IA-Quality - General Concepts and Definitions

Abstract

The Meanings of “Quality.” Of the many meanings of the word “quality,” two are of critical importance to managing for quality: “Quality” means those features of products which meet customer needs and thereby provide customer satisfaction. In this sense, the meaning of quality is oriented to income. The purpose of such higher quality is to provide greater customer satisfaction and, one hopes, to increase income. However, providing more and/or better quality features usually requires an investment and hence usually involves increases in costs. Higher quality in this sense usually “costs more.” “Quality” means freedom from deficiencies—freedom from errors that require doing work over again (rework) or that result in field failures, customer dissatisfaction, customer claims, and so on. In this sense, the meaning of quality is oriented to costs, and higher quality usually “costs less.” Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction Are Not Opposites. Customer satisfaction comes from those features which induce customers to buy the product. Dissatisfaction has its origin in deficiencies and is why customers complain. Some products give little or no dissatisfaction; they do what the producer said they would do. Yet they are not salable because some competing product has features that provide greater customer satisfaction. The early automated telephone exchanges employed electromagnetic analog switching methods. Recently, there was a shift to digital switching methods, owing to their superior product features. As a result, analog switching systems, even if absolutely free from product deficiencies, were no longer salable. Thus Quality can evolve several definitions such as:  customer satisfaction and loyalty ;  Do right things right.  providing a product which is 'fit for the purpose';  providing an acceptable product at an acceptable cost;  a standard which can be accepted by both the supplier and the customer.  the totality of features or characteristics of a product that bear on its ability to satisfy a given need.  Fitness for use. Big Q And Little Q. Definitions of words do not remain static. Sometimes they undergo extensive change. Such a change emerged during the 1980s. It originated in the growing quality crisis and is called the concept of “Big Q.”