Quality is placed first in our list of performance objectives because many authorities believe it to be the most important. Certainly more has been written about it than almost any other operations performance objective over the last twenty years. As far as this introduction to the topic is concerned, quality is discussed largely in terms of it meaning 'conformance'. That is, the most basic definition of quality is that a product or service is as it is supposed to be. In other words, it conforms to its specifications.
There are two important points to remember when reading on quality as a performance objective.
• The external affect of good quality within in operations is that the customers who 'consume' the operations products and services will have less (or nothing) to complain about. And if they have nothing to complain about they will (presumably) be happy with their products and services and are more likely to consume them again. This brings in more revenue for the company (or client’s satisfaction in a not-for-profit organisation.
• Inside the operation quality has a different affect. If conformance quality is high in all the operations processes and activities very few mistakes will be being made. This generally means that cost is saved, dependability increases and speed of response increases. This is because, if an operation is continually correcting mistakes, it finds it difficult to respond quickly to customers requests.