ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that there is often a major misinterpretation of the graphs, attempting to draw conclusions that the graphs do not permit. The 'costs of quality' approach, however, has handled time, not by adding an extra time axis to a static economic analysis, but by removing the static economic analysis entirely, and replacing it with a time axis. The capacity of a production line frequently varies with the level of defects. It is usual to plot costs, unit costs, and so on against something like level of defects or conformity. It has been shown that there are major conceptual errors in the cost of quality approach as practised, and that there are a large number of unresolved questions. There has been very little work done on the economics of producing quality, a much larger research programme. It is concluded that a major economic input into the production end of the economics of quality is urgently needed.
