Quality Control Analysis Essay Example

business selling that product and that of the manufacturers. Any business set up has a set of objectives which will have to be achieved through seriously working on these objectives. One of the objectives is to offer and sell products and services of high quality standards, hence they should work towards achieving this. In general it can be summarized as fitness for use, customer satisfaction, conformance to the requirements, degree of excellence and exceeding customers’ expectations. Importance of quality in modern business scenarios Successful management of quality requires that managers have insights on various aspects of quality.These include defining quality in operational terms, understanding the costs and benefits of quality, recognizing the consequences of poor quality, and recognizing the need for ethical behavior.

It is true that all members of an organization have some responsibility for the quality, but certain parts of the organization are key areas of responsibility. The top management has the ultimate responsibility for quality. While establishing strategies, for quality, top management must institute programs to improve quality; guide, direct, and motivate managers and workers; and set an example by being involved in quality initiatives.Examples include taking training in quality, issuing periodic reports on quality, and attending meetings on quality. Design: quality products and services begin with design. This includes not only features of the product or services; it also includes attention to the processes that will be required to produce the products and/or the services that will be required to deliver the service to customers.

Procurement: the procurement department has the responsibility for obtaining goods and services that will not detract from the quality of the organization’s goods and services.

Production /operation.

Production /operation have

responsibility to ensure that processes yield products and services that conform to design specifications. Monitoring processes and finding and correcting root causes of problems are important aspects of this responsibility.

Quality assurance.

Quality assurance is responsible for gathering and analyzing data on problems and working with operations to solve problems. Packaging and shipping: this department must ensure that goods are not damaged in transit that packages are clearly labeled, and that instructions are included, that all parts are included, and shipping occurs in a timely manner.Marketing and sales; this department has the responsibility to determine customers needs and to communicate to the appropriate area of the organization. In addition, it has the responsibility to report any problem to the product or services.

Customer service: customer services are often the first department to learn of problems. It has the responsibility to communicate that information to the appropriate department, deals I reasonable manner with customers, work to resolve problems, and follow us to confirm that the situation has been effectively remedied.Then importance of quality includes reduces costs associated with customer complaints – if the quality of products or service is of high quality and standards, the consumers will not complain but continue to buy the product, likewise if the product and service are of low quality, the consumers will continue to complain, and even return the product for replacement or refund. Another importance reduces the costs that are associated with more research. When consumers keep on complaining negatively about a particular product, they will stop buying it, likewise to the wholesalers and retailers.The manufacturers will be forced to carry out some research to find out what might be the problem.

But if the product is okay and the consumers are not complaining, there will be no need to carry more research as the product is already accepted in the market.

Maintains customers

Once the customers realize that the product and service are of high quality, they will stick to it, and will automatically stick to the seller where they bought that product from. The business will maintain those customers for a long time unless there is a change in the product or service which may make the consumers run away.Ensures uniformity in the production process. As the product is already accepted and embraced in the market without any complaint, the production process of that product will not change. But if the production process will change due to technological advances, they should be towards maintaining the same quality standards so as to maintain the buyers.

The costs and benefits of maintaining the quality standards

These will include;

Improved profitability and competitiveness

Once the quality of the products and services are of high quality, there will be high demand for them.The firms offering these products and services will make good profits from the sales. This will also create room for competition among the competitors of the same product or service in the market.

The company reputation is maintained – when customers know that a particular company makes good products and maintains the quality standards, they continue buying their products at all times.

This will boost the name of the company in the market. The company will have to try and maintain this reputation by continuing to offer and sell products and services of high-quality standards.Discourages counterfeiting of products and services – since the consumers have

identified that a particular product or service is of good quality and gives him/ her the satisfaction needed, they will not go for the counterfeits, hence discouraging those who want to dump them in the market because there will be no market and demand for them.

The product stays longer in the market because the consumers like it, because its taste and flavour has not been tampered with for a long time.Customers will keep on asking for it and its demand will continue to be high even when the prices are increased. Tensions firms face in meeting the quality standards Firms face a lot of tensions and challenges in meeting the quality standards.

Those who try to evade in meeting the quality standards have met stiff penalties which have affected their businesses. The following are some of the tensions firms face.

New technology

Once a new technology has been introduced, it comes with its benefits and challenges. Staff has to be trained, new machines have to be installed and money has to be used to carry out all these activities. This kind of undertaking is what most firms wish not to undertake.

Counterfeits

When there are many counterfeits in the market, their quality becomes a big question. These products are sold cheaply because they are not long lasting or their production cost is cheap. This will force the firms that follow the right procedures in product production to go to court to protest on these counterfeits.This adds up to expenditure on creating awareness to the public on the bad effects of the counterfeits and at the same market their product more by making comparisons between the two.

Costs of maintaining quality

Maintaining quality

of a product can also be very expensive. The consumers can complain about a particular product, and this will force the manufactures to change the whole production process or even the ingredients but still maintain the quality which the consumers want.

Competition

Competition amongst the firms in the business world is very healthy.This competition will lead to other firms for the high quality standards than other competing firms. This will make these many firms to compete for the same. However, this can be a big threat to many firms, which will force others to close down their businesses.

Government regulations

the government can set up rules and regulations which are not friendly or not acceptable to the business community. Those forms which do not follow these set of regulations will face full force of the government law. This can be a big threat to the businesses, for those who will not comply.Some firms may bribe the government officials on this issues thus inflicting harm to the other firms which are complying to the rules and regulations of the government. The key components of quality control systems and measurements Dimensions of quality that form key elements/components of quality control include; performance, aesthetics, special features, conformance, reliability, durability, perceived quality and serviceability.

Performance can be described as the main characteristics of the product or services.While aesthetics is appearance, feel, smell, taste of the product. Aesthetics can include extra features. Another dimension with great importance is Conformance which is defined as ‘ how well a product or service corresponds to design specifications’. The product must be reliable that is consistent of performance. These are the basic components which must be considered and this

includes; Customer focus/orientation

Whatever is being made or processed must be focused to the customers.

These are the final consumers of the product. The firms should take time, money and ma power to carry out orientation to the customers on the product, with much emphasis on its quality.

Continuous improvement – it means the relentless pursuit for gradual improvement in quality by getting the maximum of the existing resources. There should be a continuous improvement on the product and the service. Since there is competition of the same product and service in the market, change is inevitable but the quality must always remain as it were.

Change can be in terms of packaging and pricing.

Commitment and policy

The firms must demonstrate that they are serious on maintaining quality and must explain the same to their workers and ensure that all their commitment is communicated. The management should accept the responsibility for and commitment to a quality policy in which they must believe. This commitment creates responsibility for a chain of quality interactions among the marketing design, production, operations, purchasing, distribution, and service.This is the reason why the top management should recognize their responsibility for the intention and operation of total quality control.

Quality policy

A policy is a guide that assures consistency under a particular set of circumstances.

It is expressed as a statement of long-term purpose to guide the thinking of all employees and to help them understand, accept that maintaining quality can be an assurance of their jobs. The contents of a policy on quality should be made known to all. It should identify the customer needs and to educate and retrain for quality improvement.The process of making the quality policy

is the responsibility of the top management of any firm.

Employee training

Employees should be trained on the need to maintain good quality control systems and measurements.

Firms should make sure that their employees understand what it means to produce a product or service of high quality standards. This is meant to maintain the customers and sustain the business.

Fact based decision making

Decisions made on certain product or service should be based on facts rather than opinions.Direct discussion with the customer / consumer will result to getting the right and required information. This information should then be analyzed and interpreted using statistically approved methods.

Efficiency

Efficiency means pushing to improve, which is referred to as continuous improvement; the second is the involvement of everyone in the organization; and the third is a goal of customer satisfaction, which means looking only at the quality of final product services – to looking at the quality of every aspect of the process that produces the product or services.

Innovation

The technology required to be used must be evaluated so that the venture objectives are attained. This includes not only features of the product or services; it also includes attention to the processes that will be required to produce the products and/or the services that will be required to deliver the service to customers. One way to think about quality is the degrees to which performance of a product or service meets or exceeds customer expectations. The difference between these two, that is performance

Expectations, is of great interest having been met.If these two measures are equal, the difference is zero and the expectations have been met.

If the difference is negative, expectations have not been met. , whereas

if the difference is positive, performance has exceeded customer expectations Specific roles within a business surrounding quality assurance Firms have responsibility of ensuring that there is quality assurance always. They will have to do this by ensuring the following; Maintaining and adhering to quality standards- They must make sure that they follow all the rules and regulations set up.This will ensure that all products and services are of high quality standards. Reporting of counterfeits – Once the counterfeits have been seen in the market, they must be reported immediately to the authorities so that those sub standard products can be withdrawn from the market immediately.

Those caught with the counterfeit goods should face the law and the products should be burnt or be returned to the country of origin. The firms should be very cautious on this issue and must take action without any fear or favors.Use or sell products of right quality standards.

The firms should always make sure that the products they are offering and selling to the consumers are of high standards. Whoever who sells counterfeit products will be breaking the law, offering poor services and affecting the lives of the consumers if the product is edible. They have to remember that when consumers discover that they are buying counterfeit products from them, they will immediately stop going there and look for an alternative place.

Identifying the tastes and preferences – the firms have to identify the tastes and preferences of the consumers. This will enable them to know which kind of product to make at the same time adhering to the quality standards. Advertising the products and services – The firms have the responsibility

of advertising their products and services to the customers convincingly, with more emphasis on its quality. They should not mislead the consumers as this will come to affect the business negatively at later times.