Is Quality for free?

This is a million dollar question and could be a hot debate topic among the quality analysts across the world. Is Quality for free? This question arose when the book called “Quality is free” by a renowned author “Philip B. Crosby”, a Quality guru was published in the late 80’s. So Is Quality free? When we look at it, we need to really understand the term quality. To define quality everyone had their own ways but I believe all meant to say that Quality is one term that will be addressed to a product or service which meets exactly what is needed.

The question brings out the quantitative subject in quality and thus when it is quantified it can have perceptions which may cross boundaries that differ from persons. But what does that book “Quality is free” really say? (Remember the book I addressed before starting this chaos) So if quality is for free, is the effort put in achieving the quality, a goof off? No says the author’s intentions.

From an organization’s view on quality, it is absolutely free to implement which would reduce the non conformities and increase the productivity of the product or service being developed. The cost occurred in achieving this is called the quality cost which incurs the effort put in it. This cost is added to the product/service’s cost and hence quality becomes a billable value addition to the product/service being offered. Is this global trend correct? This is what I have in my mind whenever I think on this. Is Quality mean to be a value addition for a product?

Ever wondered why a branded shirt costs more than a normal one? By taking out this example, I believe it is easy to understand the real concept behind the trend around us. As I mentioned earlier, it is the quality cost which is implied to the cost of the material purchased, as the cost involved in implementing to attain the quality is more in the case of former. Is this really true? If quality is not meant to be free then how do we measure the cost? This will be the immediate questions that pops out after all these conclusions.

The cost to attain quality is measured as a sum of the costs involved in two major roles.

• Costs of control

o Prevention costs

o Appraisal costs • Costs of failure control (Nonconformance)

o Internal failure cost

o External failure cost

The ultimate goal of quality management is 

to attain a zero defect product/service and hence they will concentrate more on the prevention and appraisal phase as the cost involved here will help in reducing the costs of failure control which plays the major piece of a pie when not managed properly. The following shows the relationship between quality vs. cost. This is the juran’s approach on cost over quality and it’ll be clearly visible through this that how cost plays the role in attaining the quality of the product. This also protrays a fact on what has been discussed so far.

As you can evidence throught this that the total cost achieved in producing a 100% compliant product is service is not so high or have a higher difference with the cost attained in producing it. Thus quality can be termed as free as it doesn't much contribute to the total cost of the product/service being offered.

"Then why does the branded shirt is costlier than the normal one?" I hope this is what that runs in one's mind while reaching the end of this now. There are various other factors that adds cost to the product. For eg: Marketing is one such kind of factor. Hence it is not the well premeditated quality that really adds up to the cost but there are various other factors that makes up the whole piece.

This is totally a perception of mine and it is not through intention, if any of the data posted here conflicts theories of legends.

References  : http://www.maxwideman.com/issacons1/iac1180/index.htm

                    God of posts: http://www.google.co.in ;)

Is it my fault to be in Bench?

I should’ve posted a different topic here today. But an incident drove me here to write this. No wonder I should be writing it here as this is for one special reason though and for a special person who will find it when he reads it. I don’t mean to say that this is a special note to a person rather this is just a scribbling from a miniature’s mind about the globally occurring trend in software industries.

We would’ve noticed people around us enjoying their time mostly, gazing all through the internet, reading the tabloids, making things which is far beyond our imaginations and some of us even would’ve experienced it. The management calls them people in bench and I believe them as people having potential to craft their own path. What is a bench really? 

“Bench, is an inventory in waiting to meet Business demand, it is part of any Organization supply chain not just limited to IT Industry (in the form of material in other industries).” 

– This is how a saga (friend) of mine expressed his view. Seems more technical uh? So lez juz come down to a layman’s definition of what a bench is. Bench is commonly referred to a group of resources whom are the backup for any organization’s needs when a series of deals is in pipeline. So what happens when the pipeline is broken? There starts the chaos. Every organization deals it in its own way and there is one common term which is referred to it called “Lay Off”. 

My intention is not to speak on “Lay off” or something related to it. The reason behind this blog is to discuss that do I really deserve it? If so why me? This I believe is the unsolved maze in everyone's mind. Let us come out of what the topic says. It is not about finding fault for one’s state but to analyze what can be done in that state. When one is at the mid of the chaos happening around, he / she should realize that it’s not him / her who is responsible for it. He / She should also understand the fact that the organization has spotted no other way to tackle the situation. 

I hope that a person in bench has a lot more capability to create than others in the routine. Every single person has their own uniqueness but many fail to express them or don’t know when and where to express them. So start expressing them in a way that it serves the organization and let us pat on their head and say we don’t deserve it. It is a boon and not a bane to be in when we really identify ourselves in it. Being dejected is not the end to all. Begin and progress the way that the management should turn back at you and say atleast a sorry for not identifying the potential that created this outbreak. 

The day our dreams will become innovations...

We all have dreams in our life. Dreams that would make the world around us change, dreams for a good cause, dreams that could help mankind or even dreams on our own future. Some may even have nightmares...;) But the reason behind this blog is to turn out the positive dreams in us to creations. Creations which will remain throughout the life of the creator and even after him. The real purpose of this blog remains in there. Creations, Innovations or whatever we call it, it would've started with a dream and this blog serves them well. 

They say "Idle man's mind is a devil's workshop". But lez all bring out the devils in us and show em that they aren't meant to be what they are. This blog is for technocrats, IT professionals, Students, or even a normal blogger who would gaze it thro'. But the real idea behind is to bring out our extreme dreams to innovations and I hope it is not "I" that I am addressing to... but it is us. We can do it if we can dream it. Soon or late we could become pioneers and the countdown for that day has started today!