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Chapter 20: C. Quality Improvement 305
on some form of rational subgrouping and assumed or calculated probabilities
that errors will be detected. Since errors are assumed to be randomly distributed
within samples, there is the likelihood that errors will not be detected. While it is
beyond the scope of this section of the book to provide a mathematical basis for
determining the probability of missing errors in a sample, the point is nonetheless
important. Sampling and inspection simply do not guarantee that all errors
will be detected.
The logic of prevention versus detection should, at this point, be clear. As
quality professionals we prefer to prevent errors from happening rather than try
to detect errors that have already occurred.
The Importance of Customer Satisfaction
Quality has been defined by many individuals to include two broad components:
1. Product or process characteristics and/or performance consistent with
some form of specification
2. The perceptions of customers
These two component parts of quality, taken together, mean that customers in
a contemporary globally-based market economy ultimately judge the quality of
products and services, and their judgments are based on quantifiable (specifications)
and nonquantifiable (perceptions) components. Customers in a contemporary
global economy simply assume that all the products and services they
purchase will meet or exceed all their expectations—even some expectations
they are not yet aware they have. In the event products and/or services do not
meet customer expectations, customers are quite readily unsatisfied and react in a
very predictable manner, which includes:
1. Sharing their dissatisfaction with vendors along with requested
changes
2. Not sharing their dissatisfaction with a selected vendor and changing
to a new vendor (with and without telling others of the dissatisfaction)
3. Sharing their dissatisfaction with a selected vendor and changing to a
new vendor (with and without telling others of the dissatisfaction)
A key point relating to the importance of customer satisfaction is that dissatisfied
customers don’t buy our products and services, and they commonly tell many
other organizations and people when and why they are dissatisfied. And since a
primary component in how we define quality is based on perceptions, we simply
can not afford to have dissatisfied customers.
Part IV.C.1
The Cost of Poor Quality
The cost of quality, also known as the cost of poor quality, addresses costs associated
with specific activities and events intended to ensure the quality of products
and services. Gryna (2001) identifies four categories of quality costs to be:
1. Prevention. Costs associated with preventing errors (for example, training)