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Production and Quality 2

This resource is designed specifically for Units 1 and 2 of the Edexcel BTEC National qualification, 'Introduction to Business' and 'Business and Management'.

Aim

The aim of this resource is to develop your understanding of quality practices in business production. By the end, you should:

  • Know the origins of quality approaches to production
  • Be able to investigate examples of quality successes and failures in real world organisations
  • Understand what action firms can take when things go wrong

Resources:

Activity: How confident can we be about firms' attention to quality?

If you run a car, you'll know the need to rely on the services of garage mechanics. A good car mechanic is vital if you are to avoid paying too much for car repairs and servicing. So it is worrying to hear of a lack of attention to quality standards in the car repairs industry.

Quality in car repairs

A recent 'Which?' survey, reported in a BBC article, Garages 'letting down car owners',(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3979405.stm) raised fears of poor quality in this area.

A car being repaired by mechanics

Image: Are you confident that your car's in safe hands when it goes in for repairs? Copyright: Kutt Niinepuu

Consumers' rights

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has become sufficiently concerned about rogue garages, to issue advice to consumers about car repairs and servicing. Cars - servicing and repairs - your rights on the OFT Web site(http://www.oft.gov.uk/Consumer/Your+Rights+When+Shopping/Cars/cars+servicing.htm) highlights your rights when getting your car through its MOT and so on. There's a link from this to a leaflet carrying further information.

Is it all bad news in UK Industry?

The Department for Trade and Industry (DTI) publishes case studies showcasing best quality practice in the UK. (http://www.dti.gov.uk/quality/16i.htm)

Can firms profit from quality assurance?

By reading some of these case studies you should be able to see that firms that stress Total Quality Management stand to profit from their efforts. From time to time, though, things do go wrong. In these cases, it's vital to manage the problem effectively. Much of this relies on the organisation's ability to communicate well with its customers. The Trading Standards Web site contains details of product safety recalls. (http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/cgi-bin/newslist.cgi?area=safe)

Tasks

  1. How can business organisations begin to set up Total Quality Management (TQM) at their firms?
  2. What would you expect to be the outcome of reports of poor quality at UK car repair and servicing centres?
  3. Find a different example of a TQM approach working for a UK firm.
  4. Select one example of a product recall and say whether you think the way the recall was dealt with by the business was effective.
  5. What is the role of government in promoting quality standards in the UK?