Achieving quality production
Why quality matters
- Quality means a product is good enough for what customers need.
- Good quality builds a strong brand and loyalty, means fewer returns and waste, and lets the firm charge more.
- Poor quality loses customers and damages the brand.
Practice
A benefit of good quality is:
Good quality builds loyalty, cuts returns/waste and lets the firm charge more.
Quality control vs assurance
| Quality control | Quality assurance | |
|---|---|---|
| when | check at the end | build in quality at every stage |
| who | inspectors check finished goods | every worker is responsible |
| idea | find and remove faulty goods | stop faults happening |
Practice
Quality control means:
Quality control checks at the end; quality assurance prevents faults at every stage.
Practice
Quality assurance makes every worker responsible for quality, aiming to prevent faults.
Assurance builds quality into every stage so faults are stopped, not just found.
You've got it
Key idea
- quality = good enough for customers → loyalty, fewer returns, higher price
- quality control = inspect at the end; quality assurance = build quality in at every stage
- assurance makes everyone responsible and prevents faults