Manufacturing firms can incur losses of up to 100% due to costs of poor quality (COPQ) in the form of internal and external product failures, rework, and scrap. The purpose of this single case study was to explore what quality improvement strategies senior manufacturing production managers used to reduce COPQ and increase profit. The participants selected were 3 production managers in 1 small-sized manufacturing company in the southeastern region of the United States with successful strategies to lower COPQ. The conceptual framework of this study was based on total quality management theory. Data collection was through face-to-face interviews and from a review of company documents. Yin's 5-step process was used to analyze the data. Three key themes emerged during data analysis: continuous improvement, quality assurance, and institutionalizing training. Manufacturing managers can use these strategies to lower COPQ and increase profits. The findings can contribute to social change by increasing individuals' sense of dignity and self-worth through the manufacturing firm leaders' ability to increase employment rates.

It is arguably an important matter to track and eliminate poor quality. One way of doing this within software development is by applying the technical debt metaphor and using it as a basis when estimating the quality level. There was interest expressed in investigating whether this metaphor could be extended to the development of non-software products and use it as a starting point for developing features in a PLM (product lifecycle management) system able to track and help monitor technical debt throughout the lifecycle of a product. Thus, a case study based on a literature review and interviews analysed qualitatively were conducted. The result consists of the knowledge that similar notions as found in the technical debt research could successfully be applied to other development processes and phenomena as well, a framework consisting of types of technical debt and a “sketch” for how to measure it, and that in a technical debt-tracking feature it could be beneficial with functionality for implementing models for debt quantification, for allowing the organisation to set up rules, and for crawling through the product taxonomy in the PLM system, detecting deviances from aforementioned rules.

This study aimed to assess how we are applying the Quality Cost Management in the industries of the central region of Rio Grande do Sul, check whether the company has quality management and costs with their production sectors, to identify whether the company makes the measurement of cost of quality; propose alternatives to reduce and minimize costs, evaluate 1the importance of investing in quality to the competitiveness and survival of the organization. This study aimed to assess how we are applying the Quality Cost Management in the The methodology has grounding in literature, in the case study and survey research data from participating companies through questionnaires. Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics and frequency distribution simple. With the results collected it was possible to verify that a good part of the industries surveyed have satisfactory results and have several quality certification, among other points, but there are still some things to be improved. Other firms need several adjustments, which will be presented later. Also we will present some suggestions that will serve as tools to assist in the systematization that can be deployed in enterprises, which they deem appropriate. / Este estudo teve como objetivo avaliar de que forma está sendo aplicada a Gestão de Custos da Qualidade nas indústrias da região central do Rio Grande do Sul, verificar se a empresa possui Gestão de Custos da Qualidade junto a seus setores de produção; identificar se a empresa faz a mensuração do custo da qualidade; propor alternativas na redução e minimização dos custos; avaliar a importância de investir em qualidade para a competitividade e sobrevivência da organização. A metodologia utilizada tem embasamento na pesquisa bibliográfica, no estudo de caso e na pesquisa de levantamento de dados junto às empresas participantes, por meio de questionários. A análise dos dados foi efetuada através de estatística descritiva e distribuição de freqüência simples. Com os resultados levantados, foi possível averiguar que uma boa parte das indústrias pesquisadas possuem resultados satisfatórios e várias possuem certificação em qualidade, entre outros pontos positivos, mas ainda existem alguns pontos serem melhorados. Outra parte das empresas precisa de várias adequações, as quais serão apresentadas posteriormente. Também serão apresentadas algumas sugestões que servirão de ferramentas para auxiliar na sistematização que poderá ser implantada nas empresas, as quais acharem convenientes.

This work is dealing with a study of process simulation and its use for the costs of poor quality monitoring. The process simulation is generally in many companies not too used and moreover, there is no software at the market, which would easily described economical efficiency of processes. The main purpose of this work is to suggest such a application. The study contains of the detailed data models for each function of the application, requirements specification and the feasibility study, which provide approximate costs for the development of such a application.

The purpose of the thesis work is to map, explain, propose and follow up on solutions to quality problems in a small growing IT company in an attempt to reduce or completely eliminate costs of poor quality. The report includes theory of change management, process and quality management, process maturity, agile methods, characteristic features for IT companies, DMAIC project tool and challenges for growing companies. It is a case study that is based predominantly on qualitative primary data. Data has been collected using a customer survey, as well as observations and interviews with employees and management. The result shows that the organization is struggling with quality problems. The problems look slightly different depending on which department is being reviewed. In the development department, which works with large projects over a long period of time, the main problem is lack of complete customer requirement specifications. At the Operations Department the main problem is that they are unable to test according to needs. Cunclusions to be drawn is that there are quality deficiencies related to testing and requirements specification within the IT company. Part of the reasons behind the problems is the lack of structure and follow-up. Three action plans have been drawn up to address the problems. A follow-up plan has also been created, which includes both follow-up of statistical data and feedback from employees and customers. / Syftet med examensarbetet är att kartlägga, förklara, föreslå och följa upp lösningar på kvalitetsproblem inom ett litet växande It-företag, i ett försök att få kvalitetsbristkostnader att minska eller helt försvinna. I rapporten innefattas teori om förändringsledning, process- och kvalitetsledning, processmognad, agila arbetssätt, karaktäristiska drag för It-företag, projektverktyget DMAIC samt utmaningar för växande företag. Rapporten är en fallstudie som till övervägande del består av kvalitativa primära data. Data samlas in med hjälp av en kundenkät, samt observationer och intervjuer med medarbetare och ledning. Resultatet visar att organisationen brottas med kvalitetsproblem, som innebär att värdefull tid läggs på att arbeta med saker som inte hade behövts om de gjort rätt från början. Problemen ser något annorlunda ut beroende på vilken avdelning som granskas. På utvecklingsavdelningen, som arbetar med stora projekt över lång tid är det framför allt bristande kravspecifikationer från kunderna som är bekymret. På driftsavdelningen är den främsta problematiken att de inte hinner med att testa så som de hade önskat. Slutsatser som kan dras är att det inom det studerade It-företaget finns kvalitetsbristkostnader relaterade till testning och kravspecificering. En del av orsakerna som ligger bakom problemen är bristen på struktur och uppföljning. Tre handlingsplaner har upprättats för att komma till rätta med problemen. En uppföljningsplan är också skapad, som innefattar både uppföljning av statistisk och återkoppling från medarbetare och kunder.