Introduction to Quality and Competing of Quality

What is Quality?
Fitness for Use Conformance to Specifications Total Customer Satisfaction Exceeding Customer Expectations Producing the Very Best Products Excellence in Products and Services

Quality improvement starts with reducing Product VARIABILITY and waste.

Quality - Whats the Big Deal?

The Endless Battle: Quantity vs. Quality Quantity goes directly to the bottom line: more product out ==> more $$$ But what are the costs associated with Poor Quality?

Direct Cost

Indirect Cost

Quality - Whats the Big Deal?

Direct Costs of Poor Quality:
Lost Revenue: scrap, rework, repair Lost Productivity: materials, machines, and personnel Inspection Costs: inspectors, testing machines External Costs: warranty claims, price adjustments, late charges

Indirect Costs of Poor Quality - Upset Customers:

It is harder to attract a new customer than to retain a current one Dissatisfied customers tell 8-20 people about their dissatisfaction. Satisfied customers only tell 3-5 people.

Cost of uality
Element Decision Flow
Is Cost related to Prevention of Non- YES Conformance? NO Is Cost related to Evaluating the Conformance ? NO YES PREVENTION avoiding defects by planning, preparation, training, preventative maintenance etc. APPRAISAL

finding defects by inspection, audit calibration, test and measurement

INTERNAL FAILURE scrap, rework, Is Non-Conformance Is Cost related to redesign, found prior to YES YES Non-conformance? modifications, Shipment ? corrective NO NO action, down Not a Quality Cost time, EXTERNAL FAILURE concessions equipment failure, warranty, administrative cost and overtime. in dealing with failure and the loss of goodwill.

Quality Costs

Detection Example
Count the number of fs in this paragraph:
The study of SPC can be both fun and rewarding for everyone. When you find out that the fundamental ideas of statistics are fairly easy to learn, you will discover that your efforts result in a great deal of satisfaction. If you treat a production problem as a puzzle, the application of SPC provides clues for its solution, and when the puzzle is finally solved, the feeling of satisfaction is very fulfilling. Puzzles can be frustrating, but their final solution is fun.

Prevention vs. Detection

Detection Model:
$$$ lost to:

making defective parts finding defective parts repairing or scrapping defective parts warranties cancelled orders

if/when detection fails, additional $$$ lost to:

Prevention Model:
minimal increased cost due to adding prevention measures in the process utilizes SPC to reduce product variability at the source no waste!

1:10:100: Rule

Competing on Quality (D.Gravin) -Strategic Quality Management-

Strategic Quality Managements Aspect of Quality

High Quality means pleasing customers, not just protecting them from annoyance Product designers should shift their attention from prices at the time of purchase to life cycle costs that include expenditures on service and maintenance the customers total costs.

8 Dimensions/Categories of Quality
Dimensions of Quality that can serve as a framework for strategic analysis:

1. Performance

1. Performance
Performance refers to a products primary operating characteristics. Ex: Automobile: acceleration, comfort
Television: picture clarity, color, sound

Because this dimension of quality involves measurable attributes, brands can usually be ranked objectively on individual aspects of performance Overall ranking are difficult to develop as they involve benefits that not every customers need. The superior performer depends entirely on the task being performed.

8 Dimensions/Categories of Quality
Dimensions of Quality that can serve as a framework for strategic analysis:
2. Features 1. Performance

2. Features
Features: characteristics that supplement the product/service basic functioning. Ex: Free drink on plane, automatic tuner on color TV Features also involve objective and measurable attributes objective individual needs affects their translation into quality difference.

8 Dimensions/Categories of Quality
Dimensions of Quality that can serve as a framework for strategic analysis:
2. Features 1. Performance 3. Reliability

3. Reliability
The probability that a product, piece of equipment or system performs its intended function without failure, under stated operating conditions over a specified period of time

WHAT RELIABILITY OF 0.95 imply ????

RELIABILITY: Reliability cannot be tested into a product It must be designed and manufactured into it Testing only indicates how much reliability is in the product

3. Reliability
Most common measures of reliability:
Mean Time to First Failure / Mean Time to Failure (MTTF) Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) Mean Time to Repair (MTTR) Repairable Item Availability= MTBF/(MTBF+MTTR) Failure Rate per Unit Time

Reliability become more important to customers for whom downtime and maintenance become more expensive.

Failure Rate Example

20 air conditioning units designed for use in ISRO space shuttles operated for 1,000 hours One failed after 200 hours and one after 600 hours

2 FR(%) = (100%) = 10% 20 2 FR(N) = = .000106 failure/unit hr (18x1000)+200+600

Cumulative Failure Curve Over Time

Bathtub Curve/ Failure rate curve/ Product Life Characteristic Curve

Knowing Product life cycle characteristics curve for a product helps engineers: Predict behavior and make decisions Helpful in developing warranties compare manufacturers product with competitors

Infant mortality
Weak components due to from poor manuf. or quality control procedure

Few (random) failures

uncontrollable factors like unexpected stress due to complex interaction

Failures due to wear-out

Reliability Engineering Measures Lead to:

Techniques for reducing failure rates: Individual component analysis: computed the failure probability of key components and aimed to eliminate or strengthen the weakest link Derating: required that parts be used below their specified stress levels. Redundancy: called for parallel systems to back up an important component or subsystem in case it failed. Failure mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA): Is a systematic method of identifying and preventing product and process problems before they occur.

Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA)

8 Dimensions/Categories of Quality
Dimensions of Quality that can serve as a framework for strategic analysis:
2. Features 1. Performance 3. Reliability 4. Conformance

4. Conformance
Conformance is the degree to which products design and operating characteristics meet established standards. Drawback: Dispersion within specification limits are ignored leading to tolerance stack up. Alternative: Taguchi Approach Some common measures of failure in conformance:
Defects rate in factory Incidences of service calls Accuracy and timeliness Counts of processing errors Unanticipated Delays

Manufacturing

Service

8 Dimensions/Categories of Quality
Dimensions of Quality that can serve as a framework for strategic analysis:
2. Features 1. Performance 3. Reliability 4. Conformance 5. Durability

5. Durability
Two views:
Durability can be defined as the amount of use one gets from the product before it deteriorates. No chance of repair. Ex. Bulb Durability may be defined as the amount of use one gets from a product before it breaks down and replacement is preferred to continued repair. Durability and reliability are closely linked

8 Dimensions/Categories of Quality
Dimensions of Quality that can serve as a framework for strategic analysis:
2. Features 1. Performance 3. Reliability 4. Conformance 5. Durability

6. Serviceability

6. Serviceability
Serviceability is :
the speed, courtesy, Technical competence (represented by frequency with which the service calls or repair fail to correct outstanding problems) , Responsiveness (time before which the service is restored Mean Time To Repair MTTR) and ease of repair.

8 Dimensions/Categories of Quality
Dimensions of Quality that can serve as a framework for strategic analysis:
2. Features 1. Performance 3. Reliability 4. Conformance 5. Durability

7. Aesthetics

6. Serviceability

7. Aesthetics
Aesthetics is all about how a product:
looks, feels, sounds, tastes or smells

It is clearly a matter of personal judgment and a reflection of individual preference.

8 Dimensions/Categories of Quality
Dimensions of Quality that can serve as a framework for strategic analysis:
2. Features 1. Performance 8. Perceived Quality 7. Aesthetics 3. Reliability 4. Conformance 5. Durability

6. Serviceability

8. Perceived Quality
Reputation is a primary stuff of perceived quality.

Competing on Quality
A company should use the above 8 dimensional framework to explore the opportunities it has so as to distinguish its products from competitors. The company need not follow all the dimensions simultaneously. Sometimes trade-off among dimensions has to be done.

Strategic Errors
Introduce dimensions of quality that are unimportant to customers. Quality measures may be inadequate.
Some measures are too limited, they fail to capture the aspects of quality that are important for competitive success.

Quality is not simply a problem to be solved ; it is a competitive opportunity.