(BQ) Production and Operations Management has been recognised as an important factor in a country’s economic growth. The traditional view of manufacturing management is the concept of Production Management with the focus on economic efficiency in manufacturing. Later the new name Operations Management was identified, as service sector became more prominent. This part provides knowledge of: Quality control, work study (time and motion study), maintenance management, waste management, automation. | 6 QUALITY CONTROL CHAPTER OUTLINE Introduction Quality Control Inspection Quality Control Statistical Process Control Quality Circles • • • Total Quality Management (TQM) ISO 9000 Series Appliation ISO 9000: ISO 14000 Series Exercises Skill Development Caselet INTRODUCTION In any business organization, profit is the ultimate goal. To achieve this, there are several approaches. Profit may be maximized by cutting costs for the same selling price per unit. If it is a monopolistic business, without giving much of importance to the cost reduction programs, the price may be fixed suitably to earn sufficient profit. But, to survive in a competitive business environment, goods and services produced by a firm should have the minimum required quality. Extra quality means extra cost. So, the level of quality should be decided in relation to other factors such that the product is well absorbed in the market. In all these cases, to have repeated sales and thereby increased sales revenue, basic quality is considered to be one of the supportive factors. Quality is a measure of how closely a good or service conforms to specified standard. Quality standards may be any one or a combination of attributes and variables of the product being manufactured. The attributes will include performance, reliability, appearance, commitment to delivery time, etc., variables may be some measurement variables like, length, width, height, diameter, surface finish, etc. 131 ! PRODUCTION AND OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT Most of the above characteristics are related to products. Similarly, some of the quality characteristics of services are meeting promised due dates, safety, comfort, security, less waiting time and so forth. So, the various dimensions of quality are performance, features, reliability, conformance, durability, serviceability, aesthetics, perceived quality, safety, comfort, security, commitment to due dates, less waiting time, .
