Problem statement: What is the relation between quality and satisfaction?
Learning goals:
Find a definition of quality
Source: Slack, Operations Management, seventh edition, p.46
Quality is consistent conformance to customer’s expectation, in other words ‘ doing things right’, but
the thing which the operation needs to do right will vary according to the kind of operation. All
operations regard quality as a particularly important objective. Furthermore it is something that a
customer finds relatively easy to judge about the operation.
What is the definition of quality management and what does it entail?
Source: Slack, Operations Management, seventh edition, p.550
TQM
For an organization to be truly effective, every single part of it, each department, each activity, each
person and each level, must work properly together, because every person and every activity affects
and in turn is affected by others.
One of the most powerful concepts that has emerged from various improvement approaches is the
concept of the internal customer/supplier. This is recognition that everyone is a customer within the
organization and consumes goods or services provided by other internal suppliers, and everyone is
also an internal supplier of goods and services for other internal customers. The implication of this is
that errors in the service provided within an organization will eventually affect the service or
products which reaches the external customer.
Gave two examples of quality processes and tools?
Source: Slack, Operations Management, seventh edition, p.542-546
The operation will need to check if the products and/or services conform to their standards; doing
things right, first time, every time. This involves three decisions:
1. Where in the operation should they check that it is conforming to standards?
At the start of the process incoming resources may be inspected to make sure that they are
of the right specification.
Ex. A university will screen applicants to try to ensure that they have a high chance of getting
through the program.
During the process checks may take place before a particularly costly process, prior to a
‘difficult to check’ process, before potential damage or distress might be caused, and so on.
Checks may also take place after the process itself to ensure that auto res do not experience
non-conformance.
2. Should they check every service or product or take a sample?
While it might seem ideal to check every single service or product, a sample may be more
practical for a number of reasons:
- It might be too dangerous to inspect everything
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