What is Quality?

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What is Quality?
September 20, 1999

• Sophomore Engineering Clinic I

Anthony Marchese
Mechanical Engineering Rowan University Henry M.
Rowan Hall 201 Mullica Hill Rd. Glassboro, NJ
08028
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ObjectivesWhat is Quality?

• After this presentation you will be able to
• Generate a list of customer attributes
  associated with a quality consumer product.
• Construct a House of Quality to determine how
  customer attributes map into a set of specific
  engineering characteristics.
• Develop a set of engineering specifications for
  a quality consumer product.

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What is Quality?Sophomore Engineering Clinic I
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What is Quality?Sophomore Engineering Clinic I
Quality. You know what it is, yet you don't
know what it is.  ...some things are better than
others, that is, they have more quality.  But
when you try to say what the quality is, apart
from the things that have it, there's nothing to
talk about.  But if you can't say what quality
is...how do you know that it even exists?  ...but
for all practical purposes it really does exist. 
Why else would people pay fortunes for some
things and throw others in the trash pile? 
Obviously some things are better than
others...but what's the "betterness"? ...What the
heck is quality?  What is it? Zen and the Art
of Motorcycle Maintenance Robert Pirsig, 1974
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What is Quality?Sophomore Engineering Clinic I
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What is Quality?Sophomore Engineering Clinic I
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder In terms
of quality, we can restate this as
follows Quality is in the eye of the
customer. Customer Attributes (CAs) What are
the physical attributes that a customer might
associate with a quality product? Customer
Attributes are vague subjective vary with
individual based on personal values
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Customer AttributesWhat is Quality?

• You are the customerfor the following products,
  generate a list of customer attributes that you
  associate with a quality product
• portable mp3 player
• compressor drive shaft
• Duke Nukem 3D Software
• guitar effects pedal
• electronic calipers
• scotch tape dispenser

• Coca-Cola bottle
• hole puncher
• portable flashlight
• turbine blade
• ball bearing
• soccer ball

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Customer Attributes Portable mp3 Player
Customer Attributes Looks cool Looks high
tech Display is easy to read Holds a lot of
music Easy to use Buttons feel good to push Has
lots of features Sounds good Easy to download
files from the web Light weight Portable Clips on
to belt Music doesnt skip
Battery lasts long Feels good to hold Doesnt
break when I drop it
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Customer Attributes Rank them on a scale of 1-10
in importance
Customer Attributes Looks cool - 8 - Looks high
tech - 6 - Display is easy to read - 6 - Holds a
lot of music - 8 - Easy to use - 7- Buttons feel
good to push - 5 - Has lots of features - 6
- Sounds good - 10 - Easy to download files from
the web - 6 - Light weight - 7- Portable - 8
- Clips on to belt - 7 - Music doesnt skip - 7 -
Battery lasts long - 8 - Feels good to hold - 4
- Doesnt break when I drop it - 7-
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Engineering CharacteristicsWhat is Quality?
Engineering Characteristics(ECs) What are the
engineering characteristics responsible for
creating the customer attributes associated with
a quality product. Engineering
Characteristics are specific technical can
either positively affect or negatively affect a
CA trade-off against one-another
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Engineering Characteristics Portable mp3 Player
Engineering Characteristics weight size cost impac
t resistance compression algorithm power
consumption component reliability circuit
reliability audio frequency response random
access sampling rate
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CAs vs. ECs How are they related?