Description

This paper depicts the costs associated with changes that must be made in the field upon start-up, which the OEM must bear due to poor quality. The service person’s time and materials, altered engineering drawings, loss of time back at their home office for engineering changes and service support, etc., are compiled. Comparison is made between the money spent “fixing” poor quality to the sales price of the equipment. Time loss and other impacts on corporate resources are considered. An analysis of how conducive an organization is to learning is related to the level of success with their products. The cost of knowledge is then compared to the cost of “fixing poor quality,” to gain insight into the true value of conscious and directed learning.