"European Quality Week in Hungary, 1997" [antikvár]

From the dawn of mankind on, Quality has been a challenge to be met. It was always necessary to make more suitable for humán use what nature offered: to cut a stone into an ax, to tan a hide to make a jacket or footwear. To succeed, our ancestor-caveman had to plan his process, execute it, assess the result, and take corrective action if necessary. So even in these prehistoric times of humán development, the famous Deming Quality-wheel was already turning, as it does today everywhere when Quality is the issue. The humán genes prevent man from being ultimately satisfied with what he has achieved. His requirements increase when his previous ones have been met by the product's properties. This we call "progress". Quality is defined as the relation of properties of a product (tangible or intangible) to the requirements regarding the product. We want to examine the problem of possible limits to Quality with progress in mind. Requirements Requirements relate to the individual properties and characteristics of a product. When ordering a custom-made product, the buyer expresses his requirements verbally or in writing to the maker/supplier. A wise customer listens to the latter's recommendations, because he has special and useful knowledge to offer in this state of the contract negotiations. In order to avoid possible quality deficiencies when the product is delivered, the producer/seller should see to it that the requirements are unambigous ("Not heavier than 2, 5 kg" rather than "as light as possible"). He should alsó make every effort to find out about the customervs expectations, his wishes beyond stated requirements. If both parties are honest, there should be no problem of delivering a product that totally satisfies the customer, that is: 100% quality. A honest customer states his requirements clearly, is willing to pay the price for his requirements and accepts the delivery time necessary for the supplier to do the job properly. A honest producer knows that his ressources can fill the requirements at reasonable costs within an acceptable time. He is willing to make every effort in his power to deliver a defectfree product. This ideál situation is not always the case. Quality shortcomings due to lack of honesty of either partner will be dealt with later.