Quality_Control

QUALITY MANAGEMENT 2 Introduction Quality control is a process within an organization designed to ensure a set level of quality for the products or services offered by a company (Jacowski, “n.d.”). Quality control has the ability to directly impact the success or failure of a business. Companies with excellent quality control enjoy customer and brand loyalty and referral business. Companies with poor quality control will lose customers, expend resources in replacement products, and reduce their market share. In this paper I will identify a company demonstrating a high level of product quality and describe the characteristics which make it high quality. I will also identify a company with poor quality products, describe the nature of the defects, and suggest ways in which Six Sigma might improve the quality. I chose Brookstone as a company that I believe has excellent quality management in both product and service quality. Brookstone is a nationwide specialty retailer offering an assortment of consumer products that are functional in purpose, distinctive in quality and design and not widely available from other retailers. From the beginning, quality of product, quality of service, and quality of people have been a hallmark of Brookstone (Brookstone, 2011). I have enjoyed many visits to Brookstone stores throughout the country. I believe Brookstone epitomizes the dimensions of quality for service in the areas of time and timeliness, courtesy, consistency, accessibility, and responsiveness (Russell and Taylor, 2011). In over 95 percent of my experiences I was greeted by a very friendly salesperson shortly after entering the store, no matter how busy the store was. A salesperson was there to answer all of my questions and explained how every product I inquired about worked. I did not receive any high pressure sales and was left alone when I was just browsing. On one occasion, while waiting for an QUALITY MANAGEMENT 3 outgoing flight out of my local airport, I found an item that I wanted to purchase but didn’t want to take on my trip. The salesperson let me pay for the item and held it until my return. I believe one of the reasons Brookstone stands out among specialty retailers is that the majority of their products are on display so customers can see how a product operates and the quality and workmanship prior to the purchase. Given the higher cost of their products, this practice has been a key to their success. Product quality is equally important to their continued success. I do not own any Brookstone products that have failed. Their reputation for quality products, as well as their customer-friendly return policy, brings customers into their stores and to their website. Brookstone is the definition of Total Quality Management; a philosophy for managing an organization centered on quality and customer satisfaction as “the” strategy for achieving long term success (Russell and Taylor, 2011). On the other end of the spectrum is Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart’s reputation for both product quality and service is low. Unfortunately due to their size, buying power, and low prices, they enjoy a comfortable market share. I have not experienced any problems in the grocery department but have purchased a few items in clothing, shoes, toys, electronics, and household accessories that had exceptionally poor quality. A decorative stone fell off a sandal before I had a chance to wear it; a hair dryer died after two months; a seam came loose on a blouse. I returned two items without incident and the rest chalked up to bad purchase decisions. QUALITY MANAGEMENT 4 Customer service is also a problem. There are not many people on the floor to assist consumers. Many of the staff appear to be “paycheck” employees. They have not bought in to the organizations vision or goals; they are just putting their hours in. I believe Mal-Mart could benefit from Six Sigma by identifying and removing the causes of defects by improving the quality of their products. Wal-Mart’s top level management and the entire organization must be committed to quality improvement for the program to be successful. Once commitment is achieved, a special infrastructure of “Champions,” “Master Black Belts,” “Black Belts,” “Green Belts,” etc. (Wikipedia, 2011) need to lead the Six Sigma approach. A review of customer complaints would identify groups of products requiring immediate attention. Brands that Wal-Mart owns, called store brands, need to be tested and reviewed for product quality and durability. Review of production processes would highlight areas requiring process improvement, upgrade, or replacement. Brands outside of the Wal-Mart family of products also need to be reviewed for product quality. Suppliers of poor quality products identified during the review should be contacted to inform them of new quality control standards and expectations. A cost-benefit analysis should be conducted on all products continuing to experience defects. Those products failing to achieve minimal benefit should be dropped from Wal-Mart shelves. Delivery and internal store processes also need to be reviewed to identify any impacts on product defects. Poorly handled products turn into damaged products. Store policies regarding stocking of products dropped or damaged must be reinforced. QUALITY MANAGEMENT 5 Conclusion Quality management standards can make the difference between a retail store being successful and respected by consumers or merely being successful due to size and convenient location. Brookstone continues to be successful through quality management practices, innovative products, and customer satisfaction. Wal-Mart has lost customers to other large retailers such as Target, Kohls, and Meijer due to their poor reputation for quality products and service. If Wal-Mart wants to regain market share and the respect of consumers, it will have to adopt process improvement practices such as Six Sigma. Quality management is the key to long term success. QUALITY MANAGEMENT 6 References Brookstone (2011). About Brookstone. Retrieved from http://www.brookstone.com/static/customerService.jsp'panelId=600017 Jacowski, T. (n.d.).Quality Management. Retrieved from http://ezinearticles.com/'expert=Tony_Jacowski Russell, R. S. & Taylor, B. W. III (2011). Operations Management, Creating Value Along the Supply Chain (7th ed). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, Inc. Wikipedia (2011), Six Sigma. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_sigma