HIDDEN COSTS OF QUALITY: MEASUREMENT & ANALYSIS

Quality is the assurance of adherence to the customer specifications and it is a measure of excellence or a state of being free from defects, deficiencies and significant variation from standards. Customer specification of the product can be met by strictly adhering to the quality control measures in the production process and can be ensured in a cost effective manner only if the quality of each and every process in the organization is well defined and ensured without any lapses. Every activity in the supply chain line to be critically verified to identify the quality deviations incurring additional expense or loss to the organization. This is in line with the continual improvement principle of TQM philosophy . The cost of quality management system acts as the most significant tool in measuring, monitoring, controlling and decision making activities in a firm which aims on business excellence.