INTRODUCTION TO QUALITY
FOREWORD
Quality is a concern of almost all organization. High-quality goods and
services can give an organization a considerable competitive edge. Good
quality reduces the costs of rework, waste, complaints and returns, and most
importantly, generates satisfied customers. Some operations managers
believe that, in the long run, quality is the most important single factor
affecting an organization performance relative to its competitor.
WHAT IS QUALITY?
A. CLASSICAL DEFINITION
“degree of conformance to a standard”
B. AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR QUALITY (ASQ)
“the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service
that bears on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs”
C. ISO 9000:2000
“degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfills
requirements”
D. STEVENSON, 2003
“ability of the product or service to meet or exceed customer
expects”
PROFESSOR DAVID GARVIN APPROACHES OF QUALITY DEFINITIONS:
THE TRANSCENDENT APPROACH
- Views quality as synonymous with innate excellence.
- Quality is being defined as the absolute – the best possible, in
terms of the product’s service’s specification.
Examples:
- ‘quality’ car is a Rolls-Royce
- ‘quality’ flight is one provided by Singapore Airlines
- ‘quality’ watch is Rolex
THE MANUFACTURING-BASED APPROACH
- Concerned with making products or providing services that are
free of errors and that conform precisely to their design
specification.
Example:
A car which is less expensive than a Rolls-Royce, or a Swatch watch
or an economy flight, although not necessarily the ‘best’ available, is defined
as a ‘quality’ product provided it has been built or delivered precisely to its
design specification.
THE USER-BASED APPROACH
- Concerned with making sire that the product or service is fit for
its purpose.
- This definition demonstrates concern not only for its adherence
to specification but also for the appropriateness of that
specification for the customer.
EXAMPLE:
- A watch that is manufactured precisely to its design specification
yet falls to pieces after two days is clearly not ‘fit for its purpose’.
- The cabin service on a night-time flight from Sydney to Stockholm
may be designed to provide passengers with drinks every 15
minutes, meals every four hours and frequent announcements
about the position of the plane. This quality specification may not
be appropriate however, for the customer whose main need is a
good sleep.
THE PRODUCT-BASED APPROACH
- Views quality as a precise (and measurable) set of the
characteristics which will satisfy customers.
EXAMPLE:
A watch, for example may be designed to run, without the need for
servicing, for at least five years while keeping time correct to within five
seconds.
THE VALUE-BASED APPROACH
- Takes the manufacturing definition a stage further and defines
quality in terms of costs and price.
- Contends that quality should be perceived in relation to price. A
customer may well be willing to accept something of a lower
specification quality, if the price is low.
EXAMPLE:
- A simple and inexpensive watch may give good value by
performing quite satisfactorily for a reasonable period of time.
 - A passenger may be willing to fly from Singapore to Amsterdam
with a four-hour wait in Bangkok and endure cramped seating
and mediocre meals in order to save hundreds of guilders on the
cost of a direct flight.

TWO VIEWPOINTS OF QUALITY

1. QUALITY – OPERATION’S VIEW
- “quality is consistent conformance to customer’s expectations”
- Implies that there is a need to meet a clear specification to ensure
that a product or service is made based on what customer
demand. Furthermore, “consistent” implies that conformance to
specification is not an ad hoc event but that the materials,
facilities and processes have been designed and controlled to
ensure that the product or service meets the specification based
on a set of measurable product or service characteristics.
- The use of the word “expectations” in the definition, rather than
needs or wants implies that we exceed customer basic
requirements (needs) and whatever it is that they fancy for
(wants).
2. QUALITY – THE CUSTOMER’S VIEW
- “quality is what he or she perceives the product or service to be”
- The problem with basing the definition of quality on customer
expectations is that an individual customer’s expectation varies.
Customers, upon receiving a product or service may perceive it in
different ways that Customer A may find it as a quality product
or service but Customer B would find it otherwise.

UNIFIED DEFINITION OF QUALITY

Quality can be quantified as follows:
𝑃
𝑄=
𝐸
Where:
Q – Quality
P – Performance
E – Expectation

PERCEIVED QUALITY IS GOVERNED BY THE GAP BETWEEN CUSTIMER’S

EXPECTATIONS AND THEIR PERCEPTIONS OF THE PRODUCT OR SERVICE.