ENGM 520 Quality & Performance Management
Dr. Mohammad Kanan
Hashem Omar Taher
UAM517
What Does “Product Quality” Really Mean?
Quality is a very important aspect of any product or service. Quality can be defined as “fitness for use”. Many customers just buy products because they have high quality. High quality truly means high customer satisfaction. Quality can be defined using many aspects. First, is the transcendent approach. According to this approach, Quality is “innate excellence”. In addition to that, it is very different from poor quality. Second, is the product-based approach. According to this method, quality is a very precise and a measurable variable. Moreover, it also states that different degrees/levels of quality are equal to different levels of ingredients included in a product. It also states that quality is the non-priced amounts of attributes and traits that are possessed by a priced product. Third method is the user-based definition. This method states that quality exists in the eye of the beholder/user. According to this approach, customers have different wants & needs. As a result of that, products & services that satisfy these wants & needs the most have the highest levels of quality. Also, accordingly, quality is the ability to satisfy the wants of the consumers. The fourth definition method is manufacturing-based definition. This approach is very objective unlike subjective previous methods. It is primarily concerned with the supply side of the equation. It deals with the manufacturing & engineering aspects of the product. Accordingly, quality is “conformance to requirements”. As a result, quality is the degree to which a product conforms & complies with the requirements & specifications. Last but not least method, is the value-based approach. This approach deals with the costs & prices of products. So, quality products offer high performance compared to its price/cost. Basically, quality is the degree of excellence at an acceptable price & cost. Many people would wonder why we have all these quality definition approaches. One of the reasons is to explain the different views of quality held by marketing & manufacturing departments. Marketing people usually adopt user-based or product-based approaches. On the other hand, manufacturing persons like to follow that quality means conformance to specifications “manufacturing-based approach”. Sometimes people with these two different views have conflicts. Many reasons have resulted in the need for many definitions & dimensions of quality. These have led to the emergence of eight different dimensions of quality. These dimensions are: Performance, features, reliability, conformance, durability, serviceability, aesthetics & perceived quality. First, let’s start with performance. It refers to the primary operating traits of a product. For example, in cases of cars, those would be acceleration & cruising speed. This dimension combines both elements of the user-based approach & products-based one. The second one is features. These features are mainly secondary like “bells & whistles” of products. An example of this dimension is free juice on plane flights. Mainly the difference between performance “primary product characteristics” & features “secondary product traits” is difficult to pinpoint. The third dimension is reliability. It defines quality as the possibility of the product to fail in delivering its main functions within a specific period of time. The fourth dimension is conformance. It defines quality as the degree to which product internal traits meet the predefined standards. This approach is very objective. The fifth one is durability. This one measures the product life span. It has both technical & economical aspects. The technical one defines quality as the amount of use a consumer can get from a product before it starts to deteriorate/deform. Economically, there is no value for the product when it deteriorates/deforms. The sixth dimension is serviceability. It means the speed, power & competence of repairing a defective product. So basically, if a product needs little amount of time to be repaired, it is a high quality one. The seventh one is aesthetics. This method is very subjective & user based. It deals with how the product looks like & feels. It is very subjective & personal. The last dimension but not the least is perceived quality. It is also very subjective & personal. Mainly, it is how customers evaluate quality based on their personal subjective judgement. These eight dimensions cover a very broad & wide range of quality aspects. It is very important to consider these eight dimensions when trying to achieve high quality services & products. Moreover, it is important when competing in regard to high quality products. Let’s talk about correlates of quality. First, quality & price. These two concepts are very directly proportional. This means that when quality is high, price is high as well. Second, quality & advertising. Again, these two terms are directly proportional. When quality increases, advertising also increases. Third, quality & market share. This relationship depends on how quality is defined. If quality means high features & superior performance, this will lead to high prices leading to low market shares. If quality means fitness for use, improved conformance & beautiful aesthetics, this will lead to high market share. Fourth, quality & cost. There are different methods & approaches in evaluating this relationship. First is the American approach that high quality means high cost of product. The second one takes into consideration the cost of poor quality which means that quality is inversely proportional to total cost. Last but not least is quality & profitability. Mainly, high quality leads to high profitability. High quality also leads to higher rates of return. One of the directions for future use states that there is a need for further research dealing with the quality definitions, dimensions & aspects. To sum up, quality has many definition approaches. Five of which are: transcendent approach, product-based approach, user-based definition, manufacturing-based definition, and value-based approach. Quality has eight defined dimensions which are: Performance, features, reliability, conformance, durability, serviceability, aesthetics & perceived quality. In addition, quality is correlated with many terms such as cost, profitability, advertising & market share. Quality is a necessity in our modern times. Many manufacturers need to consider it very seriously. It is not something extra/non-necessary so that manufacturers disregard it. In my own point of view, quality is a necessity that should be very seriously considered by manufacturers, service providers, business owners, and regular employees as well. I hope that the world becomes a better place by implementing high quality principles.
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