Md. Abu Abdullah :
It is commonly believed that most quality problems are caused primarily by lack of interest or care on the part of the worker in the production process. However, it is usually not the worker who can be blamed for this, since the conditions necessary to carry out the work correctly do not exist.
For example, instructions may be inadequate, the incoming material may be defective, the machines may not be capable of producing goods of the required quality, and proper conditions for conducting inspection of the product are not given to the workers and so on. Unfortunately the worker has no control over these factors but they are often blamed for defective work.
What is quality? If a product fulfils the customer’s expectations, the customer will be pleased and consider that the product is of acceptable or even high quality. If his or her expectations are not fulfilled, the customer will consider that the product is of low quality. The quality of a product may be defined as,” its ability to fulfill the customer’s needs and expectations”.
It is generally believed that 40 per cent of quality problems are caused by poor product design, 30 per cent of quality problems are caused by wrong or defective materials being purchased from suppliers and the remaining 30 per cent are due to errors made during manufacturing process.
Both design and purchase problems can be solved only through intervention by the management and workers have no control over them. One could argue that the remaining quality problems in manufacturing are caused equally by managers by not providing adequate training for workers and by workers by not paying adequate attention to machine settings.
Thus 85 per cent of problems come from management control whereas 15 per cent are under workers’ control. Here too the worker can be held responsible for the defects if he or she knows what he or she is supposed to do, the result of his or her own work and the means to influence the result.
There is another myth that product quality can be improved through propaganda and other motivational activities. This is based on false assumption that human errors are primarily the result of lack of interest or care on the part of the people involved. Experience shows that considerably better results can be achieved if it is ensured that proper conditions exist for doing work or getting things right at the first time, for example the product specification must be clear and unambiguous.
The technical conditions must be such as to enable the quality requirements to be met, for example, the materials must be appropriate for the work and the machines must be capable of producing the required quality. Everyone must know what to do to prevent poor work. Everyone carrying out work should be able to judge whether the result of his or her work complies with the quality requirements. Everyone must also know and be aware of the consequences of poor work for the organization.
To reach an adequate standard of quality people at all levels must cooperate actively. It means that continuous and comprehensive education and training aimed at all functions and levels, from top management to the worker level, are necessary for quality improvement.
Now- a- days products are produced to meet the demand of worldwide customers as per proper standard. Mobile phones, credit cards, computers, electronic products are produced in accordance with world class standard. Even our garments, pharmaceuticals and leather goods are produced as per standard, demand, design and desire of customers worldwide.
What is standard? A standard is a document which provides, inter alia, requirements, rules and guidelines for a process, product or service. Standards are the result of a consensus and approved by a recognized body. Measurement and calibration play a vital role in the manufacturing of products for the global market. Measurement should be accurate, precise and reproducible.
Productivity is the input -output relational concept. Every business organization, manufacturing or service, strive to achieve efficiency of which productivity is one of the most important component.
Productivity is measured in terms of inputs required to produce a given level of output. Therefore, the lower the level of input required to produce a given level of output, the greater the efficiency. A company or an organization with highest level of productivity in its industry is deemed to be producing products at lowest unit costs.
The organizations that are supposed to produce products actually create value to the products. Inputs are transmitted through the value chain from procurement to manufacturing to distribution of finished product. At each stage of value chain, values are added to the products.
As mentioned earlier, productivity is one of the most important component of efficiency and an organization’s efficiency can be measured by analyzing the input- output ratios which eventually helps to identify the various inputs’ productivity like productivity of labor, productivity of raw materials, productivity of land, productivity of capital, productivity of energy and so on.
Productivity is the relationship between output goods and services and human and non- human resources used in the production process. Increase and effective use of human resources by providing systematic and continual training are necessary for higher productivity. Standard quality product and higher productivity are essential to sustain in the competitive business world.
(The writer is a retired Additional Secretary).
