History and Evolution of Quality in Products & Services
History of Quality
In recent years, businesses have been looking for quality as a means to enhance competitiveness and increase profits. During World War II, there was a strong demand for production. W. Edwards Deming argues that quantity was prioritized over quality, and independence led to companies starting to earn money, leading to consequences. The emphasis on quality over quantity brought a crisis to the West because the quantity produced was not consumed. Key points are: quality is as important as quantity, and development must be balanced.
Different companies undertake different roads to search for quality: evidence of success and error, and Eastern and Western design. Eastern companies capitalized on gradual improvements, seeking to optimize resources. Western companies made big, generally expensive changes through the introduction of new systems.
Concept of Quality
A company’s goal is to meet consumer needs by having products available in the places and at the moment they are needed. The word “quality” can have several attributes, such as:
- Conformance to requirements
- Satisfaction of specific needs
- Fitness for use
- Absence of defects
- Customer well-being
Quality of Products
Key characteristics that define product quality include:
- Accessibility
- Availability
- Style
- Reliability
- Protection
- Size
- Aesthetics
- Taste
- Operations
- Appearance
- Fitness
- Vulnerability
- Odor
- Freshness
- Cleanliness
- Function
- Toxicity
- Testing
- Weight
- Durability
- Monitoring
- Security
Quality of Services
Key characteristics that define service quality include:
- Accessibility
- Accuracy
- Safety
- Competence
- Credibility
- Efficiency
- Flexibility
- Formality
- Honesty
- Courtesy
- Speed of response
- Reliability
- Timeliness
- Comfort
Quality Parameters
Quality can be assessed through these parameters:
- Design Quality: The level at which the product satisfies the customer.
- Quality of Conformity: Meets the design standard.
- Quality of Use: Product continuity.
Quality Control: What to Do
To prevent failures:
- Planning and design for failure, not stringent tolerances.
- Visual inspection.
- Information control.
Process steps:
- Determine the parameters.
- Control and establish critical levels for each parameter and control site.
- Establish a specification for each parameter.
- Detect variations in the process.
- Collect and deliver the data for analysis.
- Check the cause of results and diagnose the variation.
- Propose solutions and take corrective action.
- Take remedies and check their success.
Improving Quality: Steps to Follow
- Determine the objective to be reached.
- Determine the policies needed to make improvements.
- Conduct a feasibility study.
- Develop the work plan, indicating means to reach the goal.
- Organize resources to implement the work plan.
- Define research solutions and alternatives, analysis, and design.
- Develop and test the best solution to meet the goal.
- Identify and overcome resistance to possible modification of the standard.
- Implement change.
- Control the new level of operation.
Quality Assurance: Steps
- Prepare the necessary documents to achieve the quality goal.
- Define the quality assurance plan.
- Determine whether the product meets customer needs.
- Assess operations and products, and define risks.
- Establish measures to control, reduce, or eliminate risks.
- Determine the level at which the risk avoidance plan has been implemented.
- Check if the product or service meets the standard.
Food Characteristics that Define Quality
- Biological Features: Features related to food input:
- Proportion of main nutrients.
- Combustion value.
- Content of vitamins, minerals, essential amino acids, and essential fatty acids.
- Hygienic-toxicological characteristics.
To evaluate proteins, it is important to consider two aspects:
- Digestibility: Adding enzymes can be determined to measure the degree of proteolysis.
- Biological Value: Can be determined by chemical and biological methods.
- Organoleptic Characteristics: The set of parameters evaluated by the consumer at the time of purchase and tasting of the food:
- Appearance (decides whether or not to buy the product).
- Taste, odor, consistency, and appearance (when consuming).
- Consumer Value: Features that affect the conditions of sale, distribution, and consumption.
- Social Value: Characteristics contributing to use, satisfaction, and personality self-affirmation.
- Aptitude for Consumption: The product meets all legal requirements and meets the established contractual agreements.