Causes of Poor Quality

Poor Quality

Quality is the most important factor in any business. It can make or break a company and its products, services and reputation.The cost to repair defective items may be as high as 10 times the original price tag. If you’re not careful, your brand could suffer from bad publicity, lost customers and even lawsuits.

 Competition is very high. Despite all the quality models and methodologies out there, most of the companies face the problem of poor quality. Why is it so?

But what exactly contributes to the poor quality? There are many factors that contribute to this problem:

What are the causes of poor quality?

Causes of poor quality may be grouped into six main categories:

Man

• Lack of motivation/interest, fear, stress
• Shortage of people
• Lack of training/skills
• Unqualified personnel
• People taking shortcuts

Machine

• Lack of capability
• Lack of maintenance
• Nonavailability of spares
• Wear and tear
• Improper setup/calibration
• Outdated technology

Material

• Low-grade material
• Unspecified material
• Variation
• Defective materials

Management

• Lack of vision, mission, value system
• Failing to identify/understand customer needs/requirements
• Short term planning
• Inadequate/poor planning
• Flawed incentives and indicators
• Favoritism
• Lack of supervision/monitoring
• Attitude towards change
• Lack of decision making and communication skills
• Lack of process understanding
• Lack of fact-based decision making
• Bad design decisions
• Unrealistic schedule
• Not providing adequate tools

Method

• Lack of procedures
• Procedures not followed
• Conflicting requirements
• Procedures not communicated
• Too rigid or too relaxed requirements
• Incomplete product specifications

Environment

• Humidity / temperature / lighting

 In summary, if we look at these causes one by one, they seem like small things but when put together, they add up to create an environment where poor quality happens more often than not.