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What Is Quality?
  • Open Access

What Is Quality?

Publication:
Quality Progress
Date:
July 2001
Issue:
Volume 34 Issue 7
Pages:
pp. 53-62
Author(s):
Hoyer, R. W., Hoyer, Brooke B. Y.
Organization(s):
Decision Dynamics Inc., Ann Arbor, MI, Hewlett-Packard Digital Printing Technologies Division, Vancouver, WA

Abstract

The demand for quality has been part of human nature for a long time, but the quantification of quality and establishment of formal quality standards are a 20th century phenomenon. The global marketplace has created consumers who think they know quality when they see it, and they expect to receive it. Yet when you look at the writings of prominent quality gurus, there is little agreement on what is meant by the word "quality." In general, the expert's definitions of quality fall into two categories: Level one quality applies to products or services whose measurable characteristics satisfy a fixed set of specifications that are usually numerically defined. Level two quality products and services need only satisfy customer expectations. The authors discuss the philosophies of eight quality experts - Crosby, Deming, Feigenbaum, Ishikawa, Juran, Pirsig, Shewhart, and Taguchi - each of whose definition of quality is presented in sidebar articles. It is concluded that Shewhart provides the best definition from both an intellectual and practical perspective.

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