Factors Affecting Quality
Quality is the level of excellence viewed by customers to satisfy their needs. For the standard of product or service, many factors are taken to be a consideration. The major factors affecting quality are:
- Policy
- Information
- Engineering and Design
- Materials
- Equipment
- People
Policy
Company policies are the important factors affecting the quality of the product. The top management establishes policies regarding product quality. These policies specify the extent of quality to be achieved during a product or service. These policies specify the level of quality to be achieved in a product or service. Managers generally consider three factors in determining policy for quality, the product or service market, its competition, and image.
A review of the market gives an idea of customer expectations of quality and their willingness to pay for it. Quality levels in the competitive market also affect policy because the company’s product must have the quality of success in the market. Besides, considering the market and competition, production of the inferior quality products may spoil the long-term interest of the organization.
Information
Another factor of factors affecting quality is information. Information is important to set a policy and to ensure that quality standards are achieved. The top management must acquire the right information about customer needs and expectations and the competitor’s quality standards. Competitive benchmarking is an effective way of obtaining important information about the competitor’s quality standards and cost.
Engineering and Design
Product engineering and design ensure new products in less time with better quality at lower costs. The assembly department has got to produce a product at an inexpensive cost with better quality. It is an engineer or designer who must translate the policy into an actual product or service. Innovation and creativity help to design a product having superior quality. The essential purpose of designing is to avoid defective production.
Materials
The highest management must realize that quality products are often produced only by using good quality raw materials. For this, manufacturing enterprises got to adopt a pre-control system with staple suppliers. They need to terminate contracts with lower-quality vendors and maintain long relationships with the better ones.
Equipment
The use of automatic machines, computer software, and robotics makes the output uniform and qualitative. Machines, equipment, and tools used in the production process should be advanced and automatic. The use of modern equipment and machines provide an opportunity for an organization to compete in the market. It is important for manufacturing enterprises.
People
Employees are very important components for maintaining and improving quality. Well-experienced and dedicated employees can contribute more to improve quality. Functioning independently, or during a group, they will improve the standard of a product and repair. Therefore, the management has to guide employees of the total approach of quality.