ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses how ‘quality’ and its features can improve our lives both at work and at home. ‘Quality management’, as such, is a relatively new phenomenon and the title was only used in a very small number of companies as recently as the 1960s. The quality aspect was assigned to the quality assurance department. Historically, it was the quality inspector who would try to prevent poor quality reaching the customer. The argument thus far assumes that improvements in quality are perceived by the customer to be desirable, and that the customer is prepared to pay for them. Quality planning is an essential activity that commences as soon as a new concept has been defined and is intended to be developed. The role of the quality function is to attempt to ensure that everything intended happens in accordance with the quality plan. There are two types of problems: problems inherent in the process and people-related problems.
