Cost of conformance

The combined cost of conforming to regulatory requirements can result in significant expenditure for companies producing, supplying or using any substance classified as dangerous . 

Cost must be understood in the context of quahty. If quahty means conformance to requirements, then quality costs must be understood in terms of costs of conformance and costs of nonconformance, , as illustrated in Figure 19-1. In industrial terms, costs of conformance are divided into prevention costs and appraisal costs. Costs of nonconformance consist of internal and external failure costs. For a laboratory testing process, calibration is a good example of a cost incurred to prevent problems. Lhcewise, quality control is a cost for appraising performance, a repeat run is an internal failure cost for poor analytical performance, and repeat requests for tests because of poor analytical quality are an external failure cost. 

Figure 19-1 The cost of quality in terms of the costs of conformance and the costs of nonconformance to customer requirements. (From Westgard jO, Barry PL, Cost-e/fect/ve quality control Managing the quality and productivity of analytical processes. Washington DOAACC Press, 1986.)...

The first criterion is related to the desolvation energy of polar groups that is required for permeation through membrane. The second criterion probably reflects the entropic cost of conformational changes required to present an appropriate exterior to the hydrocarbon interior of the membrane. ... 

Searle MS, Williams DH. The cost of conformational order entropy changes in molecular associations. J Am Chem Soc 1992 114 10690-10697. 

In the first chapter we wiU introduce the concept of functional safety and the need to express targets hy means of safety integrity levels. Functional safety will be placed in context, along with risk assessment, likelihood of fatality, and the cost of conformance. 

The overall cost of CQA will vary greatly with the complexity of the site-specific design and the end use of the product being specified. The cost of conformance testing of geotextiles for mechanical properties is relatively inexpensive most tests cost less than 100 each. The cost of testing for water flow and AOS is typically in excess of 100 each. 

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