Maintenance is not usually noticed in the context of quality. Some quality philosophies recognize that production equipment must be maintained in order to manufacture quality products. So‐called quality gurus have not emphasized that maintenance could have a significant role in quality. The...

Quality cost systems have evolved from a purely manufacturing defect related cost reporting system that reflected the limited quality thinking of the 1940s to a poor‐quality cost system that reflects the total process quality orientation of the 1990s. The new poor‐quality cost system...

Notes that in many organizations, quality management fulfills a role which is not measured or even quantitively estimated. Notes that elements such as sales and productivity are principally dollar‐oriented and that the quality manager will feel an outsider if he/she is unable to communicate in...

Asserts that to help convince everyone in the company that quality improvement is worthwhile, a way of linking the improvements with business results is required. Discusses the waning of commitment which often follows the early days of a quality initiative. Contends motivation is improved if the...

Describes annuitized valuation, which is a tool to measure the financial value of customer relationships. It measures the asset value of customer and represents the potential net cash flow of customers, over time. It can identify an imbalance (called a reward paradox) in the compensation...

There is consensus that money invested in quality programs provides a high rate of return, but disagreement on how the optimal level of quality investment can be modeled. It has been postulated that there is no correct cost of quality (COQ) model since quality costs are dynamic and firm...

Purpose: Decentralize standards to each process owner is an open issue. Centralized standards are a common situation which puts a big amount of chore tasks against continual improvement. The pipes and puddles framework was born to solve this problem.Design/methodology/approach: Pipes and puddles...