Approaches to quality

• what are the two main approaches to quality management?

  quality control and quality assurance
• what is quality control?


  based on inspection and take defects out
• what is quality assurance?

  based on processes, build quality in
• what is quality control?


  traditional way of managing quality

  concerned with the checking of a good or service before its delivered to a customer

  mainly about detecting defective output
• what does quality control rely on?


  inspection process
• what are the benefits of quality control?

  • quality can be monitored
  • stops faulty products reaching the customer
  • common problems can be identified
• what are probles with quality control?

  • costly
  • often at the end of production e.g. too late
  • inconsistent inspections
  • often not compatible with modern production systems
  • done by inspectors rather than workers so workers have no responsibility for quality
• what is quality assurance?


  way a product/service is produces or delivered to minimise the chances that output will be sub standard

  focus of quality assurance is on the product design/ development stage

  if production process is well controlled then quality will be built in

  if the production process is reliable there is less need to inspect production output
• what are the benefits of quality assurance?

  • motivates workers who are responsible for ensuring quality
  • enhances the reputation of the business as less chance of faulty goods reaching the end customer
  • ensures clear systems are in place
  • aims to achieve an objective of zero defects
  • spots any faults early saving resources being wasted at the next stage of the production process
• what are the problems of quality assurance?

  • may demotivate workers who feel under pressure
  • can slow down the production process and labour productivity
  • requires staff training and high levels of staff commitment
  • opportunity costs of mangers time when initially implementing the systems and procedures
• what is total quality management?

  • sees quality as the responsibility of all employees
  • each employee is a link in the chain and treats the next link as if they were an external customer
  • everyone in the workforce is concerned with quality at every stage of production process
  • will pass the product only if its correc
• what are the advantages of tqm?

  • puts customer at heart of production process
  • motivational since workers feel more involved and are making decisions
  • less wasteful than throwing out defective finished productd
  • eliminates cost of inspection
• what are the disadvantages of TQM?

  • requires strong leadership
  • substantial investment in training and support- but return on investment Is not immediate
  • may become bureaucratic
  • disruption and costs may outweigh benefits
• how can quality be improved?

  • market research
  • careful selection of suppliers
  • training workers to check others and their own quality
  • investment in new technology to minimise waste
• what are the problems of attempting to make quality improvements?

  • training workers to check quality is expensive
  • may be expensive to invest in market research
  • choosing suppliers can be costly
  • reluctance of employees to adapt to change
• what are the potential challenges of quality improvement?

  • culture may need change
  • poor quality is likely to be the result of multiple issues
  • potentially high costs: training