Quality management
Introduced| English | Meaning |
|---|---|
| reputation/ˌrepjuːˈteɪʃn/ | The beliefs or opinions others hold about a person or organisation based on its conduct or performance. |
| quality management/ˈkwɒlɪti ˈmænɪdʒmənt/ | quality management |
| quality control/ˈkwɒlɪti kənˈtrəʊl/ | Checking products or processes against standards to identify defects or unacceptable variation. |
| quality assurance/ˈkwɒlɪti əˈʃʊərəns/ | Planned procedures designed to prevent defects and ensure that products or services meet required standards. |
| inspecting/ɪnˈspektɪŋ/ | Examining a product or process to check whether it meets specified requirements. |
| defects/ˈdiːfekts/ | defects |
| total quality management/ˈtəʊtl ˈkwɒlɪti ˈmænɪdʒmənt/ | An organisation-wide approach to improving quality through participation, prevention and continual improvement. |
| loyalty/ˈlɔɪəlti/ | A continuing commitment or preference, such as a customer's repeated choice of a particular business or brand. |
Getting it right every time
- One faulty product can lose a customer for life and wreck a reputation 声誉 online overnight.
- Quality management 质量管理 makes sure the product meets the standard customers expect — consistently.
Leadership style lab
Pick the management style that fits each situation.
Quality control mainly involves:
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QC inspects the end product for defects.
Quality assurance focuses on:
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QA designs quality in so defects do not occur.
Quality control 质量控制 vs quality assurance 质量保证
- Quality control (QC): inspecting 检验 finished output to catch defects 缺陷 at the end.
- Quality assurance (QA): building quality into every stage so defects don't happen.
Quality control checks at the end; quality assurance builds quality into every stage
Total Quality Management (TQM) makes quality:
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TQM embeds quality across the whole organisation.
The approach where quality is everyone's responsibility is Total Quality ______.
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TQM = Total Quality Management.
Total Quality Management 全面质量管理
- TQM makes quality everyone's responsibility, throughout the business.
- It aims for continuous improvement and "right first time", reducing waste and rework.
Worked example. Instead of inspecting cars only at the end (QC), a factory has each worker check their own stage (QA) and empowers anyone to stop the line for a fault (TQM) — catching problems early and cheaply.
Inspecting out defects at the end is usually cheaper than preventing them during production.
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False. Preventing defects (quality assurance) is usually cheaper, because it avoids the waste of making faulty output that control then rejects.
Why quality matters
- High quality builds reputation, customer loyalty 忠诚度 and the ability to charge more.
- Poor quality means returns, lost customers, and costly rework.
Quality control catches defects; quality assurance prevents them. QC inspects at the end (waste already made); QA designs quality in from the start. Prevention is usually cheaper than cure.
You've got it
- quality control inspects finished output; quality assurance builds quality into every stage
- TQM makes quality everyone's job, aiming for "right first time"
- good quality builds reputation and loyalty; prevention beats inspection
Write from a fault rate of 3 percent
- Inspectors find 18 faults in 600 finished units.
- Find the fault rate, and say what quality assurance would do differently.
Inspectors find 18 faults in 600 finished units. What percentage of units is faulty, and how does quality assurance differ from checking only at the end?
18 out of 600 is 3 percent.
What percentage of the finished units is faulty?
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Faults divided by units is 3 percent. Other options — 18 percent (the fault count used as the rate); 600 percent (the batch size used as the rate).