Correspondence Problem Quality Tools

1. Lesson One

a. Why are you studying quality management?

I am studying quality management as a way of advancing in my career field. I work as a Quality Technician for an electronics company. I have a strong foundation in mathematics and statistics but not quality. This course will provide a basic understanding of what quality entails.

b. What do you plan to accomplish in this course for it to be worthwhile for you?

There is nothing specific that I plan on getting out of this course. As an introductory course, I hope to gain a basic understanding of quality. I am looking for a foundation to build upon. This course should be able to provide me with it.

c. How is the quality of products and services better today than ten years ago? Give an example.

The quality of products and services has improved a lot over the past ten years. Here are some of the ways in which it has done so:

• More Convenient & Accessible (toll free numbers, internet, 24 hour service)

• Customizable (customer-specific, gender specific, variety of colors, task-specific)

• Databases (customer refunds, history of purchases, intra-company stock)

• More Timely (guaranteed service times, customer service lines, international shipping)

Here are some real world examples of how quality has improved since ten years ago:

• Comcast took over in Jacksonville, FL about five years ago. I was living there at the time. I believe it was AT&T who provided phone and cable service prior to Comcast taking them over. It would literally take over an hour to get in contact with a service representative over the phone through AT&T. Comcast was able to install a system that cut the response time down to just a few minutes.

• Best Buy is one of many companies now that stores customer purchases in database. This allows the customer some forgiveness in losing a sales receipt, which happens more often than not.

• Dell offers computers in a variety of colors. This appeals to the customers whom prefer to express themselves, even with electronic hardware.

• Fed-Ex International provides businesses with many choices of shipping priority. What used to takes weeks, now takes only a day.

d. How will the quality of products and services be better in five years than it is today? Give an example.

The quality of products and services will continue to improve, as it must. Over the next five years, the greatest improvements

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