By Anjali Chawla

Video Link: https://youtu.be/VLIx36J876w

Definition: Quality standards A product is said to be of quality if it is free from any manufacturing defect, deficiency, or significant variation in order to do certain specific standards need to be set so that uniformity is achieved in the entire set of products being manufactured. The standard defined should be such that the features and specifications offered by the product should be capable to meet the implied need of the product.

Indian quality standards It is often pointed out that a man is at maximum a manufacturer of one product or a single service provider. But the very same man is a consumer of more than 1000 products and services in his daily life. Every person is a consumer. We use thousands of products and pay for hundreds of services that we use for our day-to-day activities. It is obvious in such a scenario that all of us have gone through instances of service or product dissatisfaction. But unless it is something severe in nature, we avoid getting into the depth of the case.

Even in cases where the monetary loss associated with the defective service or product is a reasonable amount, the companies are quick to cover up for it and the issue is settled. But there are cases where we feel cheated and there is no adequate compensation given but we do not have time in our fast-moving lives to pursue the case further or some people do not have the correct knowledge.

The general tendency is to avoid buying the product in the future. While this strategy may work in small cases of petty financial loss but when the stake is higher (eg - gold items, LCD TV, automobiles ) a one-time loss can be too severe to ignore. With the speed at which telecom services have grown over the last decade, there is no surprise that a huge number of calls are made by customers alleging fraud by telecom companies to their respective customer helplines.

Need for quality standards Quality has different meanings subject to different interpretation, it may mean hygiene in health and hospitality, safety in electrical and electronics, and in-services it may refer to speed and reliability. The cost of a product may also be referred to as a quality measure. But we will refer to quality in the operational context as conformance to establish standards.

Quality controls refer to activities undertaken to maintain specific quality of products within reasonable limits. It involves the determination of quality standards to ensure that the established standards are followed. The aim is to secure a reasonable product quality at a competitive cost level by achieving systematic control over the variables involved in manufacturing the product. Maintenance of a satisfactory level of quality is essential for the success and survival of any company.

Quality control offers advantages such as improvement in the brand image, facilitation of standardization, and cutting down costs by avoiding defective production. It also leads to an increase in sales and makes the company competitive by helping inaccurate prediction of costs involved. Importance of Feedback in the quality control process.

Quality Control v/s Quality Assurance. Quality Control is the operational techniques and activities used to fulfill requirements for quality. These techniques focus on products or services, they are reactive and their main aim is to find defects. While Quality Assurance is the planned and systematic activities implemented within the quality system that can be demonstrated to provide confidence that a product or service will fulfill requirements for Quality Control. These activities focus more on the process, they are proactive and their main aim is to prevent defects.

How important is Feedback ?? Nowadays it is quite common to give or to take feedbacks. We experience it everywhere let it be a sporting event or Travelling etc. The majority of the people give feedback face to face i.e virtual feedback but it is a bit of a challenge. As a consumer of a product or a service, it is the most important thing one can do. One should make their feedback meaningful and constructive. Good feedback practice clarifies what good performance is. Good feedback develops reflection and self-assessment; it delivers high-quality information, product, or service and it also closes the gap in current and desired performance.

I believe that with the combination of asynchronous and synchronous feedback we can deliver high-quality feedback and this can help in the quality control process.