UNIT 4

Quality circles – Quality Function Deployment (QFD) – Taguchi quality

loss function – TPM – Concepts, improvement needs – Cost of Quality –
Performance measures.

1. Discuss about the objectives, process, outcome and benefits of quality

functional deployment (QFD). Apr 08, Jun 12, May 13, Nov 12
2. Discuss the QFD process with new chart and flow diagram. May 12
3. Explain the procedure to construct a House of Quality (HOQ). Nov 09, Apr
14, Apr 10, Apr 11, Nov 13

QUALITY FUNCTION DEPLOYMENT (QFD)

Definition of QFD: Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is a technique to bring

the voice of the customer into the process of designing and developing a
product or service.

QFD translates the voice of the customer into technical and functional
requirements at every stage of design and manufacture.

QFD is defined as a system for translating customer requirements into

appropriate requirements at every stage, from research through product design
and development, to manufacture, distribution, installation and marketing,
sales and service.

A major problem with traditional product development process is that

customers and engineers speak different languages. For example, customers’
need for a “soap that makes the skin feel soft” may translate into pH or
hardness specifications for the soap bar. Confusion and wrong interpretation
can occur when a product moves from marketing to design to engineering to
manufacturing. In this process, the voice of the customer (VOC) may get lost.
By implementing QFD, an organization is guaranteed to implement the VOC in
the final product or service.

ORIGINATION OF QFD

QFD originated in 1972 at Mitsubishi’s Kobe shipyard site. Toyota began to

develop the concept shortly thereafter, and has used it since 1977 with
impressive results. By 1984, start-up costs had reduced by 61%, development
time fell by 33% and quality improved. Today, QFD is successfully used by
firms such as GM, Ford, Xerox, Motorola, IBM, P&G, and many more.

QFD can be applied to any manufacturing or service industry. It has become a

standard practice in most leading organizations, who also require it in their
suppliers. The results of QFD are measured by the number of design and
engineering changes, time to market, cost, and quality.

OBJECTIVES OF QFD

 To identify the true voice of the customer and to use this knowledge to
develop products which satisfy customers.
 To help in the organization and analysis of all the pertinent information
associated with the project.

HOUSE OF QUALITY

The House of Quality (HOQ), so called because of its shape, is the basic tool
used in QFD. It is a set of matrixes used to relate the VOC to a product’s
technical requirements, component requirements, manufacturing plans and
manufacturing operations.

The first matrix, the customer requirement planning matrix, provides the basis
for the QFD concept. It basically shows what the customer wants and how the
organization is going to fulfill those wants.

BASIC STRUCTURE OF HOUSE OF QUALITY:

The house of quality has six sections, as shown in figure given below.

Section 1: Customer Requirements

The exterior walls of the house are customer requirements.

On the left hand side, the voice of the customer – what the customer expect
from the product is listed.

Section 2: Prioritized Customer Requirements

On the right hand side, the prioritized customer requirements are listed.

Some of the listed items include customer benchmarking, customer importance

rating, target value, sales point and scale-up factor.
Section 3: Technical Descriptors
The second floor or ceiling of the house contains technical descriptors.

Product design characteristics are located in this ceiling.

Section 4: Relationship Matrix

The interior walls of the house are the relationships between customer
requirements and technical descriptors.

Section 5: Trade Off Matrix or Interrelationship between technical descriptors

The roof of the house is the trade off matrix or interrelationship between
technical descriptors.

Section 6: Prioritized Technical Descriptors

The foundation of the house is prioritized technical descriptors.

QFD METHODOLOGY OR CONSTRUCTING THE HOQ OR THE STEPS IN

BUILDING A HOUSE OF QUALITY ARE:

1. List Customer Requirements (WHAT‟s)

2. List Technical Descriptors (HOW‟s)
3. Develop a Relationship Matrix between WHAT‟s and HOW‟s
4. Develop an Inter-relationship Matrix between HOW‟s
5. Competitive Assessments
a. Customer Competitive Assessments
b. Technical Competitive Assessments
6. Develop Prioritized Customer Requirements
7. Develop Prioritized Technical Descriptors

Step I – List customer requirements “WHAT”

Decide Primary and secondary needs of the customer

Step II – List technical descriptors “HOW”

Again primary and secondary is decided
Primary – Material and Process
Subdividing materials and process required
Here current materials and process must be considered

Step III – Develop a relationship matrix between WHAT & HOW

The crucial stage
Relating WHAT & HOW
Interlinking both primary and secondary
No scope for variation Points and grading is done here
Gives results of WHAT and HOW
Key elements are discussed
The Management decides the combination
Costing and current process must be considered

Step IV – Develop an Inter-relationship Matrix between HOW‟s

The materials and manufacturing is analyzed Ratings are done
Enables the decisions in the process
Current process to be considered
Technical knowledge is a must for the analyst

Step V – Competitive Assessments

Analyzing competitors products customer expectation
Difficult to get data
Mismatch in requirements is possible
Helps in identifying customer trend

Step VI – Develop Prioritized Customer Requirements

Customer target value
Scale-up factor
Sales point

Step VII – Develop Prioritized Technical Descriptors

Degree of technical difficulty
Most needed change is decided
Target value
Physical attributes to be considered
QFD PROCESS
There are four phases of product development:
1. Product Planning – Customer specification turn into design requirements
2. Part Development – Design requirements into part characteristics
3. Process Planning and – Part characteristics into manufacturing operations.
process selected to meet part requirements
4. Production Planning – Manufacturing operations into production
requirements

DIAGRAM OF QFD PROCESS

QFD TEAM
It is a cross-functional team of 6 to 8 persons picked from marketing/sales,
design, production, purchase, quality control, vendor, etc.

BENEFITS OF QFD
1. Reduces product development time up to 50%.
2. Reduces product development costs up to 20% to 60%.
3. Reduces time to market.
4. Improves customer satisfaction, and hence sales.
5. Improves the product performance.
6. Reduces quality costs.
7. Focuses the organization on customer needs.
8. Promotes team-work within the organization.
9. Provides database for future design, process changes.

4. Briefly explain the structure of a quality circle.

INTRODUCTION

Quality Circles (QC) originated in Japan in 1962 when K. Ishikawa presented

the idea in the inaugural issue of JUSE’s journal ‘Gemba to QC’.

QCs were one of the key contributing factors that helped Japan in its economic
resurgence.

The concept has been tried out in around 140 countries in the last 45 years,
and major growth occurred mainly in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s as thousands
of companies adopted the concept. At present there are more than 5 million
circles in operation and about 70 million people are involved in Quality Circle
activities throughout the world.

In India, the QC concept was introduced in 1981 and BHEL, Hyderabad was
the first company to introduce it in India. Today many Indian companies
successfully follow this practice.

DEFINITION OF QUALITY CONTROL

QC is a small team of people (around 8 to 10) coming from the same work
area/department who voluntarily meet on a regular basis (about an hour
every week) to identify, investigate, analyze and solve work-related
problems. The Circle presents the solutions to the management and
implements them after approval.
QC is based on the premise that suggestions affecting the workplace must
come from those who perform the work and have the most knowledge of the
job. People closest to the problem understand it better.

QC can be viewed from three angles: (i) as a form of participative management,

(ii) as a HRD technique, and (iii) as a problem-solving technique.

Members are specially trained in problem-solving and analysis techniques in

order to play their role effectively.

An organization may have a number of Quality Circles in operation. Each is

given a unique name in order to give it a distinct identity.

STRUCTURE OR WORKING OF QUALITY CIRCLE:

The QC organization has a four-tier structure consisting of Members, Leaders,

Facilitators, and Steering Committee.

Members: They may be line or staff workers. They form the largest part of the
QC structure and are the lifeblood of the QCs.

Leaders: Each circle has a leader preferably from among its members,
generally a senior worker or a first-level supervisor. Leaders must be well-
versed in the technology of production, quality control methods, elementary
SQC techniques, training methods, effective communication and leadership.
Extensive training is provided to circle leaders to make them effective in
initiating, guiding and controlling the circle activities.

Facilitators: They are from a senior level in the hierarchy who liaise and
coordinate the work of different circles under their control. Usually three or
four circles are allotted to a facilitator. They act as guides and catalysts for
the circles.

Steering Committee: It is the apex body comprising of departmental heads

of major functional areas, and is headed by the Director of Operations,
Technical Director or CEO of the company. It oversees the work of all the
circles and acts as the focal point for their planning and operation.
PROCESS OF QUALITY CIRLCE OPERATION OR IMPLEMENTATION OF
QUALITY CIRCLE

The implementation of QC improvement projects is carried out in the following

stages:

(1) Select the problem,

(2) Study the problem,

(3) Plan the improvement,

(4) Carry out the improvement,

(5) Check the results,

(6) Form conclusions,

(7) Present to management,

(8) Obtain approval, and

(9) Implement on regular basis.

Data collection, Brainstorming, Check sheets, Pareto Analysis, Cause & Effect
diagrams, Control charts, Presentation techniques, etc. are used by quality
circles in solving problems.

ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENTS FOR THE SUCCESS OF QUALITY CIRCLES

1. Support from top management and cooperation from middle management.

2. Management should not expect immediate results and short-term benefits.

3. Quality Circles should not be used as forums for grievances and personal
problems.

4. Training of leaders and circle members is of utmost importance.

5. Management must give appropriate and proper recognition to solutions.

6. Management must ensure that solutions are implemented quickly once they
are accepted.

7. A good organizational climate and a spirit of cooperation between

management and workers must exist.
MAJOR OBJECTIVES OF QUALITY CIRCLE PROJECTS

1. Improve quality and productivity.

2. Cost reduction.

3. Effective utilization of resources.

4. Avoid unnecessary errors, defects.

5. Solve work-related problems that interfere with production.

6. Better housekeeping.

7. Reduce waste.

8. Work-in-process reduction.

9. Reduction in maintenance problems.

10. Job improvement.

11. Improve safety, etc.

MAJOR BENEFITS OF QUALITY CIRCLES

1. Improves quality and productivity.

2. Promotes job involvement and sense of participation, and thereby job

satisfaction.

3. Creates feelings of accomplishment, recognition, self-esteem and self-

confidence.

4. Improves communication, team spirit and harmonious relations.

5. Creates problem-solving and problem-preventing attitude.

6. Develops creativity and innovative thinking.

7. Contributes to the improvement and development of the organization.

5. Explain quality costs. What are the barriers for implementing TQM in an
industry? Explain. Nov 12
6. Explain the various types of costs contributing to the cost of quality (COQ).
Give examples for each. Nov 13

DEFINITION OF QUALITY COST

Quality costs are defined as costs associated with non-achievement of

product/service quality.

Quality cost is the cost of poor products/services.

Quality cost is the cost of not meeting the customer’s requirements – the cost
of doing things wrong.

Formula of Quality cost = Actual cost of making the product or service – Cost
if there were no failures during manufacture or use.

The cost of poor quality can add to other costs such as design, production,
maintenance, inspection, sales, etc. Quality costs cross department boundaries
by involving all activities of the organization – marketing, purchasing, design,
manufacturing, service, finance, human resources, etc.

BENEFITS OF QUALITY COST

 Identification of hidden and buried costs in all functional areas.

 Quality costs in marketing, purchasing, design, etc. are brought to the
forefront by the system.

FOUR CATEGORIES (ELEMENTS) OF QUALITY COST

The quality cost was first presented by Feigenbaum and it is divided into four
categories as per the American Society of Quality (ASQ). Also called as P-A-F
model.

1. Prevention costs, 2. Appraisal costs, 3. Internal Failure costs, 4. External

Failure costs.

(1) Prevention costs: These costs are associated with preventing defects in
design, implementation and maintenance of the quality management
system before they occur.

It is the costs which are planned and are incurred before actual operation.

They include the costs of

 Redesigning the product to make it simpler to produce,
 Redesigning the process to remove causes of poor quality,
 Working with suppliers to increase the quality of purchased items or
contracted services,
 Collecting of customer feedback on performance, reliability, etc.,
 Charting of quality performance to study trends, and so on.
 Cost of quality planning,
 Cost of documenting,
 Cost of training.

(2) Appraisal costs or Detection costs: These costs are incurred in assessing
the level of quality attained by the operating system at various stages
from design through manufacturing to final delivery.

It is the cost in which the supplier’s and customer’s evaluation of purchased

materials, processes, intermediaries, products and services to assure
conformance with the specified requirements before they are shipped to end –
user.

They include the cost of

 Cost of Installation
 Cost of laboratory acceptance testing
 Cost of installation testing
 Cost of testing of purchased raw materials,
 Stage inspection of manufacturing processes,
 Cost of maintenance and calibration of testing and inspecting
equipments,
 Review of test data prior to release of product for shipment, etc.

As preventive measures improve quality, appraisal costs

decrease quality.
(3) Failure Costs

Internal failure costs: These are costs required to identify, repair, replace, or
dispose off defective products/services prior to delivery to the customer.

They include

 Materials scrapped,
 Cost of repairing/rework/rectification,
 Retesting,
 Fault investigation,
 Troubleshooting,
 Changes in specifications, process, tests, and
 The costs of delays, paperwork, rescheduling, and other hassles caused
by the defective products.

External failure costs: These costs arise when a defect is discovered after the
product/service is delivered to the customer.

They include

 Cost of complaint investigations,

 Cost of evaluating, repairing or replacing goods,
 Cost of warranty and guarantee claims,
 Cost of Product liability,
 Cost of loss of sales,
 Penalties for deficient product/service performance as per contract,
 Retrofit and recall costs (to modify/update products due to design
deficiencies),
 Loss of business and loss of customer goodwill.

Prevention and appraisal costs can be classified as ‘costs of conformance’.

Internal and external failure costs can be classified as ‘costs of non-
conformance’.

TECHNIQUES TO ANALYZE QUALITY COST

TREND ANALYSIS OR TIME SERIES ANALYSIS

A well-established firm would have accumulated data. These data are

arranged chronologically with regular intervals of time and analyzed to
determine the nature of existing trend called time series. Then, this trend is
projected in order to interpret the future trend called time series analysis. The
data can be presented either in a tabular form or a graph.

Time series has four components,

 Secular trend: refers to changes that occur as a result of general tendency.
 Seasonal trend: refers to changes resulting from climatic, weather
conditions and festivals.
 Cyclical trend: refers to changes arising out of boom and depressions
 Random variation trend: refers to changes arising out of earth quakes,
floods etc
The trend in time series can be estimated by

Least square method: this method is used to fit a trend line to the data
known as “line of best fit”. The straight line trend is represented by the
equation Y = a + bx
Where ‘a’ and ‘b’ are constant, representing the intercept and slope of
estimated straight line.

To determine the values of ‘a’ and ‘b’, the following two equations are used
∑Y = na + b∑X
∑XY = a∑X + b∑X2
Where n = number of years.

2. PARETO DIAGRAM
Introduction: Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto shows on a bar graph which
factors are more significant. This method helps to find the vital few
contributing maximum impact from the trivial many.

Definition: It is a diagnostic tool commonly used for separating the vital few
causes that account for a dominant share of quality loss.

Purpose: The purpose of the Pareto chart is to prioritize problems. No company

has enough resources to tackle every problem, so they must prioritize.

Pareto Principle: The Pareto concept was developed by the describing the
frequency distribution of any given characteristic of a population. Also called
the 20-80 rule, it means only 20% of problems (defects) account for 80% of the
effects.

Illustration: Table shows data collected from a given production process. The
table shows that there are five possible error types and totally 2165 number of
components is inspected of which 416 components are defective. Type I error
accounts for 47.7%; Type III error accounts for 24.7%; Type II error accounts
for 6.01%; Type IV error accounts for 4.327% and Type V error accounts for
17.31%.

Total no. of components inspected:

Total no. of defective:

Error Type Number of Error Failure Relative Failure

 Percentage Percentage

II

III

IV

Total

Diagram

CONCLUSION

Management must use Cost of Quality (COQ) data to identify and prioritize
improvement opportunities. The first priority is to eliminate external failures
and then internal failures. Thereafter inspection can be reduced gradually. By
spending more money on prevention all these can be achieved.

The 1:10:100 Rule - Re.1 spent on prevention will save Rs.10 spent on
appraisal and Rs.100 on failure costs. This rule helps one to prioritize
expenditure on prevention, which is sure to bring in greater returns.
7. Explain the objectives and concept of TPM. Explain the five pillars of TPM.
Apr 10, May 13
8. Define TPM. Explain the stages involved in developing TPM. What are the six
major loss areas need to be measured for implementing TPM? Apr 14, Nov 13,
Apr 11, Nov 12, Dec 13

Please Refer Photocopy – Attached Here

Page No.: 18.3 to 18.12
9. Brief six basic techniques for presenting performance measure. May 13, Nov
12
Definition: Performance measures indicates the measurement of success in an
organization.

Ray F. Boedecker has identified and listed seven objectives of performance

measures. The seven objectives are

1. to establish baseline measure and reveal trends.

2. to determine which processes need to be improved.
3. to indicate process gains and losses.
4. to compare goals with actual performance.
5. to provide information for individual and team evaluation.
6. to provide information to make informed decisions.
7. to determine the overall performance of the organization.

PERFORMANCE INDICATORS (WHAT ARE THE ITEMS TO BE MEASURED)

Criteria Indicators
1. Customers Number of customers’ complaints
Number of warranty claims
Number of suggestions per employee
% returns by customers
Customer satisfaction index
Time to resolve complaints
Mean time to repair
2. Production Productivity = output / input
Labour Productivity
Capital Productivity
Material Productivity
Effectiveness = actual result / expected result
Efficiency = expected cost / actual cost
Failure rate = (no. of failures / total no. of
products tested) x 100
Lead time for product development
Availability = MTBF / MTTR
MTBF – Mean Time Between Failures
MTTR – Mean Time To Repair

3. Suppliers Service rating

On-time delivery
Quality performance
SPC charts
Billing accuracy
 Just In Time delivery target
4. Research & Development New product time to market
Time needed to launch a new product
Design change orders
Cost estimating errors
% of sales from new products
5. Human Resources % of personnel turnover
% of absence due to illness
Employee satisfaction index
Number of training hours per employee
Number of active teams
% of safety incidents
% of environmental incidents
6. Marketing / Sales Sales growth
Market growth
% of delivery completed
Sales expense to revenue
New customers
Order accuracy
Sales income to number of sales people
7. Administration Revenue growth
Revenue per employee
Expense to revenue
Cost of poor quality
% of payroll distribution on time
Office equipment up-time
Order entry / billing accuracy
Invoicing speed

REQUIREMENTS OR CRITERIA OF THE PERFORMANCE MEASURES

1. Simple
2. Few in number of key
measures
3. Developed by users
4. Relevance to customers
5. Improvement
6. Cost
7. Visible
8. Timely
9. Aligned
10. Results
PERFORMANCE MEASURES PRESENTATION

The commonly used six basic techniques for presenting performance

measures are:

1. Time Series Trend Analysis

2. Control Charts
3. Process Capability Index
4. Taguchi’s Quality Loss Function
5. Cost of Poor Quality and
6. Quality Awards

Please Refer Photocopy – Attached Here

Page No.: 7.7 to 7.8
10. Explain Taguchi’s loss function and the evaluation method of the loss
developed by him. Nov 13, Nov 09, Nov 13, May 13

Dr. Genichi Taguchi, a mechanical engineer who has won four Deming
Awards, is the originator of the concepts of Loss Function, Signal-to-Noise
Ratio, Parameter & Tolerance Design, and Robust Design.

LOSS FUNCTION - The Quality Loss Function gives a financial value for
customers' increasing dissatisfaction as the product performance goes below
the desired target performance.

Taguchi worked in terms of quality loss rather than quality. He used loss
function to measure quality. The loss function is defined as “loss imparted
by a product to society from the time the product is shipped”.

Traditional losses during manufacturing include losses due to downtime,

defects, rework, scrap, etc.

Losses to society include the cost of operating the product, failure to meet
customer requirements, failure to meet ideal performance, harmful side effects,
warranty claims, poor reliability, etc.

Any product or service has specifications. The specification specifies the limits
– upper specification limit (USL) and lower specification limit (LSL) – for
product or process characteristics. Quality was traditionally viewed as a step
function as shown in the Figure.

The figure assumes that performance is uniformly good if the performance

characteristic lies between USL and LSL. It depicts two situations: quality is
good or bad, customer is satisfied or dissatisfied, etc.

Taguchi viewed that the customer becomes increasingly dissatisfied as the

performance moves further away from the target value µ or τ. From the
customer’s point of view, the product that barely meets specification is as
good (or bad) as the one that is barely out of specification. He suggested a
quadratic curve to represent customer dissatisfaction with a process or
product’s performance. The quadratic curve is called Quality Loss Function.

The ideal quality defined by Taguchi is that quality when the product performs
on target every time under all intended operating conditions throughout its
intended life.
The financial loss due to variation is called societal loss. It is approximately
proportional to the square of the deviation from the target. The goal of quality
loss function is to reduce the societal loss.

Although Taguchi developed more than 68 loss functions to suit different

applications, the following three are the most basic and cover most situations:

(i) Nominal-the-best
(ii) Lower (Smaller)-the-better
(iii) Higher (Larger)-the-better.

(i) Nominal-the-best: It is applicable to those parameters which have a central

value and allowable tolerance on either side. The loss function is given by:

Loss (L) = K (Y – τ)2

Where L = cost incurred as quality (performance) deviates from the target,

Y = actual quality (performance) or quality (performance) characteristics of

selected product,

τ = target value or nominal value of the chosen product,

Δ = (Y – τ) = tolerance,

K = quality loss co-efficient = A / Δ 2 (It is expressed in rupees or dollars),

Where A = the loss to the customer of repairing or discarding the product,

Δ = deviation of the specification from the target value = USL – τ or τ – LSL.

(ii) Lower (Smaller)-the-better: The target value is ideally zero. There are no
negative values for the performance characteristics.

Example: Radiation leakage from the microwave, the response time for a
computer, delays, number of defects, pollution from an automobile, etc.

Loss function is L = KY2 where K = A /Y2.

(iii) Higher (Larger)-the-better: The target value is infinity which gives a zero
loss. There are no negative values and the worst case is at Y = 0.

Actually, larger the better is the reciprocal of smaller the better.

Example: bond strength of adhesives, welding strength, automobile mileage,

etc

Loss function is L = K (1/Y2) where K = A x Y2

TWO MARKS QUESTIONS WITH ANSWERS

1. What is a QFD?
Definition of QFD: Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is a technique to
bring the voice of the customer into the process of designing and
developing a product or service.

QFD translates the voice of the customer into technical and functional
requirements at every stage of design and manufacture.

2. What are the benefits of QFD?

BENEFITS OF QFD
1. Reduces product development time up to 50%.
2. Reduces product development costs up to 20% to 60%.
3. Reduces time to market.
4. Improves customer satisfaction, and hence sales.
5. Improves the product performance.
6. Reduces quality costs.
7. Focuses the organization on customer needs.
8. Promotes team-work within the organization.
9. Provides database for future design, process changes.

3. What is a quality circle? Write the objectives of quality circle. May 13

Definition of QC: QC is a small team of people (around 8 to 10) coming from
the same work area/department who voluntarily meet on a regular basis
(about an hour every week) to identify, investigate, analyze and solve work-
related problems. The Circle presents the solutions to the management and
implements them after approval.

Objectives of QC:

1. Improve quality and productivity.

2. Cost reduction.
3. Effective utilization of resources.
4. Avoid unnecessary errors, defects.
5. Solve work-related problems that interfere with production.
6. Better housekeeping.
7. Reduce waste.
8. Work-in-process reduction.
9. Reduction in maintenance problems.
10. Job improvement.
4. What are the goals or objectives of TPM? Apr 14
The overall goals of Total Productive Maintenance, which is an extension of
TQM are
i. Maintaining and improving equipment capacity
ii. Maintaining equipment for life
iii. Using support from all areas of the operation
iv. Encouraging input from all employees
v. Using teams for continuous improvement

5. Give the seven basic steps to get an organization started toward TPM.
a) Management learns the new philosophy
b) Management promotes the new philosophy
c) Training is funded and developed for everyone in the organization
d) Areas of needed improvement are identified
e) Performance goals are formulated
f) An implementation plan is developed
g) Autonomous work groups are established

6. What are the major loss areas?

 Materials scrapped,
 Cost of repairing/rework/rectification,
 Retesting,
 Fault investigation,
 Troubleshooting,
 Changes in specifications, process, tests, and
 The costs of delays, paperwork, rescheduling

7. Define TPM. Nov 13

Definition of TPM: It is the systematic execution of maintenance by all
employees through small group activities.

The dual goals of TPM are Zero breakdowns and Zero defects.
T: Total = All encompassing by maintenance and production individuals
working together.
P: Productive = Production of goods and services that meet or exceed
customer’s expectations.
M: Maintenance = Keeping equipment and plant in as good as or better than
the original condition at all times.
8. Define quality cost.
Quality costs are defined as costs associated with non-achievement of
product/service quality.

Quality cost is the cost of poor products/services.

Quality cost is the cost of not meeting the customer’s requirements – the cost
of doing things wrong.

9. List the categories of quality costs.

The categories of quality cost are
1. Cost of prevention
2. Cost of appraisal
3. Cost of internal failures and
4. Cost of external failures.

10. What is meant by cost of prevention?

Prevention costs: It is the costs which are planned and are incurred before
actual operation.

These costs are associated with preventing defects in design,

implementation and maintenance of the quality management system
before they occur.

11. List the elements of cost of prevention.

 Redesigning the product to make it simpler to produce,
 Redesigning the process to remove causes of poor quality,
 Working with suppliers to increase the quality of purchased items or
contracted services,
 Collecting of customer feedback on performance, reliability, etc.,
 Charting of quality performance to study trends, and so on.
 Cost of quality planning,
 Cost of documenting,
 Cost of training.

12. What is cost appraisal?

These costs are incurred in assessing the level of quality attained by the
operating system at various stages from design through manufacturing to
final delivery before they are shipped to end-user.
13. Give an example of cost of appraisal.
 Cost of Installation
 Cost of laboratory acceptance testing
 Cost of installation testing
 Cost of testing of purchased raw materials,
 Stage inspection of manufacturing processes,
 Cost of maintenance and calibration of testing and inspecting
equipments,
 Review of test data prior to release of product for shipment, etc.

14. What is meant by cost of internal failures?

Internal failure costs: These are costs required to identify, repair, replace, or
dispose off defective products/services prior to delivery to the customer.

15. List the components cost of internal failures.

 Materials scrapped,
 Cost of repairing/rework/rectification,
 Retesting,
 Fault investigation,
 Troubleshooting,
 Changes in specifications, process, tests, and
 The costs of delays, paperwork, rescheduling, and other hassles caused
by the defective products.

16. What is meant by cost of external failures?

External failure costs: These costs arise when a defect is discovered after the
product/service is delivered to the customer.

They include

 Cost of complaint investigations,

 Cost of evaluating, repairing or replacing goods,
 Cost of warranty and guarantee claims,
 Cost of Product liability,
 Cost of loss of sales,
 Penalties for deficient product/service performance as per contract,
 Retrofit and recall costs (to modify/update products due to design
deficiencies),
 Loss of business and loss of customer goodwill.
17. Give the sub-elements of Preventive cost category.
i. Marketing/Customer/User
ii. Product/Service/Design development
iii. Purchasing
iv. Operations/
v. Quality Administration

18. Give the sub-elements of Appraisal cost category.

i. Purchasing appraisal cost
ii. Operations appraisal cost
iii. External appraisal cost
iv. Review of test and application data
v. Miscellaneous quality evaluations

19. Give the sub-elements of internal failure cost category.

i. Product or Service Design costs (Internal)
ii. Purchasing failure costs
iii. Operations failure costs

20. Give the sub-elements of External failure cost category.

i. Complaint investigations of customer or user service
ii. Returned goods
iii. Retrofit and recall costs
iv. Warranty claims
v. Liability costs
vi. Penalties
vii. Customer or user goodwill
viii. Lost sales
ix. Other external failure costs

21. Give the typical quality cost bases.

i. Labour
ii. Production
iii. Unit
iv. Sales

22. How will you determine the optimum cost?

a. Make comparison with other organizations
b. Optimize the individual categories
c. Analyze the relationships among the cost categories
23. What are the objectives of QFD?
OBJECTIVES OF QFD
 To identify the true voice of the customer and to use this knowledge to
develop products which satisfy customers.
 To help in the organization and analysis of all the pertinent information
associated with the project.

24. Write and draw the parts of the house of quality.

BASIC STRUCTURE OF HOUSE OF QUALITY:
The house of quality has six sections, as shown in figure given below.
Section 1: Customer Requirements
Section 2: Prioritized Customer Requirements
Section 3: Technical Descriptors
Section 4: Relationship Matrix
Section 5: Trade Off Matrix or Interrelationship between technical descriptors
Section 6: Prioritized Technical Descriptors

25. What do you mean by house of quality? Nov 09, May 12

The House of Quality (HOQ), so called because of its shape, is the basic tool
used in Quality Function Deployment. It is a set of matrixes used to relate the
VOC to a product’s technical requirements, component requirements,
manufacturing plans and manufacturing operations.
26. Sketch the structure of quality circle.
The structure of quality circles consists of the following elements:
1. Top management
2. Coordinator
3. Steering Committee
4. Facilitator
5. Leader
6. Members
7. Non-members

27. List out the elements of the quality circle structure.

The elements of quality circle structure are as follows:
1. Top management
2. Coordinator
3. Steering Committee
4. Facilitator
5. Leader
6. Members
7. Non-members

28. What are the benefits of TPM?

 Increased equipment productivity
 Improved equipment reliability
 Reduced equipment downtime
 Increased plant capacity
 Extended machine line
 Lower maintenance and production costs
 Enhanced job satisfaction
 Improved return on investment
 Improved safety
 Improved teamwork between operators and maintenance people
29. What are taguchi methods?
(i) Nominal-the-best
(ii) Lower (Smaller)-the-better
(iii) Higher (Larger)-the-better.

(i) Nominal-the-best: It is applicable to those parameters which have a central

value and allowable tolerance on either side. The loss function is given by:

Loss function is L = K (Y – τ)2 where K = A / Δ 2

(ii) Lower (Smaller)-the-better: The target value is ideally zero. There are no
negative values for the performance characteristics.

Loss function is L = KY2 where K = A /Y2.

(iii) Higher (Larger)-the-better: The target value is infinity which gives a zero
loss. There are no negative values and the worst case is at Y = 0.

Loss function is L = K (1/Y2) where K = A x Y2

30. Define quality in terms of taguchi’s words. Apr 10

Minimum loss imparted by a product to society from the time the product is
shipped – Taguchi

31. Define quality cost index. (Quality cost base)

It is the index used to compare with quality costs are labour base,
production base, sales base and unit base.
Labour base index – quality cost per hour direct labour
Cost base index – quality cost per rupee of production cost
Sales base index – quality cost per rupee of net sales
Unit base index – quality cost per unit of production

32. Name any two popular awards for quality

 The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award
 The UK Quality Award
 The Golden Peacock National Quality Award
 The Rajiv Gandhi National Quality Award
 Deming Award
33. Define quality loss function. May 12, Jun 12, Nov 12
It is the quadratic curve to represent customer dissatisfaction with a process or
product’s performance.

The loss function is given by Loss (L) = K (Y – τ)2

34. List down any two of the analysis techniques for quality cost. Apr 08
Trend Analysis – The data of quality cost are arranged chronologically with
regular intervals of time and analyzed to determine the nature of existing trend
called time series. Then, this trend is projected in order to interpret the future
trend called time series analysis.

Pareto Analysis - It is a diagnostic tool commonly used for separating the

vital few causes that account for a dominant share of quality loss.

35. Define failure rate. Nov 09

It is defined as the ratio of number of failures and total number of products
tested as a percentage.

Failure rate = (no. of failures / total no. of products tested) x 100

36. What is quality loss? Apr 14

The loss function is defined as “loss imparted by a product to society from the
time the product is shipped”. Dr. Genichi Taguchi, a mechanical engineer, is
the originator of the concepts of Quality Loss Function.
37. How can QFD be deployed? Nov 13
QFD can be deployed through the House of Quality. The House of Quality
(HOQ), so called because of its shape, is the basic tool used in Quality
Function Deployment. It is a set of matrixes used to relate the VOC to a
product’s technical requirements, component requirements, manufacturing
plans and manufacturing operations.

38. What are the areas in which QFD is used? Apr 11

Functional areas such as
Marketing
Design Engineering
Quality assurance
Manufacturing Engineering
Test Engineering
Finance
Human Resource Development/Department

39. How will you calculate OEE? May 13

Overall Equipment Effectiveness = Availability x Performance efficiency x Rate
of quality products.

40. Draw the general structure of House of Quality. Nov 12

BASIC STRUCTURE OF HOUSE OF QUALITY:
The house of quality has six sections, as shown in figure given below.
Section 1: Customer Requirements
Section 2: Prioritized Customer Requirements
Section 3: Technical Descriptors
Section 4: Relationship Matrix
Section 5: Trade Off Matrix or Interrelationship between technical descriptors
Section 6: Prioritized Technical Descriptors
41. What are the functions of quality circle? Nov 13
 The optimum no. of employees in any quality circle is between 6 to 10.
 It should be a homogeneous group where participation members must be
from within the same department or work area.
 The members of quality circle should meet regularly once in a week for an
hour after their working hours or during working hours to discuss the work
related problems and find solutions to the problems.
 Training and quality control activities must be carried out on company time.
 Final recommendations of the quality circle must be acceptable to
management before they are made effective.

My heartfelt thanks to Mech Students!

To be a peaceful old age, you must work in Youth

To have a good night sleep, you must work during the day.

If you salute your duty, you no need to salute anybody; but if you pollute your
duty, you have to salute everybody.

________ All the Best for your success in Mechanical life! __________