What is Quality?

(part 1/2)
Posted on April 22, 2010

Yes, there are a lot of definitions of quality; some are more related to objective facts
while others to more subjective feelings. The truth is that dictionary definitions
(dictionary.com) are usually not enough in helping quality professionals to understand
the concept.
In addition, every quality expert and every single person defines quality in a
bit different way depends on the situation they are experimenting, the environment
and the criteria/point of view they apply.
BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
After analyzing the most well-known quality definitions, it’s clear that there are 2 main
meanings of the word quality. Based on Joseph Juran’s definition mixed with the other ones,
I came up with the following definition:

“Quality is:
1. A characteristic of a product or service that bears on its ability to satisfy and
exceed* stated or implied customer needs, and thereby provide customer
satisfaction.
2. Freedom from deficiencies.”
The next table shows a summary of the most well-known quality definitions in the
business environment.

As you will see, everyone expresses the same meaning using synonymous. In order
to not be confused, here is the definition again, with the synonymous you can find in
the table:
“Quality is
1. A characteristic / feature / property of a product or service that bears on its ability
tosatisfy / meet / fulfill / be conformance to and exceed* stated or
implied customer / consumer / user needs / wants / requirements / expectations
, and thereby provide customer / consumer / user satisfaction.
2. Freedom from/free of deficiencies”
GURUS / EXPERTS
“There are two common aspects of quality.

– One of these has to do with the consideration of the quality of

a thing as an objective reality independent of the existence of

man (objective side: focus on the properties of the product,

Walter A. Shewhart independent of what the customer wants).

 – The other side has to do with what we think, feel or sense as a result

of the objective reality (subjective side: what the customer wants).”

“Conformance to requirements.

Measurements are taken continually to determine conformance to

those requirements. The nonconformance detected is the absence of

Philip B. Crosby quality”

“The consumer is the most important part of the production line.

Quality should be aimed at the needs of the consumer, present and

future.”

“The difficulty in defining quality is to translate future needs of the

user into measurable characteristics, so that a product can be

designed and turned out to give satisfaction at a price that the user

W. Edwards Deming will pay”

“Quality is the total composite product and service

characteristics of marketing, engineering, manufacturing and

maintenance through which the product and service in use will

A.V. Feigenbaum meet the expectations of the customer”

“We engage in quality control in order to manufacture products with

the quality which can satisfy the requirements of consumers. The mere

fact of meeting national standards or specifications is not the answer.

Kaoru Ishikawa It is simply insufficient”

 “Quality is the loss (Taguchi loss function) a product causes to

society after being shipped…other than any losses caused by

Genichi Taguchi its intrinsic function”

“Two meanings dominate the use of the word quality:

1. “Quality” means those features of products which meet

customer needs and thereby provide customer satisfaction.

2. Quality means freedom from deficiencies.”

——————————————————————————

Joseph M. Juran 3.“Fitness for use”

STANDARDS – ORGANIZATIONS

ISO 8402:1996

(Quality Management

and Quality Assurance “Quality is the totality of features and characteristics of a product or

Vocabulary standard) services that bears on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs”

ISO 9000:2000

(Set of International

Quality standards and

Guidelines for Quality

Management Systems)

“Quality is the degree to which a set of inherent (existing)

characteristics fulfils requirements.”

 “A subjective term for which each person or sector has its own

definition. In technical usage, quality can have two meanings:

1. The characteristics of a product or service that bear on its

ability to satisfy stated or implied needs;

ASQ
2. A product or service free of deficiencies.”

(American Society for

Quality)

There have been efforts to find a short phrase that would clearly define the word
“quality”, but it is unlikely that any short phrase can provide the depth of meaning
needed by managers who are faced with choosing a course of action.
What is important to highlight is that quality in the business environment can not
have an interpretation as the superiority of something, as could be on the
customer perspective.
(*) the reason why I added the word “exceed” into the quality definition is because if we
only say “meeting customer expectations results in a satisfied customer”, then there is
not competitive advantage in that; e.i. every restaurant will satisfy customers needs,
but only those that exceed customers expectations (deliver larger than expected
portions or lower than expected prices, etc) are the ones the customers are going to
go, and therefore have a competitive advantage over the restaurants that only satisfiy
customers.
– As a business: you want to meet and exceed customers expectations to keep your business
alive in the competitive world.
– As a customer: you want to be satisfied and delighted

What is Quality? (part 2/2)

Posted on October 4, 2011

CUSTOMER PERSPECTIVE
Now days, the customers are who define what is quality for them based on their needs
and preferences. So quality is the perception that the customer has of the product or
service based upon that person’s evaluation of his/her entire experience. That perception will
influence on the customer willingness to pay and use the same product or service one
more time and tell everybody about it (Worth of Mouth).
Quality product is not the same as expensive product; because low priced products can
be considered as having high quality if the customers determine them as such.

Therefore, it is an imperative for every company to identify such needs early in the
product/service development cycle; it will place a firm ahead of its competitors in the
market. The common mistake made by some companies is to put features in
products/services what they suppose are the best ones for the customer; when
actually they are not what the customer expect.
Just to mention, the VOC (Voice of the Customer) and the Kano model play important
roles during the identification of such needs (I’ll talk about customer satisfaction, VOC
and Kano Model in another posts)

Focused on customer satisfaction, Peter Drucker in his book “Innovation and

Entrepreneurship” (1985) defined quality as follow:
Quality Definition

“Quality in a product or service is not what the supplier puts in.

It is what the customer gets out and is willing to pay for.

Customers pay only for what is of use to them and gives them

Peter Drucker value. Nothing else constitutes quality.”

CUSTOMERS vs. SUPPLIERS

It’s clear that Customers and Suppliers sometimes differ in their definition of what is quality.
To most customers, quality means those features of the product which respond to their
needs, including freedom from failures, plus good customer service if failures do occur. Here
is when the best quality definition is “fitness for use.”

In contrast, many suppliers had for years defined quality as conformance to specification at the
time of final product test. This definition fails to consider numerous factors which influence
quality as defined by customers: packaging, storage, transports, installation, reliability,
maintainability, customer service, and so on.
Next table shows some of the differences in viewpoint as applied to long-life goods.
OTHER DEFINITIONS
Before finish, I would like to share 2 other experts’ thoughts about quality that are
interesting to analyze quality in a bit different ways:
Quality Definition

“Quality is a characteristic of thought and statement that is

recognized by a non thinking process. Because definitions are a
product of rigid, formal thinking, quality cannot be defined. But even
though quality cannot be defined, you know what quality is!”
“Quality is like modern art. We may not be able to define great
Robert M. Pirsig modern art; but we frequently (almost always) recognize it
when we see it.”

“There are 5 approaches to defining quality that cover the

meaning of quality to managers, operators and customers:
transcendent, product-based, user-based, manufacturing-
based, and value based approach.
Also, there are 8 critical dimensions of quality that can serve as
a framework for strategic analysis: performance, features,
David A. Garvin reliability, conformance, durability, serviceability, aesthetics,
and perceived quality.”

See the following Post to read more about Dr. Garvin quality approaches and
dimensions:

CONCLUSION

Quality is, by nature, cross-disciplinary; encompass from engineering through philosophy

fields; it is a complex and multifaceted concept.
Is any definition “more correct” than the others?
Is one quality expert “right” and the others “wrong”?
Is it the most fundamental definition of quality to meet the consumer’s expectations; or is it
the fulfillment of requirements? Or both?
Well, the result is an endless debate.
So, how do you define quality?

Product Quality by Dr. GARVIN (1984)

Posted on April 23, 2010

Dr. David A Garvin, Ph.D professor of Business Administration Harvard Business

School wrote an interesting article about “What does product quality really mean?”
where:
 He identified 5 major approaches of defining quality arising from scholars in 4
disciplines: philosophy, economics, marketing, and operations management.
 He built an 8-dimensional framework to elaborate on those definitions.
 Using that framework, he addresses the empirical relationships between
quality and some important variables.
5 APPROACHES
The following mind map, explain the 5 approaches of defining quality:
8 DIMENSIONS
Dr. Garvin identified 8 dimensions as a framework for thinking about the basic elements of
product quality. Each dimension is self-contained and distinct; a product can be ranked high
on one dimension while being low on another.

Together, the 8 dimensions of quality cover a broad range of concepts. Several of the
dimensions involves measurable product attributes, others reflect individual
preferences. Some are objective and timeless, while others shift with changing
fashions. Some are inherent characteristics of goods, while others are ascribed
characteristics.
The following graph shows the 8 dimensions; they are put in order from basic/essential to
additional but not les important characteristics:
1. Performance
It refers to product’s primary operating characteristics; in other words it refers to the efficiency
with a product achieves its intended purpose. i.e.: acceleration in an automobile.
2. Features
They are the “bells and whistles” of products, the extras that supplement
thePerformancecharacteristics. i.e.: free drinks in a plane flight.
3. Reliability
It reflects the probability of a product’s failing within a specified period of time; in other
words it reflects the propensity of a product to perform consistently over its useful
designed life.
Common measures of reliability in durable goods: MTFF (mean time to first failure) and
MTBF (mean time between failures). (*)
4. Conformance
It refers to the degree to which a product’s design and operating characteristics match
preestablished standards.
It involves:
* Internal elements (within the factory): conformance is measured commonly by the
incidence of defects (proportion of all units that fail to meet specifications and so
required rework or repair).

* External elements (in the filed): conformance is measured commonly by the quantity of
repairs under warranty.
5. Durability
It refers to the measure of product life, defined in 2 dimensions:
* Technically: durability is the amount of use one gets from a product before it
physically deteriorates, and therepair is impossible (i.e. after so many hours of use,
the filament of a light bulb burns up and the bulb must be replaced).

* Economically: durability is the amount of use one gets from a product before it breaks
down, and the repair is possible.

The product’s life is determined by repair costs, personal valuations of time and
inconveniences, losses due to downtime and other economic variables. (*)
6. Serviceability
It refers to the speed, courtesy, and competence of the repair service. Objective and subjective
views play a role in defining serviceability.
7. Aesthetics
How a product looks, feels, sounds, tastes, or smells (appearance and impression): quality is
view as the combination of these attributes that best match the consumer preferences.
8. Perceived Quality
The manner and feel the consumers’ experiment using the product.
(*) Durability and Reliability are related: a product that fails frequently (low Durability), is
likely to be scrapped earlier than one that is more Reliable.

The diversity of these concepts helps to explain the differences among the 5 traditional
approaches to quality, previously explained. Each of the approaches focuses implicitly
on a different dimension of quality:
 The Product-based Approach focuses on performance, features, and durability
 The User-based Approach focuses on aesthetics and perceived quality
 The Manufacturing-based Approach focuses
on conformance and reliability: improvements in both measures are normally viewed
as translating directly into quality gains (objective measures of quality). They are less
likely to reflect individual preferences.