Managing Quality Flashcards

All 9 cards in this deck

What is quality control?

Inspecting products or services at the end of production to identify faults, so that what customers receive is of a high standard.

What is quality assurance?

Carrying out quality checks at each stage of production, making every employee responsible for the quality of their own work.

Give one benefit of using quality assurance rather than quality control.

Every worker is responsible for checking their stage, so faults are spotted during production and faulty products are less likely to leave the production line.

Give one drawback of introducing quality assurance.

It requires a large amount of employee training because workers must check their own work, so business costs increase. (Also: it needs a change in culture and is time consuming.)

Give one way a business could improve the quality of its products.

Train employees better so they can spot faults. (Also: introduce quality assurance so every worker checks the product is made correctly.)

How can a business ensure quality when providing a service?

Train staff and employ highly skilled people, and build a culture where all employees focus on high-quality service — though this raises costs.

Why does managing quality help a business control its costs?

Mistakes in production are expensive, so fewer faults means less wastage and fewer costs of replacing or repairing faulty goods.

Give one advantage to a business of producing a high quality product.

Quality is a source of differentiation, attracting more customers and increasing market share. (Also: it allows higher prices and so a higher profit margin.)

Give one disadvantage of manufacturing a high quality product.

Raw materials cost more, so the business must charge a premium price that some customers cannot afford. (Also: specialised labour is hard to recruit and costly to train.)