4.3 Achieving quality production

Cambridge IGCSE Business Studies 4.3 – Achieving quality production

4.3.1 – Why quality is important and how quality production might be achieved

Quality – to produce a good or service which meets customers expectations.

Why Is Quality important for a business?

  • Gives competitive advantage
  • Encourages return purchases
  • Provides customers with information and builds consumer confidence in the brand
  • Reduces costs incurred in solving past sales problem (Customer refunds etc..)
  • Helps improve efficiency

 

Quality control – Checking product quality at the end of the production process. If defected products are found, the entire batch will be thrown away/repaired

Advantages of QC 

  • Faults are found before product is sold to customers
  • Less training for the worker is required (compared to quality assurance)

Disadvantages of QC

  • Hiring employee to check product costs money
  • QC does not explain how fault occurred and can happen again.
  • Fixing defected products cost money

 

Quality Assurance – Checking quality standards of a product throughout the production process.

Advantages of QA

  • Fewer customer complaints
  • Tries to eliminate faults or errors before the customer receives the product
  • Fewer defected(low quality) products produced (Reduce cost because there will be less broken/low quality products to fix)

Disadvantages of QA

  • Expensive to train employees
  • Relies on employees following instructions

 

Total Quality Management – Continuous improvement of products and processes by focusing on quality at each stage of production

Advantages of TQM

  • All employees are aware of the need for quality
  • Less likely to receive customer complaints
  • Waste (defected products) is removed and efficiency increases

Disadvantages of TQM

  • Expensive to train employees for TQM
  • Relies heavily on employees following this idea
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