A manufacturing process quality model for investigating the operation of a manufacturing unit has been developed incorporating the failure mechanism of instantaneous assignable cause, mean drift and standard deviation drift. Describes an illustrative example, showing how the new model can be...

A major US bank has determined that none of its customers should have to wait more than three minutes for service. Presents a procedure that helps management allocate tellers to prevent any customer waiting time from exceeding the three‐minute limit. Uses X¯ and s charts to monitor the...

Although quality improvement is being sought, and total quality management is being applied in the service sector, the majority of applications which have been described are in environments similar to manufacturing in some important respects. Some of the cases are, evertheless, concerned with...

Describes an investigation, in different types of services, of relationships between customers’ perception of service quality, and the importance which customers attach to elements of the service package. The scale for measuring service quality, SERVQUAL, which was discussed in Part 2 of this...

The service sector has assumed greater economic importance over the past decade. The latest statistics show that the sector accounts for 60 per cent of the value added in the European Economic Community (EEC). It is estimated that “doing things wrong” typically accounts for between 30 and 40...

Service quality is generally considered to be an intangible and as such, it has received relatively little serious attention from managers and, until recently, researchers have not conducted rigorous studies in this field. Involves a detailed empirical analysis of service quality issues. The...

Examines the relationship between perceived service quality and five dimensions of service quality (tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy) identified by Parasuraman for the three types of service (pure service, mixed service and quasi‐manufacturing service) identified...

Business schools are under mounting pressure to decrease the cost of delivering education while improving programmes and services for students. Total quality management (TQM) provides a way to improve quality while reducing costs. However, since TQM involves fact‐based continuous improvement,...