|
WHAT DO WE MEAN BY QUALITY?
Just think the above question and write your views about quality
on a piece of paper and thereafter read the following matter.
THE NOUN "QUALITY"
The noun 'quality' has following five meanings:
An essential and distinguishing attribute of something or some-one.
A degree or grade of excellence or worth. (Synonyms: Caliber,
Calibre].
A characteristic property that defines the apparent individual nature of something. [Synonyms: Character, Lineament].
The distinctive property of a complex sound (a voice or noise or musical sound). [Synonyms: Timbre, Timber,
Tone].
High social status.
THE ADJECTIVE "QUALITY"
The adjective quality has following two meanings:
Of superior grade. [Synonyms: Choice, Prime, Prize, Select]
Of high social status.
BENEFITS OF ISO 9001:2000 QMS
Systems improvement
Customer orientation
Marketing advantage
Recognition
Confidence creation
Consistency in quality
Productivity improvement
Financial performance improvement
Reduction in rejects
Clarity in job specification
Traceability
Human resource development
Continual monitoring
Export potential improvement
Innovation and improvement
|
OTHER THOUGHTS ON QUALITY
Defining quality has always been a difficult task. Juran offers two
definitions of quality in his must-have reference, Juran's Quality Handbook:
Quality means those features of products, which meet customer needs and thereby provide customer satisfaction.
Quality means freedom from deficiencies - freedom from errors that require doing work over again (rework) or that result
in field failures, customer claim and so on.
QUALITY IS A FLUID CONCEPT
Quality is a fluid concept, difficult to define and hard to manage
largely because it is so subjective. Many authors have defined
quality differently. Let us see following definitions of 'quality'. 'Quality'
means:
Fitness for use. (Joseph M. Juran, 1988). [Note: The customer defines the fitness.]
Compliance with specified requirements. (Crosby)
Conformance to requirements. (Crosby, 1979)
Conformance to specifications. (Crosby, 1980s) [Note: The
difficulty with this definition of quality is that the specifications
may not be what the customer wants. Crosby treats this as a
separate problem.]
Degree of excellence.
Meeting requirements. (Oakland)
Customer satisfaction. (Juran, 1993)
Delighting customers.
Freedom from defects, imperfection or contamination.
The total composite product and service characteristics of marketing, engineering, manufacture and maintenance through
which the product or service in use will meet the expectations by customers. (Feigenbaum, 1983, 1991)
Value to some person. (Gerald M. Weinberg)
Quality is pride of workmanship. (W. Edwards Doming)
|
