3.3b Measuring Quality

How does a business measure quality?

Before a business can measure quality, they need to decide is actually meant by "quality". Quality can include…

How well a product does its job
Durability — how long does it last until it breaks?
Consistency — is every product identical?
Meeting / exceeding certain standards
Aesthetics — how does it look and feel?

Other ways a business may measure quality:

Specifying the properties of a product, and then testing that the product meets those standards throughout production.

A product may be measured, weighed, or have some other characteristic measured. For example, a chocolate manufacturer may weigh each bar of chocolate to ensure enough product has been manufactured and packaged.

Monitoring customer complaints and feedback. It could be feedback made directly to the business, such as customer complaints, or reviews left on websites such as TripAdvisor or Amazon. The business may also ask customers to complete questionnaires and surveys.

Some complaints will be inevitable, but the business should set a level it is comfortable with.

Mystery shoppers — a person employed by the business will pose as a customer and purchase a product or service. The other staff will not know the "customer" is actually another employee. After the transaction, the mystery shopper will report their experience back to the business. Mystery shoppers are often used in retail and hospitality sectors.

Checking quality

Now that the business knows what is meant by quality, it needs to ensure its products meet the required standard before they are sold to the customer. It is easier and cheaper to catch quality problems before the customer complains!

There are three main stages of production where quality should be checked.

Click on the blue arrow to see each one.

1. Delivery of new supplies

When new raw materials are delivered, they should be checked to ensure they are of expected quality or they will create production problems.
2. During production

Turning raw materials into a product can involve many different processes and steps. Quality should be checked at each stage.
3. On the finished product

When the product is finished, it should be checked to ensure it is well-made and meets required standards before it is shipped to customers.

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Total Quality Management (TQM)

Every employee is responsible for quality
Aims to ensure each part of every process is of the highest quality to ensure the final product or service is also of the highest quality
Each part of production is treated as an "internal customer" who expects quality and will reject substandard work

Advantages

Aims to prevent mistakes rather than fixing them, reducing waste
Covers the entire production process
Increased customer satisfaction through better customer service

Disadvantages

Takes time to introduce
Requires staff training
Staff may be unwilling to self-monitor their work, or to reject the work of colleagues

TMQ vs Kaizen

You may be asked about TQM and Kaizen. They are similar in that all staff take responsibilty for the outcome of the product or service. However, TQM is about monitoring quality; Kaizen encourages staff to suggest ways to improve quality.

Failure to maintain quality

When a business fails to maintain the quality of its products and services, it can result in:

Poor reputation — loss of future sales because customers would rather buy from other businesses
Refunds or replacements — additional products will have to be manufactured to replace them. Returned products will have to be collected from retailers and disposed of
Product recalls — customers will be asked to return products. This is costly and very damaging to a businesses reputation
Disruption to services — failing to supply clients because of problems in manufacturing or distribution can lead to lost sales or refunds on un-fulfilled orders
Compensation – customers may claim for the knock-on effects of product failure. There may also be legal consequences for a product which causes injuy