Management of Operations: Quality

Overview of Quality in Operations Management

Operations Management encompasses the activities, decisions, and responsibilities of managing the production and delivery of products and services.
The focus on quality in operations is crucial for a business to build a good reputation, retain customers, and ensure compliance with legal and contractual requirements.
Quality refers to how well a product or service meets or exceeds its specifications, customer expectations, or industry standards.

Quality Control (QC): This traditional approach to quality involves checking the output to ensure it meets certain standards or specifications. Defective products are either scrapped or reworked.
Quality Assurance (QA): This is a more proactive approach. The emphasis is on designing and managing the process to ensure it produces the required standard.
Total Quality Management (TQM): This is a holistic approach to quality. It involves every department and every employee in the organisation to improve processes, products, and services.

Many businesses adhere to international and industry-specific quality standards, such as ISO9001, to demonstrate their commitment to quality.
Non-compliance with these standards can lead to loss of certification, damage to the company’s reputation, and legal penalties.

Quality Inspection: Checking the quality of finished products, often through random sampling.
Quality Audit: An independent examination of quality control and quality assurance systems.
Benchmarking: Comparing a company’s processes or performance metrics to industry bests.
Statistical Process Control (SPC): This involves using statistical techniques to monitor and control a process.

Balancing quality and cost: While higher quality often means higher costs, poor quality can lead to rework, returns, and loss of customers.
Quality vs Speed: Fast production may compromise the quality of output.
Adapting to changing quality standards and regulations in different markets.
Achieving consistency in quality across different products, services, and locations.