The role of quality

Essay by gcolUniversity, Master'sB-, November 2002

download word file, 5 pages 4.5 1 reviews

Quality is a term used to signify excellence of a product or service. We think of a quality product, for example a B.M.W. motorcar. We know its well designed, well built and will therefore last a long time. If we think of car of being low quality, we think of something like a base model type of Citroen or Peugeot, with its flimsy panels, cheap components and low specifications.

Juran described quality as "fitness for purpose." Which basically means that if you simply want a car that will get you from A to B, and you're not bothered about having the best car (either in safety or specifications), then the cheapest car that performs to your requirements is seen as being up to the standard and is therefore of sufficient quality.

The quality a hotel is denoted by the internationally recognised star rating system, i.e. a 1 star hotel will provide the most basic of comforts, and a 5 star hotel will provide the most comforts and services.

We can immediately recognise then, by simply looking at a hotel's star rating how good it will be and how good of a time we will have if we stay at the hotel.

Quality is described in BS4778 ISO8402 as "The totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs.

If we are looking at quality then we must also look at reliability, for it is important that there is the ability for a product or service to sustain its quality over a period of time - for example its all well and good to buy what you consider to be a quality car but if all its fit for after 6 months is the scrap yard then that is...