Cost of quality

Is there a system m place to determine the cost of quality loss ... 

Up to 90% of the total quality cost is due to failure, both internal and external, with around 50% being the average (Crosby, 1969 Russell and Taylor, 1995 Smith, 1993). A survey of UK manufacturing companies in 1994 found that failure under the various categories was responsible for 40% of the total cost of quality, followed by appraisal at 25%, and then prevention costs at 18%. This is shown in Figure 1.6. Of the companies surveyed, 17% were unsure where their quality costs originated, but indicated that these costs could be attributable to failure, either internally or externally. 

The experiences of industrial collaborators and surveys of UK businesses suggest that failure costs are the main obstacle to reducing the costs of quality. There is, therefore, a need for design methods and guidelines to give businesses the foresight... 

Crosby, P. B. 1969 Cutting the Cost of Quality. Boston, MA Industrial Education Institute. 

Plunkett, J. J. and Dale, B. G. 1988 Quality Costs a critique of some economic cost of quality models. International Journal Production Research, 26(11), 1713-1726. 

Chapter 1 of this book starts with a detailed statement of the problem, as outlined above, focusing on the opportunities that exist in product design in order to reduce failure costs. This is followed by a review of the costs of quality in manufacturing... 

The result will be minimum work-in-process (WIP) through the elimination of queue time and a significant reduction in the cost of quality when compared to the more conventional approaches to manufacturing used in recent years. However, the new approaches to manufacturing demand three things from the raw materi-... 

A manufacturing company approached the cost of quality control in a realistic manner. Before a quotation was made for a new product, the control chemist submitted an estimate of the time required for running the necessary tests. An hourly charge was established for laboratory operation, and the cost of quality control could thus be established. The sales department did not like the arrangement because the cost was very much the same whether they sold 200 or 2000 gallons of a product. 

In this chapter we present the management principles of Total Quality Management and the quality improvement methods, as set ont in the standards BS 7850 part 1 and part 2 respectively. Furthermore, we introduce the cost of quality and give an outline of the economics of quahty, as set out in the BS 6143, Guide to the economics of quality. 

Cost of quality is the total cost of ensuring quality in products and services (including analytical activities). 

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