Question

How could you justify the ideas of "Zero Defects", "Do it Right the First Time", and "Quality is Free" utilizing the cost of quality terminology?

Answer 1

As explained in the lecture cost of quality is the sum of cost of control and cost of failure of control. Cost of control is the sum of prevention cost and appraisal costs. Cost of failure of control is the sum of internal and external failure costs. Being said that, to aim for “Zero Defects” we need to focus on prevention costs rather than in failure costs, because these are the things you will do to prevent defects from happening. “Do it right the First Time” aims to reduce the mindset of allowing mistakes to get gradually decreased, these could all be prevented by putting together the correct effort to ensure correct process without defect. This will also mean that prevention cost will be higher to certify these standards. “Quality is Free” just means that an investment in prevention costs in improving quality pays itself back by decreasing failure costs. Example of this is having a good quality car can prevent failure costs of warranty recalls which cost more in the long run.