this: Quality (disambiguation)
In the vernacular, quality can mean a high degree of excellence (“a quality product”), a degree of excellence or the lack of it (“work of average quality”), or a property of something (“the addictive quality of alcohol”). Distinct from the vernacular, the subject of this article is the business interpretation of quality.
Welcome to CWAnswers
CWAnswers is your guide to the sprawling world wide web. The directory aims to provide a useful guide made by users. You can share your knowledge as well - simply sign up and edit your first entry. For questions just contact the team at support - at - cwanswers.com.
Weblinks for Quality
Top 10 for Quality
Things about Quality you find nowhere else.
Select content modules
The Quality Blog
Where Quality professionals come to discuss quality issues ... "ABOUT THIS BLOG" This Blog is about the world of quality engineering and all its wonder. ...thequalityblog.org/Quality Icons Blog
Quality Icons Blog. Thursday, November 6, 2008. Yoritsuki icons by Hybridworks ... I resume posting about high quality icons in my blog. ...qualityicons.blogspot.com/Karns Quality Blog
Karns Quality Blog. The observations of Josh Karns, Harrisburg resident ... Changes Here at Karns Quality Blog. My take on the Harrisburg parking deal, Part 1 ...www.karnsquality.com/Dubious Quality
Bill Harris blogs video game industry news, reviews, and thoughts about being a gamer and a dad.dubiousquality.blogspot.com/The Quality Stocks Stock Newsletter For Smallcap Companies Blog
... calling rates without sacrificing quality" stated Andy Berman, Chief Executive ... QualityStocks Small Cap Blogs and Message Boards ...blog.qualitystocks.net/this: Quality (disambiguation)
In the vernacular, quality can mean a high degree of excellence (“a quality product”), a degree of excellence or the lack of it (“work of average quality”), or a property of something (“the addictive quality of alcohol”). Distinct from the vernacular, the subject of this article is the business interpretation of quality.
Variations of a business definition
Business has tried to define quality in a producer-consumer context, with the following variations:
- ISO 9000: "Degree to which a set of inherent characteristic fulfills requirements." The standard defines requirement as need or expectation.
- Six Sigma: "Number of defects per million opportunities." The metric is tied in with a methodology and a management system.
- Philip B. Crosby: "Conformance to requirements." The difficulty with this is that the requirements may not fully represent customer expectations; Crosby treats this as a separate problem.
- Joseph M. Juran: "Fitness for use." Fitness is defined by the customer.
- Noriaki Kano and others, presenting a two-dimensional model of quality: "must-be quality" and "attractive quality." The former is near to the "fitness for use" and the latter is what the customer would love, but has not yet thought about. Supporters characterize this model more succinctly as: "Products and services that meet or exceed customers' expectations."
- Robert Pirsig: "The result of care."
- Genichi Taguchi, with two definitions:
- a. "Uniformity around a target value." The idea is to lower the standard deviation in outcomes, and to keep the range of outcomes to a certain number of standard deviations, with rare exceptions.
- b. "The loss a product imposes on society after it is shipped." This definition of quality is based on a more comprehensive view of the production system.
- a. the characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs;
- b. a product or service free of deficiencies."
- statistical process control (SPC)
- Zero Defects
- Six Sigma
- Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award
- quality circles
- requirements analysis
- total quality management (TQM)
- theory of constraints (TOC)
- quality management systems
- business process management (BPM)
- capability maturity models
- verification and validation
The common element of the business definitions is that the quality of a product or service refers to the perception of the degree to which the product or service meets the customer's expectations. Quality has no specific meaning unless related to a specific function and/or object. Quality is a perceptual, conditional and somewhat subjective attribute.
Improvement of quality
Many techniques and concepts, often overlapping, have evolved to improve product or service quality, including:
























