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“Value to some person” (Weinberg).
“The loss a product imposes on society after it is shipped” (Taguchi).
“The degree to which the design vulnerabilities do not adversely affect product
performance” (El-Haik, 2005).
Quality is a characteristic that a product or service must have. It refers to the
perception of the degree to which the product or service meets the customer's ex-
pectations. Quality has no specific meaning unless related to a specific function or
measurable characteristic. The dimensions of quality refer to the measurable char-
acteristics that the quality achieves. For example, in design and development of a
medical device:
Quality supports safety and performance.
Safety and performance supports durability.
Durability supports flexibility.
Flexibility supports speed.
Speed supports cost.
You can easily build the interrelationship between quality and all aspects of product
characteristics, as these characteristics act as the qualities of the product. However,
not all qualities are equal. Some are more important than others. The most important
qualities are the ones that customers want most. These are the qualities that products
and services must have. So providing quality products and services is all about
meeting customer requirements. It is all about meeting the needs and expectations of
customers.
When the word “quality” is used, we usually think in terms of an excellent design
or service that fulfil's or exceeds our expectations. When a product design surpasses
our expectations, we consider that its quality is good. Thus, quality is related to
perception. Conceptually, quality can be quantified as follows (El-Haik & Roy, 2005):
P
E
Q
=
(1.1)
where
Q
is quality,
P
is performance, and
E
is an expectation.
In a traditional manufacturing environment, conformance to specification and
delivery are the common quality items that are measured and tracked. Often, lots are
rejected because they do not have the correct documentation supporting them. Quality
in manufacturing then is conforming product, delivered on time, and having all of the
supporting documentation. In design, quality is measured as consistent conformance
to customer expectations.
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