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 What is Quality and how to measure it?

 A common definition of Quality is "the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bears on its ability to satisfy given needs, a product meeting or exceeding customer expectations."

 In the ISO definition Quality is defined according to cost-effectiveness, i.e. Quality is what the customer wants (and is willing to pay for).

 It follows that Quality does NOT mean the highest achievable level of excellence of a product, but the level which is expected by the customer.

 Knowing the expectations of your customers therefore is the basic requirement for products with a high level of quality.

 In industrial production the expectations can be easily measured via technical and financial standards (a copy machine which can copy 30 pages/min. in colour with a cost of less than 3 Cent/copy),
in service industries like Leisure and Tourism this is more complicated (a friendly atmosphere).

 Contact: wolfgang.arlt@fh-stralsund.de  Office: 1/132, Tel. (03831) 45 6961