Convenience

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Part 5:
Controlling
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assumption is almost always wrong. If a firm installs a meaningful quality-enhancement
program, three things are likely to result. First, the number of defects is likely to
decrease, causing fewer returns from customers. Second, because the number of defects
goes down, resources (materials and people) dedicated to reworking flawed output will
be decreased. Third, because making employees responsible for quality reduces the need
for quality inspectors, the organization is able to produce more units with fewer
resources.
Costs
Improved quality also lowers costs. Poor quality results in higher returns from
customers, high warranty costs, and lawsuits from customers injured by faulty products.
Future sales are lost because of disgruntled customers. An organization with quality
problems often has to increase inspection expenses just to catch defective products. We
noted in Chapter 14, for example, how at one point Whistler Corporation was using
40 percent of its workforce just to fix poorly assembled radar detectors made by the
other 60 percent.
21
Total Quality Management
Once an organization makes a decision to enhance the quality of its products and ser-
vices, it must then decide how to implement this decision. The most pervasive approach
to managing quality has been called