Is "Quality" just "Fitness for Use"?

bobdoering

Stop X-bar/R Madness!!
Trusted Information Resource
#31
[/I]My purpose in this post is to demonstrate a mini root cause investigation process, NOT a definitive answer as to the root cause.
Good example of when to walk away from a root cause investigation when all you can do is guess what happened upstream, and have no control of what happened upstream.

Might as well just deal with the short term corrective action: Get a different box; pick off the logo, get some two-sided acrylic tape and put it back on right; pick it off and pitch it or ignore it. :tg:
 
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Mikael

Quite Involved in Discussions
#32
Hey, I think it is made in Israel :notme: :lol:

Well, maybe it is the trend in Israel to put it like that, then sales is double up...

As already indicated, their can be a billion causes within the whole supply chain, but Quality is also about the knowledge that flows around, e.g. an engineering would know and see things that a marketing guy would never perceive!

Jim, you did a good work, very good discussion, but what I am wondering, is why did you choose the fitness concept??? There exist many other concepts/views that could influent the conclusions! Reeves and Bednar (1994:437) list just a few very different concepts, and discuss strengths and weaknesses. Does it make sense to discuss pro and cons for Fitness, can we together in this forum agree on a few?

My believe is that companies will be in different situations over time, where some of the concepts is much more relevant, also linked to different people and their knowledge, e.g. the buying center! I did a paper on this once, with a little table, should I bother translate it?

BTW: To discuss quality, can easily become a philosophy problem!
 
R

Rinascimento

#33
  1. Is the logo being off-center evidence of something that one should be concerned about? Does it mean that there's something deficient in the manufacturer's processes? The toolbox is perfectly functional, and does what I wanted it to do.
By itself, No. My only concern is that it may be an indicator that important processes also have defects.
  1. If you were looking at toolboxes in the store and notices this "defect," would it cause you to buy a different product, all else being equal?
I would still buy the product. Is this the only one in stock that has the problem?
  1. Assuming that you bought this toolbox would the "defect" have any influence on future purchases?
If the product was perfectly functional for all my needs then I would probably buy from that manufacturer again.
  1. Bonus question: Can you guess where the toolbox was manufactured?
I would have had no idea.

As far as the definition of quality goes I still refer to Garvin's article in the Sloan Management Review, Fall 1984 where he lists the following (including Juran's) definitions:

Five Definitions of Quality

I Transcendent Definition:
“Quality is neither mind nor matter, but a third entity independent of the two … even though Quality cannot be defined, you know what it is.” (R. M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, pp. 185, 233)
“. . . a condition of excellence implying fine quality as distinct from poor quality … Quality is achieving or reaching for the highest standard as against being satisfied with the sloppy or fraudulent.” (B. W. Tuchman, “The Decline of Quality,” .“,‘New York Times Magazine, 2 November 1980, p. 38)

II. Product-based Definition:
“Differences in quality amount to differences in the quantity of some desired ingredient or attribute.”
(L. Abbott, Quality and Competition, pp. 126—127)
“Quality refers to the amounts of the unpriced attributes contained in each unit of the priced attribute.”
(K. B. Letfier, “Ambiguous Changes in Product Quality,” American Economic Review, December 1982, p. 956)

III. User-based Definition:
“Quality consists of the capacity to satisfy wants (C. D. Edwards, ‘The Meaning at Quality,” Quality Progress. October
1968, p. 37)
“Quality is the degree to which a specific product satisfies the wants of a specific consumer,” (H. L. Gilmore,
“Product Conformance cost,” Quality Progress, June 1974, p. 16)
“Quality is any aspect of a product, including the services included in the contract of sales, which influences the demand curve.” (K. Dorfman and P.O. Steiner, “Optimal Advertising and Optimal Quality,”. American Economic Review,’, December .1954, p. 831)
“In the final analysis of the marketplace, the quality of a product depends on how well it fits patterns of consumer preferences.” (A. A. Kuenn and R. L. Day, “Strategy of Product Quality,” Harvard Business Review;,’, November—December - 1962, p. 101).
“Quality consists of. the extent to which a specimen [a product-brand-model-seller combination] possesses the service characteristics you desire.” (E. S. Maynes, “The Concept and Measurement of Product Quality.’.’ in Household Production and Consumption, p. 542)
“Quality is fitness for use.” (J. M. Juran, ed.. Quality Control Handbook, p. 2—2)

IV. Manufacturing-based Definition:
“Quality [means] conformance to requirements.” (P. B. Crosby. Quality Is Free, p. 15)
“Quality is the degree to which a specific product conforms to a design or specification.” (Gilmore. (une1974, p.19)

V. Value-based Definition:
“Quality is the degree of excellence at an acceptable price and the control of variability at an acceptable cost.” (R. A. Broh, Managing Quality for higher Profits, 1982, p. 3)
“Quality means best for certain customer conditions. These conditions are (a) the actual use and ‘(b) the selling price of the product.” (A. V. Feigenbaum, Total Quality Control, p. 1)
 
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Mikael

Quite Involved in Discussions
#34
Thanks Rinascimento!

Seams familiar, but for "Product-based definition", I am not sure what they mean, could somebody please explain further!

Also you could add:

"Quality as reference": The extent to which you would recommend or warn other customers!

"Quality as customization": E.g. if you could have your own name written there !

"Quality and CSR": How does the product contribute to society at what cost! Is the product and the Suplly Chain processes etical and environmental acceptable!

As you first get startede there is a few more...
 
R

Rinascimento

#35
Here is more on Product based definition from the article. Perhaps the moderator could advise whether it is OK to use this much content from the article. I was not concerned in the previous post as it was just a collection of references.

Product-based definitions view quality as a precise and measurable variable. According to this view, differences in quality reflect differences in the quantity of some ingredient or attribute possessed by a product. For example, high-quality ice cream has a high butterfat content, just as fine rugs have a large number of knots per square inch. This approach lends a vertical or hierarchical dimension to quality, for goods can be ranked according to the amount of the desired attribute that they possess. However, an unambiguous ranking is possible only if the attributes in question are considered preferable by virtually all buyers.
Product-based definitions of quality first appeared in the economics literature, where they were quickly incorporated into theoretical models. In fact, the early economic research on quality focused almost exclusively on durability, simply because it was so easily translated into the above framework. Since durable goods provide a stream of services over time, increased durability implies a longer stream of services - in effect, more of the good. Quality differences could, therefore, be treated as differences in quantity, considerably simplifying the mathematics.

There are two obvious corollaries to this approach. First, higher quality can only be obtained at higher cost. Because quality reflects the quantity of attributes that a product contains, and because attributes are considered to be costly to produce, higher-quality goods will be more expensive. Second, quality is viewed as an inherent characteristic of goods, rather than as something ascribed to them. Because quality reflects the presence or absence of measurable product attributes, it can be assessed objectively, and is based on more than preferences alone.
 

Mikael

Quite Involved in Discussions
#36
Thanks, helped a little :)
(I think that small citation is allowed according to copyright, but how to understand small, I don't know).

"...view quality as a precise and measurable variable"... it seams to me that it is similar to "conformance to requirements".

But is the difference in relation to own objectives or competitors?
 
R

Rinascimento

#37
Also you could add:

"Quality as reference": The extent to which you would recommend or warn other customers!

"Quality as customization": E.g. if you could have your own name written there !

"Quality and CSR": How does the product contribute to society at what cost! Is the product and the Suplly Chain processes etical and environmental acceptable!
Whereas your "customisation" & "CSR" (what is this?) can be regarded as attributes of a product or service and would fit into one of Garvin's categories, the "Quality as reference" can only be measured/judged in an individual's context (frame of reference). As a consequence to this you would have to judge the quality of a reccomendation or warning.
Of course we make this judgements all the time and there are businesses such as "Choice" in Australia and "Which" in England which exist on selling their quality evaluations. Without doing further analysis, I would suspect that they use a mixture of Product and Value based approaches to quality.
 

Jim Wynne

Staff member
Admin
#38
Whereas your "customisation" & "CSR" (what is this?) can be regarded as attributes of a product or service and would fit into one of Garvin's categories, the "Quality as reference" can only be measured/judged in an individual's context (frame of reference). As a consequence to this you would have to judge the quality of a reccomendation or warning.
Of course we make this judgements all the time and there are businesses such as "Choice" in Australia and "Which" in England which exist on selling their quality evaluations. Without doing further analysis, I would suspect that they use a mixture of Product and Value based approaches to quality.
Maybe we're over-thinking this. The best definition of quality for businesses I've ever heard was attributed to Stanley Marcus (as in Neiman Marcus): "Quality is selling products that don't come back to customers who do."
 
J

JinkhinJ

#39
Only if it was discounted. But then it will depend on each individual. SOme may expect to have the box dinged and beaten up in months and not care about the logo. Me? I would likely be the novice tool man who keeps everything neat and orderly and barely tinkers with some loose screws once in a while. SO, I would be more inclined to want another box (maybe the same brand) with a correctly aligned logo.

Will it be tossed in the back of a truck? Will it be a part of a neatly arranged closet of other household items? All of these along with the indivuals personality will have an effect on the outcome (buy it or look for another with "perceived" quality craftsmanship).
 
R

Rinascimento

#40
Maybe we're over-thinking this. The best definition of quality for businesses I've ever heard was attributed to Stanley Marcus (as in Neiman Marcus): "Quality is selling products that don't come back to customers who do."
Granted that this is a cute saying, but it is not a definition. It's like saying to your kids. The best person for you to marry is the one you are going to be happy with. That doesn't say what the person will be like.
 
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