QUALITY In manufacturing, a measure of excellence or a state of being free from defects, deficiencies and significant variations.

It is brought
about by strict and consistent commitment to certain standards that achieve uniformity of a product in order to satisfy specific customer or user
requirements. ISO 8402-1986 standard defines quality as "the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bears its ability to
satisfy stated or implied needs." If an automobile company finds a defect in one of their cars and makes a product recall, customer reliability and
therefore production will decrease because trust will be lost in the car's quality.
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QUALITY CONTROL Quality control (QC) is a procedure or set of procedures intended to ensure that a manufactured product or performed
service adheres to a defined set of quality criteria or meets the requirements of the client or customer.
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QUALITY ASSURANCE Often used interchangeably with quality control (QC), it is a wider concept that covers all policies and systematic activities
implemented within a quality system. QA frameworks include (1) determination of adequate technical requirement of inputs and outputs, (2)
certification and rating of suppliers, (3) testing of procured material for its conformance to established quality, performance, safety, and reliability
standards, (4) proper receipt, storage, and issue of material, (5) audit of the process quality, (6) evaluation of the process to establish required
corrective response, and (7) audit of the final output for conformance to (a) technical (b) reliability, (c) maintainability, and (d) performance
requirements.
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PERFORMANCE EXCELLENCE - The term performance excellence refers to an integrated approach to organizational performance management
that results in (1) delivery of ever-improving value to customers and stakeholders, contributing to organizational sustainability; (2) improvement of
overall organizational effectiveness and capabilities; and (3) organizational and personal learning.

DIFFERENT DIMENSIONS OF QUALITY

1. Performance - Of course, performance refers to a products primary operating characteristics. For an automobile, performance would
include traits like acceleration, handling, cruising speed, and comfort; for a television set, performance means sound and picture clarity,
color, and the ability to receive distant stations. In service businessessay, fast food and airlinesperformance often means prompt
service.
2. Features - Similar thinking can be applied to features, a second dimension of quality that is often a secondary aspect of performance.
Features are the bells and whistles of products and services, those characteristics that supplement their basic functioning. Examples
include free drinks on a plane, permanent-press cycles on a washing machine, and automatic tuners on a color television set. The line
separating primary performance characteristics from secondary features is often difficult to draw. What is crucial, again, is that features
involve objective and measurable attributes; objective individual needs, not prejudices, affect their translation into quality differences.
3. Reliability - This dimension reflects the probability of a product malfunctioning or failing within a specified time period. Among the most
common measures of reliability are the mean time to first failure, the mean time between failures, and the failure rate per unit time.
Because these measures require a product to be in use for a specified period, they are more relevant to durable goods than to products
and services that are consumed instantly.
4. Conformance - A related dimension of quality is conformance, or the degree to which a products design and operating characteristics
meet established standards. This dimension owes the most to the traditional approaches to quality pioneered by experts like Juran.
5. Durability - A measure of product life, durability has both economic and technical dimensions. Technically, durability can be defined as
the amount of use one gets from a product before it deteriorates. After so many hours of use, the filament of a light bulb burns up and
the bulb must be replaced. Repair is impossible. Economists call such products one-hoss shays (after the carriage in the Oliver Wendell
Holmes poem that was designed by the deacon to last a hundred years, and whose parts broke down simultaneously at the end of the
century).
6. Serviceability - A sixth dimension of quality is serviceability, or the speed, courtesy, competence, and ease of repair. Consumers are
concerned not only about a product breaking down but also about the time before service is restored, the timeliness with which service
appointments are kept, the nature of dealings with service personnel, and the frequency with which service calls or repairs fail to correct
outstanding problems. In those cases where problems are not immediately resolved and complaints are filed, a companys complaint-
handling procedures are also likely to affect customers ultimate evaluation of product and service quality.
7. Aesthetics - The final two dimensions of quality are the most subjective. Aestheticshow a product looks, feels, sounds, tastes, or
smellsis clearly a matter of personal judgment and a reflection of individual preference. Nevertheless, there appear to be some
patterns in consumers rankings of products on the basis of taste. A recent study of quality in 33 food categories, for example, found that
high quality was most often associated with rich and full flavor, tastes natural, tastes fresh, good aroma, and looks appetizing.
8. Perceived Quality - Consumers do not always have complete information about a products or services attributes; indirect measures
may be their only basis for comparing brands. A products durability, for example, can seldom be observed directly; it usually must be
inferred from various tangible and intangible aspects of the product. In such circumstances, images, advertising, and brand names
inferences about quality rather than the reality itselfcan be critical. For this reason, both Hondawhich makes cars in Marysville,
Ohioand Sonywhich builds color televisions in San Diegohave been reluctant to publicize that their products are made in
America.

https://hbr.org/1987/11/competing-on-the-eight-dimensions-of-quality