Cost of quality

Cost of quality (also known by its acronym, COQ; hereinafter, the Cost) is two parts of all the costs incurred to ensure quality. These two parts are:

1. Cost of good quality (also known as costs of conformance), which are money spent to avoid failures or, in other words, to keep produced marketables defect-free. They include prevention and appraisal costs.
2. Cost of poor quality (also known by its acronym, COPQ, as well as failure cost, costs of non-conformance, or costs of failure of conformance), which are money spent because of failures or, in other words, of failure of keeping produced marketables defect-free. They include tangible and intangible internal (i.e. before the marketable reaches the customer) and external (i.e. after the marketable reaches the customer) costs.

If the cost of good quality and cost of poor quality are equal, the Cost is economically the lowest and the conformance level is considered optimal. The PAF paradigm is another concept that represents that phenomenon; PAF is the acronym for prevention, appraisal, failure.

Trivia

Definitions

According to Managing Quality by Foster (6th edition),

PAF paradigm. Refers to prevention, appraisal, and failure costs of quality.

Total cost

Main wikipage: Three spheres of quality

Three spheres of quality

The Cost is a part of the total cost of quality (also known as costs of quality and quality costs). The total cost includes both the Cost and those expenses on quality management that the Cost excludes. The three spheres of quality depict this circumstance.

Cost of good quality

Cost of good quality or costs of conformance are money spent to avoid failures or, in other words, to keep the produced marketables defect-free. These costs include prevention and appraisal costs.

Appraisal costs

Main wikipage: Appraisal cost

Prevention costs

Main wikipage: Prevention cost

Cost of poor quality

Main wikipage: Cost of poor quality

Cost of poor quality

Cost of poor quality (also known by its acronym, COPQ, as well as failure cost, costs of non-conformance, or costs of failure of conformance) is money spent because of failures or, in other words, of failure of keeping produced marketables defect-free. According to Juran's Quality Handbook by Defeo (7th edition),

Cost of poor quality (COPQ). The costs that would disappear in the organization if all failures were removed from a product, service, or process; typically measures of a percent of sales or total costs.

These costs include tangible and intangible internal (i.e. before the marketable reaches the customer) and external (i.e. after the marketable reaches the customer) expenses.