Page 190 - DMGT501_OPERATIONS_MANAGEMENT

Quality
S.No.
Description
Dimensions
A product’s primary operating characteristics. For example, in
Performance
1.
a television set performance means sound and picture clarity,
color, and the ability to receive distant stations. In services,
such as airlines, performance often means prompt service.
Features
2.
The bells and whistles of a product – the secondary aspect of
performance. Examples include free drinks on a plane.
The probability of a products surviving over a specified
Reliability
3.
period of time under stated conditions of use.
4. Conformance The degree to which physical and conformance characteristics
of product match pre-established standards. Example is the
tolerances on machined parts.
5. Durability The amount of use one gets from a product before it
Operations Management physically deteriorates or until is replacement is preferable.
6. Serviceability The speed, courtesy, and competence of repair. It refers to
how readily and easily the product is repaired when it fails.

Notes 7. Aesthetics How a product looks, feels, sounds, tastes or smells. This is
clearly a matter of personal judgement, and will vary from
one customer to another.
8. Perceived Subjective assignment resulting from image, advertising, or
quality brand names. Consumers do not always have complete
information about a product or service. A product’s
durability, for example, cannot be readily observed-it must be
inferred from various tangible and intangible aspects of the
product. In this case, images, advertising, and brand names –
inferences about quality rather than the reality itself – can be
critical. The customer impression of quality is the essence of
perceived quality.

Example:
Dimensions of Quality
Dimension Product example: Service example Checking account at a bank
Stereo amplifier
Performance Power- Time to process customer requests
Features Remote control Automatic bill paying
Reliability Mean time to failure Variability of time to process requests
Durability Useful life (without repair) Keeping pace with industry trends
Serviceability Modular design On-line reports
Response Courtesy to dealer Courtesy to teller
Aesthetics Oak-finished cabinet Appearance of bank lobby
Reputation Market leader for 20 years Endorsed by community leaders

6.15 Contribution of Quality Gurus

Walter A. Shewhart (1891-1967)

Born in Illinois, USA, Shewhart graduated University of Illinois and then he obtained the doctorate
in physics at University of California in 1917. Working at Western Electric Company as an
engineer, he was able to make a serious contribution to a major problem: reliability of the
equipment buried underground. Control charts created by him were use to differentiate between
assignable sources of variation and pure chances of variation. Shewhart studied randomness
and recognized variability which exists in all manufacturing processes. In his opinion, reducing
variability is equivalent to quality improvement. Later Shewhart worked for Bell Telephone
Laboratories until his retirement in 1956. He wrote several articles and books, most representative
being Economic Control of Quality of Manufactured Product in 1931, Statistical Method from
the Viewpoint of Quality Control in 1939. On more thing about Shewhart: he is considered to be
the grandfather of quality control.

Joseph M. Juran (Born in 1904)

Architect of Quality: The Autobiography of Joseph M. Juran (McGraw-Hill, 2003). “Juran begins
his tale with his humble beginnings as a Romanian peasant and his families immigration to the
United States. He recounts how he overcame poverty, anti-Semitism, bitterness and despair.
This is a tale of how education wins over ignorance, persistence prevails over complacence and,
more than anything else, how faith (in God, in family, in humanity and in the American dream)
is rewarded.”

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