| Quality |
| Conformance to requirements or fitness for use. Quality can be defined through five principal approaches: (1) Transcendent quality is an ideal, a condition of excellence. (2) Product-based quality is based on a product attribute. (3) User-based quality is fitness for use. (4) Manufacturing-based quality is conformance to requirements. (5) Value-based quality is the degree of excellence at an acceptable price. Also, quality has two major components: (1) quality of conformance—quality is defined by the absence of defects, and (2) quality of design—quality is measured by the degree of customer satisfaction with a product’s characteristics and features. |
| Quality Programs |
| Some of quality programs that are currently used include: Total Quality Management (TQM): TQM is a management approach to long-term success through customer satisfaction. TQM is based on the participation of all members of an organization in improving processes, goods, services, and the culture in which they work. Total Quality Engineering (TQE): TQE is the discipline of designing quality into the product and manufacturing processes by understanding the needs of the customer and performance capabilities of the equipment. Total Quality Control (TQC): TQC is the process of creating and producing the total composite good and service characteristics by marketing, engineering, manufacturing, purchasing, etc., through which the good and service will meet the expectations of customers. Statistical Quality Control (SQC): SQC is the application of statistical techniques to control quality. Six-Sigma Quality: Six sigma quality is a term used generally to indicate that a process is well controlled, i.e., tolerance limits are ±6 sigma from the centerline in a control chart. top |