Re: Cost of Quality

[DANSWART@aol.com]

In a message dated 09/04/2000 10:52:56 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
roger.key@onet.co.uk writes:

<< What is quality?  Who knows.  I don't.  >>

*****
In a message dated 09/02/2000 10:20:52 PM Pacific Daylight Time 
mtribus@home.com (Myron Tribus) writes:

<<  In general FEATURES cost money and customers then decide if they wish to 
pay for them. Improving the quality of 
the process which produces the product does not cost, it pays.

Years ago (1953 to be precise) I owned both a Cadillac and a Volkswagen 
"bug".  The Volkswagen did not even have a gas gauge or even a heater. But it 
ran all the time.  No features, high quality. >>

*****
May I suggest that we always get into trouble when using an extremely 
generalized term such as "quality" when discussing specific goods or services 
such as VW bugs, Cadillacs and so forth.  This very problem, I believe, is 
what leads Deming and others to insist on operational definitions.  If Myron 
states that his operational definition of quality is "mechanical reliability 
as evidenced by frequency of repair" then we can look at the data and agree 
or disagree with his assessment of one car having more quality than another.  
If Myron states his operational definition of quality as "adequate leg room 
for a person 6 ft 4 inches or taller, interior temperature control between 
70-75  degrees F, and conveying an image of prestige to the American public" 
we may reach a completely different conclusion as to which car has quality.  
Neither is wrong.

When rereading Shewhart, in connection with a concurrent thread, I noticed 
that he uses the term "some quality characteristic X," not the word quality.  
Wouldn't our discussions bear much more fruit if the poster always began with 
a description of the quality characteristic they are speaking of?  We can 
then avoid the debate as to whether the named thing is contained in the 
universal class of things known to be "Quality."  I think we could maintain a 
meaningful dialogue on the DEN very well without ever using the term 
"Quality" by itself again.  Perhaps each DENizen could install an automatic 
editing device that does a search and replace operation on each post that 
removes the isolated word "Quality" and replaces it with the words, "Quality 
(defined operationally in this post as XYZ)."  Perhaps the single word 
"quality" should go the way of TQM (as Dr. Deming said, "What does it mean?").

DENizens, of all people, should be aware of this problem in discussing words.


I do think it would be useful to discuss how, economically, management should 
go about the decision to incur additional costs to add features, upgrade raw 
materials, etc.

What think ye?

Dan
Dan Swart, CPA, APC
2720-21st Street
Sacramento, CA  95818-3129

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