating and of management by objective.
13. Institute a vigorous program of education and self-improvement.
14. Put everybody in the company to work to accomplish the
transformation. The transformation is everybody's job.
 Juran’s Ten Steps to Quality
Improvement
• Build awareness of the need and opportunity for improvement
• Set goals for improvement
• Organize to reach the goals
• Provide training
• Carry out projects to solve problems
• Report progress
• Give recognition
• Communicate results
• Keep score of improvements achieved
• Maintain momentum by making annual improvement part of the
regular systems and processes of the company