Quality Assurance and Quality Control.

Quality assurance refers to the attempt to achieve customer satisfaction, by ensuring that the business sets certain quality standards and publicises the fact that these standards are met throughout the business. In other words customers can be consulted about their views through marketing research before the product is manufactured. Marketing research is important to CS because research can help to provide an early indication of which to progress and which product to discard. A qualitative approach to research is usually adopted at the early stage of marketing research with the products being explored amongst small groups of consumers. After this, there are group discussions led by a trained researcher who seeks to find the reactions to the products and ideas, which the consumers are allowed to give their opinion on the product. When the prototypes of the product has been developed to a much final level (brand name, packaging), quantitative research is then carried, which involves with a larger consumer sample to get better and more views on the product. The information form the views of the consumers will then tell CS that how well their product is doing. After all the researches are done, CS then decide of the product is worth to be launched nation wide (look below on the chart for the whole process of market research). This shows to me that CS have considered the development and production process, which tell to the customers that CS have considered them so that they can help to the final outcome of the product. Market research has added value to the service because testing have been performed with customers, which their personal consideration have gone through on the product. This will mean that the product can be decided to be launched or not with the views of the customers. If it is launched, then the product can be successful to CS and the customers will be highly satisfied with the product. Marketing research shows that it has another added value to services because the retailers who sell CS products for a higher price to customers. The added value of servicing can bee seen at this point because there is a difference in price because the retailer is providing a service to the customer, which is making the products to be sold in convenient location.      

   

Quality assurance affects different function in CS because the customer’s attitude can change the company to be better or worsen:

• Human resource function – if customers are satisfied and happy with the product, it shows that HRF have got the right employees at the right performance to work. This shows that HRF has been affected by quality assurance. This benefit can be used to attract other people to join CS, who will also produce quality products, which customers are satisfied with. If this is not the case then there can be conflict between different functions.
• Production process – if the production process is not properly planned then customers can be unsatisfied with the final outcome of the product, which will affect CS objectives and change the performance of CS.

 

Quality of output is vital for retaining customer loyalty and, therefore, it is necessary for quality to be an important consideration in the design, the production, the distribution, the sale and the after-sales service of products.

Employee involvement and participation in quality programmes (e.g. quality circles) will serve two purposes:

1) Improve the overall quality of the output and processes.

2) Help motivate the workers by making them feel that their contributions and their suggestions are highly valued.

Quality control is the process of checking the quality and the accuracy of raw materials and supplies as they arrive at the business, and also of the finished products as they leave the business to retailers and customers. Quality control can help add value to the products because inspecting the raw material that go into a product can add value by inspecting them and making sure the products follow specifications that are needed when quality control is used on the production process. This add values because providing products that have been checked and are at high quality, will mean that the raw products are at high quality, which shows that CS have bought raw materials for a good deal. The inspections of raw materials shows that it has value because it has been a bought at a good deal that is satisfying the inspectors and customers, which will mean that CS will have gained more profit due to the difference of buying raw material and the price that the final product is being sold for.    

Quality control affects CS’s objectives because checking accurately to see if the materials and final product is perfectly suitable to be eaten will ensure that the customers will be delighted as the inspector. As the customers will be aware of the process to provide excellent products, which are suitable to be eaten, will increase satisfaction of customers. This will mean that CS is providing excellent quality and service to their customers, who will be delighted with the products and buy even more. As customers increasingly buy more products from CS the more the company will expand and the more income will come in. CS can then use the income to produce more factories, recruit more so that they can even expand larger. They can also use the increase of income to produce more different products and have a wide range so that customers will be pleased with the different variety of products that CS has. The impact that quality control has on different functions is:

• Research and development (RD) function – the RD will be affected because if the inspector notices a problem with the product (chocolate) then it can be caused by improper RD. This means that the RD function has wasted time and money on the product and still get something wrong with the product. This shows that the RD can be affected by quality control; however the quality control can help to make improvements to the product so that the product can be altered and that the inspector will be satisfied with it but the process of RD has to be performed again which causes a time and money to be loosed.
• Training function – the quality control can also show that the training function has been affected because if there is a problem with the process of a product, it can mean that an employee has done something wrong so that the production process has been altered. This shows that poor training has be performed on the employees, which causes conflicts between the training function and production function. However if employees are trained well, they can then help CS to achieve their objectives and cause the production process to be more efficient.          

To show that CS has quality in their products they must have Total Quality Management (TQM). This is the attempt by a business to stop errors and waste from occurring at all levels within the organisation, and to try to encourage all employees to make quality products within their daily activities. There are a number of factors of TQM:

1) Internal relationships between workers and their superiors and subordinates are seen to be as important as the external relationships that exist between the business and its customers and suppliers.

2) TQM must be seen to be a policy that is followed by, and has the commitment of, all workers, from senior management to shop floor employees.

3) The business must monitor all its activities and processes in order to identify any areas for improvement and to ensure that quality is being achieved.

4) Team-working is important, since a group of people working together will develop a wider range of skills, co-operation, and higher motivation than if workers were performing repetitive tasks on their own.

5) Regular market research must be undertaken to ensure that customers are happy with the level of service that they receive (any complaints can be used to improve the existing systems).

TQM refers to the movement by operations managers everywhere to improve their bottom line, the success of their companies, and customer satisfaction by improving the quality of the processes that are involved in producing the product or service. This push is instigated by pressure from competition. In order to get the competitive edge, you have to improve quality, price, as well as the delivery of your product. This requires the analysis of CS processes and the initiation of quality standards and improvements to those processes.

Continuously improving quality is also known as ‘Kaizen.’ The key to Kaizen is eliminating waste from the business and production process. This is a way of improving production and reducing costs without much of a monetary investment.  This helps CS to achieve their objectives by the growth and income increasing because money is saved and waste is reduced from the production process. If you look at D1 it shows how the cocoa bean is turned to chocolate bars, however the waste of the bean can also be changed into powder, which is cocoa powder for adding to your milk. This shows that CS don’t waste any of their raw materials any that they can even use the waste for a product. This helps the objectives because CS has turned the waste into a product, which can increase CS growth and income, money is saved, which CS can use it to their advantage. This also affects different functions in CS:

• Production function – the production process is affected because, it is saving them time and waste to be used. This will mean that the production function has got time to take care of the production process and can improve the production process by the extra money that CS have saved and gained.    

Applying this method to new processes takes a lot of attention and work. By definition, continuous means that the improvement activity is designed to be ongoing.

Beginning the task of improving your processes requires involvement from your employees. This is a very simple way to dig up some potentially great ideas e.g. every day CS employees probably think, "If I didn't have to wait for this, I could get that done a lot faster." CS employees probably have many thoughts just like the example that I have given, which CS uses their opinions to improve. Not only will you benefit by getting some great ideas, you'll also benefit because simply involving your employees creates a better working environment, more job satisfaction for them, and more support for the quality improvement goal. There is a definite correlation between employee involvement and employee satisfaction. There is the same correlation between employee satisfaction and productivity improvements.

In order for quality improvements to take place, CS must be able to turn loose of its existing ideals about how it does things and especially how upper management thinks things should be done. The mind-set to make continuous improvement work CS will require three things:

1. There must be motivation for employees and supervisors. They have to want to do these things. Setting up a reward program gets the best level of support. Rewards can be monetary or non-monetary. CS can battle with the HR department over this since those policies are typically set at the corporate level rather than the operational level.
2. There must be a clear vision of the big picture by all employees. CS employees must understand the goals that CS is trying to achieve and what is expected from the employees, what the reward is and how it is going to work.
3. The necessary tools and training must be available. CS employees must have the proper tools they need to make it possible to do what is expected of them.  

So basically, CS have to have a co-operative staff who wants to make the program work, knows how their work is contributing to the whole, and has the tools and training to do it. This will also help CS objectives because the employees would have the correct attitude towards their work and that they would feel like that they are part of the team to help CS to achieve their objectives. The training will help because it would motivate the employee who will help CS to achieve their objectives.  

Co-operation also mean upper level management must follow into the idea. This means they have to perform in order for the quality movement to succeed in CS. The solutions to perform are:

• Many processes cross into different functional areas. CS has good communication between groups so that every area can understand, work through problems, and eventually perform.  
• In order to get true total company buy-in, set up groups of middle managers that will regularly review the process improvement activities and compare them with the original goals you've established.
• Set up teams of workers from all job function areas that will help ensure that the quality plan is working at the operational level. They can also help solve other problems that arise as a result of a process change and refine it to make it work.
• By giving employees and manager’s exposure to customers and their needs, CS can pick the benefits of better understanding, as well as some good ideas for improvement.
• Measuring the satisfaction levels of customers and employees, and use the feedback to further improve your quality.

Aside from extracting quality and process improvement ideas from CS employees and management, there is also the area of waste in which to focus CS’s attention. Waste can be looked at from the viewpoint of simply not using raw materials in the most efficient way; it often considerably affects CS bottom line through defective products. CS can combat defects and improve quality in three ways:

• Preventing defects through improved processes, training, and equipment.
• Improve the product through re-design to reduce problems, returns, customer complaints and dissatisfaction.
• Improve quality checkpoints on both the product previous to shipping, and the production process.

To identify specific areas of waste, look at these aspects of CS process:

• The physical actions required producing the product - Is there unnecessary movement required by your employees such as lifting and carrying objects, bending, pushing, etc. This may not only take additional time and reduce productivity, but it may also increase chances of injury and repetitive trauma for your workers.
• The right tools for the job - Often a large machine is used to do a job a much smaller machine could do. This creates waste in the amount of energy consumed, as well as the additional cost of the equipment itself.
• High inventory levels - If CS levels of inventory are too high, CS is wasting not only money on production, but also money for the space and energy required to house that inventory.
• Transporting parts and products – workers can spend too much time moving materials and products from one area to another.
• Down time – There can be too many periods of down time where employees are waiting for materials, information, or other things.

These are the main areas to review when CS is planning for quality improvement.

The  is a worldwide federation of national standards groups and agencies from 140 different countries. It develops standards outlining specifications to be used to define characteristics, rules, and guidelines for products so that worldwide use is possible.

ISO has developed internationally recognized standards for quality known as the ISO 9000 series. This series of standards is used internationally as a foundation for developing quality systems in business. The ISO 9000 standards have recently been significantly revised and updated to be more applicable to all industries and to bring in more of a focus on continuous improvement.

The series is broken down into many documents; however the primary pieces that contains in CS and is interested in, is ISO 9000:2000 fundamentals and vocabulary document, the ISO 9001:2000 quality management systems requirements document, and the ISO 9004:2000 quality management systems guidelines for performance improvements document.

The ISO help CS to achieve their objectives by the rules that CS have to follow when the production process is engaged. These rules are important to CS because the final products are at high quality, which have been followed by the rules and also it will help CS to achieve their objectives e.g. the quality products that CS provides to their customers will be noticed by them and that the customers will be delighted with the product. This then causes for more growth and income because customers are happy with the product and buy more. This shows how the ISO can help CS to achieve the best quality products.    

Quality should be the guiding principle for every function of the business. If CS can create an environment where everyone thinks about quality and is motivated to improve it, CS will always have continuous improvements to CS processes and it will help CS to achieve their objectives. The objectives are helped by the employees who are motivated and are contributed to their work, which helps CS to achieve their objectives.