ACTIVITIES OF QUALITY
In the manufacturing industry, activities concerned with quality can be divided into six stages:
1. Product Planning:
planning for the function, price, life cycle, etc. of the product concerned.
2. Product Design:
designing the product to have the functions decided in product planning.
3. Process Design:
designing the manufacturing process to have the functions decided in the product design.
4. Production:
the process of actually making the product so that it is of the designed quality.
5. Sales:
activities to sell the manufactured product.
6. After-Sales Service:
customer service activities such as maintenance and product services.
It is important to note that company-wide activities are necessary to improve quality and productivity at each of the six stages mentioned above. A company needs to build an overall quality system in which all activities interact to produce products of designed quality with minimum costs.
Note that there are three different characteristics of quality in an overall quality system in the manufacturing industry:
1. Quality of Design:
Quality of product planning, product design and process design.
2. Quality of Conformance:
Quality of production.
3. Quality of Service:
Quality of sales and after-sales services.
Nowadays, these three aspects of quality are equally important in the manufacturing company. If any one of them is not up to the mark, then the overall quality system is unbalanced, and the company will face serious problems.
Although these definitions are somewhat different, some common ideas run through them. Quality involves developing specifications to meet customer needs (quality of design), manufacturing products which satisfy those specifications (quality of conformance), and then providing after-sales services.
However, Taguchi’s definition of product quality is unusual. The loss he refers to may be caused by variability of function, or by harmful side-effects. Hence, if a product costs society no loss, the product is of the best quality, and the poorer the product’s quality is, the greater the cost of the product to the society.
An example of loss caused by variability of function would be an automobile tire that does not last long. The driver would suffer a loss if he replaced the flat tire in the middle of a highway at night because the tire has an unexpectedly short life.
An example of loss caused by a harmful side-effect would be a cold medicine which causes drowsiness in the person who takes it. Then the person would suffer a loss if this drowsiness caused him to be unable to work.
NEXT POST: Taguchi’s concept of quality engineering from the standpoint of how quality can be designed, manufactured and measured.
In the manufacturing industry, activities concerned with quality can be divided into six stages:
1. Product Planning:
planning for the function, price, life cycle, etc. of the product concerned.
2. Product Design:
designing the product to have the functions decided in product planning.
3. Process Design:
designing the manufacturing process to have the functions decided in the product design.
4. Production:
the process of actually making the product so that it is of the designed quality.
5. Sales:
activities to sell the manufactured product.
6. After-Sales Service:
customer service activities such as maintenance and product services.
It is important to note that company-wide activities are necessary to improve quality and productivity at each of the six stages mentioned above. A company needs to build an overall quality system in which all activities interact to produce products of designed quality with minimum costs.
Note that there are three different characteristics of quality in an overall quality system in the manufacturing industry:
1. Quality of Design:
Quality of product planning, product design and process design.
2. Quality of Conformance:
Quality of production.
3. Quality of Service:
Quality of sales and after-sales services.
Nowadays, these three aspects of quality are equally important in the manufacturing company. If any one of them is not up to the mark, then the overall quality system is unbalanced, and the company will face serious problems.
Although these definitions are somewhat different, some common ideas run through them. Quality involves developing specifications to meet customer needs (quality of design), manufacturing products which satisfy those specifications (quality of conformance), and then providing after-sales services.
However, Taguchi’s definition of product quality is unusual. The loss he refers to may be caused by variability of function, or by harmful side-effects. Hence, if a product costs society no loss, the product is of the best quality, and the poorer the product’s quality is, the greater the cost of the product to the society.
An example of loss caused by variability of function would be an automobile tire that does not last long. The driver would suffer a loss if he replaced the flat tire in the middle of a highway at night because the tire has an unexpectedly short life.
An example of loss caused by a harmful side-effect would be a cold medicine which causes drowsiness in the person who takes it. Then the person would suffer a loss if this drowsiness caused him to be unable to work.
NEXT POST: Taguchi’s concept of quality engineering from the standpoint of how quality can be designed, manufactured and measured.
