Background. Shewhart was the first to describe the possibilities that come with having a statistically robust process in 1924. Since his discovery, the importance of a robust process became more apparent and together with the consequences of an unstable process. A firm with a manufacturing process that is out of statistical control tends to waste money, increase risks, and provide an uncertain quality to its customers. The framework of Statistical Quality Control has been developed since its founding, and today it is a well-established tool used in several industries with successful results. When it was first thought of, complicated calculations had to be performed and was performed manually. With digitalisation, the quality tools can be used in real-time, providing high-precision accuracy on the quality of the product. Despite this, not all firms nor industries have started using these tools as of today.    The costs that occur in relation to the quality, either as a consequence of maintaining good quality or that arises from poor quality, are called Cost of Quality. These are often displayed through one of several available cost models. In this thesis, we have created a cost model that was heavily inspired by the P-A-F model. Several earlier studies have shown noticeable results by using SPC, COQ or a combination of them both.     Objectives. The objective of this study is to determine if cost optimisation could be utilised through SQC implementation. The cost optimisation is a consequence of an unstable process and the new way of thinking that comes with SQC. Further, it aims to explore the relationship between cost optimisation and SQC. Adding a layer of complexity and understanding to the spread of Statistical Quality Tools and their importance for several industries. This will contribute to tightening the bonds of production economics, statistical tools and quality management even further.   Methods. This study made use of two closely related methodologies, combining SPC with Cost of Quality. The combination of these two hoped to demonstrate a possible cost reduction through stabilising the process. The cost reduction was displayed using an optimisation model based on the P-A-F (Prevention, Appraisal, External Failure and Internal Failure) and further developed by adding a fifth parameter for optimising materials (OM). Regarding whether the process was in control or not, we focused on the thickness of the PVC floor, 1008 data points over three weeks were retrieved from the production line, and by analysing these, a conclusion on whether the process was in control could be drawn.    Results. Firstly, none of the three examined weeks were found to be in statistical control, and therefore, nor were the total sample. Through the assumption of the firm achieving 100% statistical control over their production process, a possible cost reduction of 874 416 SEK yearly was found.    Conclusions. This study has proven that through focusing on stabilising the production process and achieving control over their costs related to quality, possible significant yearly savings can be achieved. Furthermore, an annual cost reduction was found by optimising the usage of materials by relocating the ensuring of thickness variation from post-production to during the production.

For several years, the number of South Africans starting new business enterprises, has declined. According to the findings of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, in 2003, South Africa ranked 22nd out of 31 countries for new entrepreneurial activities. One of the greatest challenges for South Africa, is to find a solution for its huge unemployment problem, which is responsible for many of South Africa's other problems, like poverty, crime and brutality, which discourage global investment in South Africa. The development of small-, medium-, and microenterprises (SMMEs) is seen as an important ingredient of economic development. The population for this study is therefore comprised of SMMEs in South Africa. Any enterprise is dependent on the environment it operates in. The environment consists of the macro-environment, which includes the demographic, technological, economical, social, institutional and international environment, the market environment, which includes consumers, suppliers and competitors, as well as the micro-environment, which includes the organisation, its mission, goals and objectives, management functions, business functions and business resources. The objective of this study is to investigate the possibility of applying cost- and management accounting methods and techniques for the development and profitable running of SMMEs. These include choosing an appropriate costing system, implementing a management information system, effectively executing the management functions of planning, organising, coordination and control, through the application of cost- and management accounting methods and techniques, including forecasting, budgeting, accurate and appropriate costing methods, performance management techniques like total quality management, benchmarking etcetera. Data on the current use of cost-and management accounting by SMMEs in South Africa, and the performance of these concerns, were collected by means of a structured questionnaire from a sample of 37 SMMEs. It was found, that although several cost- and management accounting methods and techniques are used by some SMMEs, many are not used effectively, while many SMMEs are not aware of the many advantages that the application of these methods and techniques hold. It is recommended that entrepreneurs make an effort to gain the knowledge needed for them to apply the cost- and management accounting methods and techniques that will improve the performance of their businesses, ensuring the attainment of their goals and objectives, ensuring their survival and prosperity, and leading to job creation, economic growth, and the prosperity of the people of South Africa. To assist with this, the researcher has developed a model and a manual that can be used by entrepreneurs to assist them in starting a new enterprise, as well as running a successful enterprise. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Business and Management Accounting))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2009.

El presente trabajo de suficiencia profesional fue realizado con la finalidad de evaluar el impacto financiero de la gestión de costos de calidad en las empresas del sector cervecero peruano. Por lo tanto, está desarrollado de acuerdo a los conceptos de gestión de calidad y gestión de costos, tomando como base a los costos de calidad para la toma de decisiones de mejora y optimización de procesos. Este trabajo de investigación se centra en el estudio de las empresas del sector cervecero peruano, porque consideramos significativo que la Gerencia general, contable y financiera del sector, comprenda el impacto financiero de practicar y mantener una gestión de los costos de calidad. Por tal motivo, se espera que el presente trabajo de investigación sirva como base para lograr el entendimiento de la importancia de ejercer la gestión de costos de calidad. Para validar las hipótesis planteadas, se emplearon instrumentos de investigación cualitativos y cuantitativos. El insutrumento cualitativo utilizado fue entrevista a profundidad a expertos del sector y el instrumento cuantitativo fue la encuesta. Todo ello con la finalidad de obtener un consecuente análisis estadístico. Finalmente, se desarrollará un caso práctico en el que se plantearán dos escenarios que permitirán comparar el impacto financiero de aplicar la gestión de costos de calidad contra el escenario de no practicarla. / The present work of professional suffiency was realized with the purpose of evaluating the financial impact of the management of quality costs in the companies of the Peruvian beer sector. Therefore, it is developed according to the concepts of quality management and cost management, taking as a basis the quality costs for the decision making of process improvement and optimization. This research work focuses on the study of companies in the Peruvian beer sector, because we consider it significant that the general, accounting and financial management of the sector understand the financial impact of practicing and maintaining a management of quality costs. For this reason, it is expected that this research work will serve as a basis to achieve an understanding of the importance of exercising quality cost management. To validate the hypotheses, qualitative and quantitative research instruments were used. In-depth interviews were carried out, as a qualitative instrument, with experts from the sector and surveys were applied as a quantitative instrument for a consequent statistical analysis. Finally, a practical case will be developed where the financial impact of applying quality cost management will be compared against the case of not practicing it. / Tesis

Este trabalho visa (a) desenvolver um modelo para estimar os custos, os investimentos necessários e o consequente impacto orçamentário para a garantia do direito à educação em condições de qualidade nos sistemas públicos de educação básica para a população em idade escolar obrigatória (4 a 17 anos) e para a população fora da faixa etária obrigatória que não concluiu a escolarização básica e deseja exercer o direito à educação; (b) desenvolver, com base no modelo, o protótipo de um simulador de custos para planejamento de sistemas públicos de educação básica em condições de qualidade (SIMCAQ) a fim de orientar o desenvolvimento de um sistema computacional; e (c) a aplicação do protótipo a casos reais. A revisão da literatura que analisa a trajetória do planejamento no setor público brasileiro e, especialmente, no setor educacional, apresentou inúmeras evidências de ausência ou falhas na previsão dos custos das metas estabelecidas. Este aspecto é considerado como um dos principais motivos pelo qual parte dos planos governamentais brasileiros resultou em descontinuidades e metas frustradas. Em consonância com esta realidade, a literatura também mostra que as experiências quanto ao planejamento e apuração dos custos dos serviços públicos brasileiros são recentes e escassas, o que dificulta o dimensionamento do aporte financeiro necessário para fazer face às ações propostas nos planos. Neste contexto, três fatores justificam os esforços desta pesquisa: (a) a necessidade de subsidiar os planos educacionais com estimativas de valores necessários para consecução de objetivos e metas de curto, médio e longo prazo; (b) a necessidade de estimar o custo por aluno necessário para garantir um padrão mínimo de qualidade do ensino nas escolas públicas; e (c) a necessidade de implantar sistemas de análise de custos para reduzir as disparidades do custo efetivamente praticado nas escolas como forma de assegurar a equalização de oportunidades educacionais e a igualdade de condições para o acesso e permanência na escola. Sendo assim, para a consecução dos objetivos propostos, foi realizada uma pesquisa com abordagem quantitativa de caráter exploratório e descritivo. Foi desenvolvido um modelo conceitual para estimar os custos do processo de adequação de uma rede de ensino a \"parâmetros de condições de qualidade\" durante determinado período de tempo. Igualmente, a partir do modelo, foi elaborado um protótipo do SIMCAQ utilizando 66 planilhas eletrônicas relacionadas por fórmulas e operadores lógicos segundo o projeto lógico que descreveu as cinco etapas do fluxo de informações. A aplicação do protótipo a três municípios goianos de portes distintos e redes públicas de ensino com características diversas mostrou que o SIMCAQ consegue realizar estimativas da demanda por matrículas, professores e infraestrutura dos prédios escolares, etc. por localização de moradia (urbano / rural) e por etapas de ensino conforme parâmetros de qualidade pré-estabelecidos. Além disso, o protótipo calculou o valor do custo-aluno-ano para cada etapa por um período de dez anos. Os valores estimados pelo simulador foram consideravelmente superiores aos valores verificados por pesquisas anteriores e aos valores previstos para serem redistribuídos em Goiás no âmbito pelo Fundo de Manutenção e Desenvolvimento da Educação Básica e de Valorização dos Profissionais da Educação (FUNDEB) em 2012. Igualmente, os custos totais das redes de ensino analisadas apontaram a necessidade de maior aporte de recursos para garantir a oferta de ensino com os parâmetros de qualidade utilizados neste trabalho e que os municípios investigados devem investir mais de 30% da receita corrente em educação básica. Desse modo, o SIMCAQ pode constituir uma ferramenta para auxiliar o processo de tomada de decisão dos gestores, uma vez que facilita a análise de cenários de custos e investimentos para fazer face às metas do planejamento educacional. / This paper aims at (a) developing a model to estimate the costs, the necessary investments and the consequent budgetary impact in order to guarantee the right to education in quality conditions in basic education public systems for population in mandatory school age (4 to 17 years old) and for population out of the mandatory school age who have not concluded basic schooling and who wish to exercise the right to education; (b) based on the model, developing the prototype of a cost simulator for planning basic education public systems in quality conditions (SIMCAQ) with the intention of guiding the development of a computational system; and (c) applying the prototype to real cases. The literature review which analyses the path of the planning in the Brazilian public sector and especially in the educational sector presented numerous evidence of absence or failure in established goals cost prediction. This aspect is considered as one of the main reasons why part of Brazilian governmental plans resulted in discontinuities and frustrated goals. In line with this, the literature also shows that the experiences regarding planning and calculations of Brazilian public services are recent and scarce, which complicates the measurement of financial contribution necessary to cope with the actions proposed in the plans. Within this context three factors justify these research efforts: (a) the need to subsidize the educational plans with values estimation necessary to achieve objectives and short, medium, and long-term goals; (b) the need to estimate the cost per student necessary to guarantee the minimum pattern of teaching education in public schools; and (c) the need to implement cost analysis systems to reduce disparities of the costs effectively practiced in schools so as to ensure the equalization of educational opportunities and the equality of access conditions and school permanence. Then, to achieve the proposed objectives, we developed a quantitative research of exploratory-descriptive character. We created a conceptual model to estimate the costs of the adequacy process of a teaching system to \"parameters of quality conditions\" during a determined period of time. In the same way, we formulated, from the model, a SIMCAQ prototype using 66 electronic spreadsheets related by formulas and logical operators according to the logical project which described the five stages of information flow. We applied the prototype to three towns in the state of Goiás. They are towns of different sizes and present public teaching systems with distinct characteristics. The application showed that SIMCAQ can estimate demands for enrolment, teachers, and school building infrastructure, etc. per housing location (urban / rural) and per teaching stages according to the predetermined parameters of quality. Besides, the prototype calculated the value of cost per student per year for each stage for a period of ten years. The values estimated by the simulator were reasonably superior to the values found in previous researches and to the values which are supposed to be redistributed within the state of Goiás by the Fund for the Maintenance and Development of Basic Education (FUNDEB) for 2012. In the same way, the total costs of the teaching systems we analyzed pointed the need for greater financial resources in order to guarantee that the offered teaching meets the parameters of quality presented in this paper. Also we concluded that the towns must invest more than 30% of its current income in basic education. Thereby, the SIMCAQ can be seen as a tool to help managers in the process of decision making, once it facilitates the analysis of cost and investment scenarios to cope with educational planning goals.

For several years, the number of South Africans starting new business enterprises, has declined. According to the findings of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, in 2003, South Africa ranked 22nd out of 31 countries for new entrepreneurial activities. One of the greatest challenges for South Africa, is to find a solution for its huge unemployment problem, which is responsible for many of South Africa's other problems, like poverty, crime and brutality, which discourage global investment in South Africa. The development of small-, medium-, and microenterprises (SMMEs) is seen as an important ingredient of economic development. The population for this study is therefore comprised of SMMEs in South Africa. Any enterprise is dependent on the environment it operates in. The environment consists of the macro-environment, which includes the demographic, technological, economical, social, institutional and international environment, the market environment, which includes consumers, suppliers and competitors, as well as the micro-environment, which includes the organisation, its mission, goals and objectives, management functions, business functions and business resources. The objective of this study is to investigate the possibility of applying cost- and management accounting methods and techniques for the development and profitable running of SMMEs. These include choosing an appropriate costing system, implementing a management information system, effectively executing the management functions of planning, organising, coordination and control, through the application of cost- and management accounting methods and techniques, including forecasting, budgeting, accurate and appropriate costing methods, performance management techniques like total quality management, benchmarking etcetera. Data on the current use of cost-and management accounting by SMMEs in South Africa, and the performance of these concerns, were collected by means of a structured questionnaire from a sample of 37 SMMEs. It was found, that although several cost- and management accounting methods and techniques are used by some SMMEs, many are not used effectively, while many SMMEs are not aware of the many advantages that the application of these methods and techniques hold. It is recommended that entrepreneurs make an effort to gain the knowledge needed for them to apply the cost- and management accounting methods and techniques that will improve the performance of their businesses, ensuring the attainment of their goals and objectives, ensuring their survival and prosperity, and leading to job creation, economic growth, and the prosperity of the people of South Africa. To assist with this, the researcher has developed a model and a manual that can be used by entrepreneurs to assist them in starting a new enterprise, as well as running a successful enterprise. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Business and Management Accounting))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2009.

Este trabalho visa (a) desenvolver um modelo para estimar os custos, os investimentos necessários e o consequente impacto orçamentário para a garantia do direito à educação em condições de qualidade nos sistemas públicos de educação básica para a população em idade escolar obrigatória (4 a 17 anos) e para a população fora da faixa etária obrigatória que não concluiu a escolarização básica e deseja exercer o direito à educação; (b) desenvolver, com base no modelo, o protótipo de um simulador de custos para planejamento de sistemas públicos de educação básica em condições de qualidade (SIMCAQ) a fim de orientar o desenvolvimento de um sistema computacional; e (c) a aplicação do protótipo a casos reais. A revisão da literatura que analisa a trajetória do planejamento no setor público brasileiro e, especialmente, no setor educacional, apresentou inúmeras evidências de ausência ou falhas na previsão dos custos das metas estabelecidas. Este aspecto é considerado como um dos principais motivos pelo qual parte dos planos governamentais brasileiros resultou em descontinuidades e metas frustradas. Em consonância com esta realidade, a literatura também mostra que as experiências quanto ao planejamento e apuração dos custos dos serviços públicos brasileiros são recentes e escassas, o que dificulta o dimensionamento do aporte financeiro necessário para fazer face às ações propostas nos planos. Neste contexto, três fatores justificam os esforços desta pesquisa: (a) a necessidade de subsidiar os planos educacionais com estimativas de valores necessários para consecução de objetivos e metas de curto, médio e longo prazo; (b) a necessidade de estimar o custo por aluno necessário para garantir um padrão mínimo de qualidade do ensino nas escolas públicas; e (c) a necessidade de implantar sistemas de análise de custos para reduzir as disparidades do custo efetivamente praticado nas escolas como forma de assegurar a equalização de oportunidades educacionais e a igualdade de condições para o acesso e permanência na escola. Sendo assim, para a consecução dos objetivos propostos, foi realizada uma pesquisa com abordagem quantitativa de caráter exploratório e descritivo. Foi desenvolvido um modelo conceitual para estimar os custos do processo de adequação de uma rede de ensino a \"parâmetros de condições de qualidade\" durante determinado período de tempo. Igualmente, a partir do modelo, foi elaborado um protótipo do SIMCAQ utilizando 66 planilhas eletrônicas relacionadas por fórmulas e operadores lógicos segundo o projeto lógico que descreveu as cinco etapas do fluxo de informações. A aplicação do protótipo a três municípios goianos de portes distintos e redes públicas de ensino com características diversas mostrou que o SIMCAQ consegue realizar estimativas da demanda por matrículas, professores e infraestrutura dos prédios escolares, etc. por localização de moradia (urbano / rural) e por etapas de ensino conforme parâmetros de qualidade pré-estabelecidos. Além disso, o protótipo calculou o valor do custo-aluno-ano para cada etapa por um período de dez anos. Os valores estimados pelo simulador foram consideravelmente superiores aos valores verificados por pesquisas anteriores e aos valores previstos para serem redistribuídos em Goiás no âmbito pelo Fundo de Manutenção e Desenvolvimento da Educação Básica e de Valorização dos Profissionais da Educação (FUNDEB) em 2012. Igualmente, os custos totais das redes de ensino analisadas apontaram a necessidade de maior aporte de recursos para garantir a oferta de ensino com os parâmetros de qualidade utilizados neste trabalho e que os municípios investigados devem investir mais de 30% da receita corrente em educação básica. Desse modo, o SIMCAQ pode constituir uma ferramenta para auxiliar o processo de tomada de decisão dos gestores, uma vez que facilita a análise de cenários de custos e investimentos para fazer face às metas do planejamento educacional. / This paper aims at (a) developing a model to estimate the costs, the necessary investments and the consequent budgetary impact in order to guarantee the right to education in quality conditions in basic education public systems for population in mandatory school age (4 to 17 years old) and for population out of the mandatory school age who have not concluded basic schooling and who wish to exercise the right to education; (b) based on the model, developing the prototype of a cost simulator for planning basic education public systems in quality conditions (SIMCAQ) with the intention of guiding the development of a computational system; and (c) applying the prototype to real cases. The literature review which analyses the path of the planning in the Brazilian public sector and especially in the educational sector presented numerous evidence of absence or failure in established goals cost prediction. This aspect is considered as one of the main reasons why part of Brazilian governmental plans resulted in discontinuities and frustrated goals. In line with this, the literature also shows that the experiences regarding planning and calculations of Brazilian public services are recent and scarce, which complicates the measurement of financial contribution necessary to cope with the actions proposed in the plans. Within this context three factors justify these research efforts: (a) the need to subsidize the educational plans with values estimation necessary to achieve objectives and short, medium, and long-term goals; (b) the need to estimate the cost per student necessary to guarantee the minimum pattern of teaching education in public schools; and (c) the need to implement cost analysis systems to reduce disparities of the costs effectively practiced in schools so as to ensure the equalization of educational opportunities and the equality of access conditions and school permanence. Then, to achieve the proposed objectives, we developed a quantitative research of exploratory-descriptive character. We created a conceptual model to estimate the costs of the adequacy process of a teaching system to \"parameters of quality conditions\" during a determined period of time. In the same way, we formulated, from the model, a SIMCAQ prototype using 66 electronic spreadsheets related by formulas and logical operators according to the logical project which described the five stages of information flow. We applied the prototype to three towns in the state of Goiás. They are towns of different sizes and present public teaching systems with distinct characteristics. The application showed that SIMCAQ can estimate demands for enrolment, teachers, and school building infrastructure, etc. per housing location (urban / rural) and per teaching stages according to the predetermined parameters of quality. Besides, the prototype calculated the value of cost per student per year for each stage for a period of ten years. The values estimated by the simulator were reasonably superior to the values found in previous researches and to the values which are supposed to be redistributed within the state of Goiás by the Fund for the Maintenance and Development of Basic Education (FUNDEB) for 2012. In the same way, the total costs of the teaching systems we analyzed pointed the need for greater financial resources in order to guarantee that the offered teaching meets the parameters of quality presented in this paper. Also we concluded that the towns must invest more than 30% of its current income in basic education. Thereby, the SIMCAQ can be seen as a tool to help managers in the process of decision making, once it facilitates the analysis of cost and investment scenarios to cope with educational planning goals.

Den svenska skogsindustrin är den tredje största exportören av skogsprodukter i världen och närmare 80% av produktionen exporteras. Den höga efterfrågan på svenska skogsprodukter har tillåtit det svenska sågverksföretaget Derome Timber AB att göra nyinvesteringar som resulterat i ökad produktion. Vid ett av företagets fyra sågverksanläggningar har ledningen emellertid identifierat avdelningen Justerverket som en flaskhals på grund av de stora mellanlager och kassationer som uppstått. Som följd härav vill Derome undersöka och kartlägga kvalitetsbristkostnaderna som är kopplade till avdelningen Justerverket. Tidigare studier menar att sågverksindustrin inte tillämpar systematiska förbättringsarbeten i samma utsträckning som andra industrier. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur systematiska förbättringsarbeten kan tillämpas i sågverksindustrin för att arbeta med kvalitetsbristkostnader. Syftet uppfylls genom en litteraturgenomgång och ett Lean Sex Sigma (LSS) projekt vid Derome Timber AB:s avdelning Justerverket. LSS är en förbättringsstrategi som kombinerar verktyg från Lean och Sex Sigma, avsedd för att reducera kostnader och öka effektivitet. LSS-projektet följer strukturen DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve och Control) och genomförs med hjälp av flera kvalitetstekniska verktyg under respektive fas i förbättringscykeln. I en av studien framtagen konceptuell modell illustreras vidare hur systematiska förbättringsarbeten kan tillämpas i sågverksindustrin för att arbeta med kvalitetsbristkostnader genom LSS-verktyg och DMAIC. Merparten av fallföretagets kvalitetsbristkostnader utgörs av dolda kvalitetsbristkostnader i form av förlorade intäkter som beräknades uppgå till ca 13Mkr. Genom insamling av frekvensdata framkom det att driftstopp står för den primära orsaken till de identifierade kvalitetsbristkostnaderna. Orsaken till driftstoppen kartlades därefter genom verktygen Ishikawadiagram och 5 Varför tillsammans med sågverkets medarbetare. I denna fas framkom det att data över driftstopp och kunskap om värdet i att mäta dessa saknas. En rad rekommenderade åtgärder togs fram genom LSS-projektet och den teoretiska referensramen. Dessa inkluderar utbildning, upprättandet av arbetsrutiner och engagemang kring arbete med kvalitetsbristkostnader. Implementering av ett nytt nyckeltal, TAK (Tillgänglighet, Anläggningsutnyttjande, Kvalitetsutbyte), rekommenderas för att ge en rättvisande bild över Justerverkets faktiska prestation. Slutligen rekommenderas implementering av statistisk processtyrning (SPS) för att urskilja systematiska orsaker till driftstopp från slumpmässiga. / The Swedish forest industry is the third largest exporter of forest products in the world and almost 80% of the production is exported. The high demand for Swedish forest products has allowed the Swedish sawmill company Derome Timber AB to make new investments, resulting in an increased production. At one of the company's four sawmill facilities, however, the management has identified the Adjustment department as a bottleneck due to the large intermediate storage and rejections that have arisen. Therefore, Derome wants to investigate and identify the costs of quality linked to the Adjustment Department. However, previous studies have found that the sawmill industry does not apply systematic improvement methods to the same extent as other industries. The aim of this study is to investigate how systematic improvement methods can be applied in the sawmill industry to work with cost of quality. The aim is achieved through a brief literature review and a Lean Sex Sigma (LSS) project at Derome Timber AB's Adjustment department. LSS is an improvement strategy that combines tools from Lean and Six Sigma, designed to reduce costs and increase efficiency. The LSS project follows the structure of DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control) and shows the use of several quality improvement tools in each phase of the improvement cycle. A conceptual model developed in the current study illustrates how systematic improvement methods can be applied in the sawmill industry to work with cost of quality through LSS and DMAIC. The vast majority of the case company's cost of quality consists of hidden costs in the form of lost income, which is estimated to approximately 13 million SEK. Through the collection of frequency data, it emerged that downtime account for the primary cause of the identified costs of quality. The cause of downtime was then mapped through the tools Ishikawa diagram and 5 whys together with the sawmill's employees. In this phase, it emerged that data on downtime and knowledge of the value in measuring it are lacking. Several recommended measures are developed through the LSS project and the theoretical frame of reference. These include training, the establishment of work routines and commitment to work with cost of quality. Implementation of a new key performance indicator, OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness), is recommended to provide an accurate representation of the Adjustment department’s actual performance. Finally, the implementation of statistical process control (SPC) is recommended to distinguish systematic root causes of downtime from random ones.

In summary of literature is definition of concept like quality, her history, and the management of quality and the cost of quality. The theses defines the concern of Bosch, production plant of Robert Bosch of České Budějovice, company history and secondly strategy and politics of quality system and the point and a results of quality system on assembly line DA {--} Daimler, on which are producing in-tank cars pumping devise. It is defined monitored product {--} the in-tank pumping device, the management of quality in the procedure of production and in all processes on workstations and than their specific quality control. Every single error in production process is analysed and results interpreted and a precaution is taken.

Byggindustrin har problem med stora kvalitetsbristkostnader, förutom att organisationer jobbar på ett reaktivt sätt gällande kvalitet identifieras sällan rotorsaken till uppkomna kvalitetsbristkostnader. Tillverkningsindustrin har under många år jobbat med att komma till bukt med kvalitetsbrister och har utvecklat metoder för att förebygga uppkomsten av kvalitetsbrister. Förbättringsmetoder som DMAIC och PDCA anses vara generella metoder som är lämpade för alla organisationer och industrier. Trots att dessa metoder påvisats ha positiv verkan för organisationers kvalitetsarbete finns det enligt akademiska skrifter brist på systematiska arbeten mot bättre kvalitet inom byggindustrin. För att undersöka och testa systematiskt förbättringsarbete inom byggindustrin utfördes en fallstudie på ett företag inom industriellt byggande. Fallföretaget för studien producerade prefabricerade betongelement. Genom att utföra ett DMAIC-projekt på Fallföretaget undersökte studien möjligheten att applicera metodiken och dess verktyg. Studien utgick från en kategorisering av Fallföretagets kvalitetsbristkostnader för att finna områden för förbättring. Syftet med studien var således att undersöka möjligheten att använda kategorisering av kvalitetsbristkostnader som avstamp för systematiskt förbättringsarbete inom industriellt byggande. Genom kategoriseringen av kvalitetsbristkostnader kunde studien använda paretodiagram för att finna de största kostnaderna för företaget. Utifrån de mest kostsamma kvalitetsbristerna undersöktes dess härkomst genom produktionsmätningar. Från produktionsmätningarna upprättades styrdiagram och en duglighetsanalys utfördes. Genom produktionsmätningarna konstaterades att de kvalitetsbristkostnader som kategoriserats hade delvis inte sin uppkomst i produktionen. Därav misstänktes bristfälliga processer innan produktion som eventuell orsak till kvalitetsbristkostnaderna. Utifrån studien presenterades olika rekommendationer som delades upp i produktionsförbättringar och organisationsförbättringar. Organisationsförbättringarna berörde de kringliggande processerna som inte är en del av produktionen. Förslagen var att investera i teknik för kvalitetssäkring av produkterna i produktion. Studien rekommenderade även förslag på förbättringar som inte krävde investering. Så som referensmätningar och formjusteringar samt visuell styrning och planering. På organisationsförbättringar rekommenderades att utveckla och strukturera projektledningsprocessen och konstruktionsprocessen, vilket var de processer som identifierats som potentiella källor till kvalitetsbristkostnaderna. Studien kunde genom insamlade data i form av intervjuer och observationer tillsammans med en litteraturstudie konstatera att byggindustrin idag arbetar på ett reaktivt sätt med kvalitet. Därav förespråkar studien att byggindustrin arbetar med ett mer förbyggande arbetssätt för att nå kvalitet. Studien kunde även konstatera att ett DMAIC-projekt med utgångspunkt att kategorisera kvalitetsbristkostnader bidrar till att finna förbättringsområden för en organisation inom industriellt byggande. Arbetet i sin helhet bidrar även till att skapa en bättre förståelse för hur kvalitetsarbete kan appliceras inom industriellt byggande.

The quality of products is the biggest competitive advantage that a company can achieve. The definition states that quality is the degree of compliance requirement with a set of inherent characteristics. The importance of quality have very increased in recent years - quality is a decisive factor for stable economic growth of enterprises, management quality is the most important protective factor of the loss of markets, quality is a major source of saving materials and energy, the quality affects of macroeconomic indicators, the quality is a limiting factor for the sustainable development , quality and consumer protection are connected vessels. Quality costs are the total costs incurred by producers, users and companies associated with the quality of the product. The quality costs of the manufacturer is divided into four basic groups: the costs of prevention, assessment, costs of external defects and internal defects.