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External failure costs – loss of goodwill and future business, compensation paid to customers and rectification costs
The TQM view is that by getting it right first time and every time,the prevention and appraisal costs will be outweighed by the savings infailure costs, hence lower costs and
improved quality are congruentgoals. TQM requires everyone in the organisation to have identifiedcustomers, whether external or internal, so that a continuous servicequality
chain is maintained all the way through the organisation to thefinal customer.
Just In Time (JIT)
JIT is a manufacturing and supply chain process that is intended toreduce inventory levels and improve customer service by ensuring thatcustomers receive their orders at the
right time and in the rightquantity. The system should facilitate a smooth workflow throughout thebusiness and reduce waste. Goods are produced to meet customer
needsdirectly, not for inventory.
Cost reductions should arise from:
Lower raw material and finished goods inventory levels, therefore reduced holding costs
Reduced material handling
Often a reduction in the number of suppliers and lower administration and communication costs
Guaranteed quality of supplies reduces inspection and rectification costs
Quality improvements should arise from:
Fewer or even single sourcing of supplies strengthens the buyer–supplier relationship and is likely to improve the quality.
The absence of customer stockholding compels the supplier (if they want continued business) to guarantee the quality of the material that they deliver.
The necessity to work regularly and closer with hauliers strengthens the relationship with them. The deliveries become high priority and more reliable.
Customers are not faced with the traditional problems of having to wait until their suppliers inventories are replenished. The system is designed to respond to customers'
needs rapidly.
Direct focus on meeting an identified customer's need, production is merely to add to an anonymous pile of inventory.
Value Analysis
Value analysis is concerned with concentrating on activities thatadd value to the product/service as perceived by the customer. Itexamines business activities and questions why
they are being undertakenand what contribution do they make to customer satisfaction. Valueadded activities include designing products, producing output anddeveloping
customer relationships. Non-value added activities includereturning goods, inventory holding, and checking on the quality ofsupplies received. Wherever possible eliminate the
non-value addedactivities.
Value analysis commences with a focus on customers. What do theywant? What do they regard as significant in the buying decision:function, appearance, longevity or disposal
value? This is concernedwith identifying what customers regard as quality and then providing it:do not expend effort on what they regard as unimportant. It is aboutclarifying what
the constituents of quality are on the Costs and Qualitydiagram. Having decided this there is a need to develop alternativedesigns, estimate costs and evaluate alternatives.
Activity Based Costing (ABC)
ABC is concerned with attributing/assigning costs to cost units onthe basis of the service received from indirect activities e.g. publicrelations, recruitment, quality assurance
general meetings. Theorganisation needs to identify cost drivers – the specific activitiesthat cause costs to arise e.g. number of orders taken, telephone callsmade, number of
breakdowns or the number of visitors to an attraction.
ABC intends to avoid the arbitrary allocation of overheads toproducts/services by identifying a causal link between costs, activitiesand outputs. Because of higher degrees of
automation, the increasingsignificance of overheads in the cost make up of output intensifies theneed to improve the apportionment of them. Accountants can contributetowards
providing better cost information to the value analysis referredto above. Product managers need to know what they are getting for theirmoney – what is the real cost of quality?
What are the cost drivingactivities that do not impact on quality? What activities that generateminimal costs have a significantly favourable impact on quality?
The Balanced Scorecard (Kaplan and Norton)
The Balanced Scorecard provides a framework for a business toachieve its strategic objectives include both financial andnon-financial objectives. The approach claims that
performance has fourdimensions: financial, customer, internal business, and innovation andlearning. The customer perspective asks: How does the business appear tothe
customers? The internal business perspective asks :What do we needto do to satisfy shareholders and customers, including the monitoring ofunit costs? The innovation and
learning perspective looks at howproducts and processes should be changed and improved.
The scorecard is concerned with monitoring and measuring thecritical variables that comprise the customer and internal perspective.The choice of variables for inclusion in the
scorecard is significantbecause the scorecard report is a design for action. Inappropriateindicators will trigger damaging responses. For example, theorganisation needs to
monitor what factors customers regard ascontributing to improved quality, not what the business thinks it shouldprovide. Therefore the scorecards would be suitable for inclusion
asquantifiable indicators on the axis on the Costs and Quality diagram.The Balanced Scorecard attempts to improve the range and relationshipbetween alternative performance
measures, in the case under discussion,costs and quality.
7 Section - Quality in management information systems
7.1 Features of a quality system