Quality Is Free: The Art of Making Quality Certain

by Philip B. Crosby

Book Overview

Nontechnical in approach, this how-to manual for managers with accountability for product performance specifies ways in which quality problems can be prevented at each stage of production.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0070145121
• ISBN13: 9780070145122
• Release Date: December 1979
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies
• Length: 309 Pages
• Weight: 1.13 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.7" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Understand quality.

One of the best books about understanding quality. Excellent source for anyone who wants to improve the company bottom line without increasing expenses. It should be required reading for all managers.

Good Case study and Tools.

This book teach me three things. 1. Catch copy is important. "Quality is Free" is a good phrase in the world. People who concern product quality, may want to read this book. 2 Case study and procedures are good deatail. If case study is abstractive, readers have not understood the problems. 3 Carefull Role play get good understanding. Opientation time is about one hour. It is enough to understand the details. Short Role play is good as extreme programing case study. BTW, it will be good experience on the case study and the tools. ps. Is it important quality management maturity grid? If a project is not well organized, it may good. But if a project is well organized, perhaps it is too much.

Quality is Profitable

Crosby wrote an excellent book that is very useful to managers, quality professional and any individual concerned about quality. The author clearly explains the meaning of quality, which is conformity to requirements. He also shows a useful way to measure quality in terms of cash and not just the usual metrics such as the number of rejects per specified number of units produced. The profits that would flow from producing quality products and services is a good measure. Crosby explains that adopting the cost effective practice of preventing errors will result in avoiding rework, scrap or servicing, which result in increased profits. The author explains that quality processes should pervade the whole organisation, including areas like public relations or industrial relations, and not confined to customer specific areas. The book is practical oriented with the author providing some suggestions on how to implement his philosophies in a manufacturing organisation. The book is a bit dated but this does little to diminish the quality of the author's message. The book is applicable to all organisations in any industry, although the author had a bias towards manufacturing enterprises. This is a classic book that is highly recommended.

Quality is not a gift, but it is free.

The author has figured out that it is traditionally difficult to have a meaningful, real-life, factual discussion on sex, quality and other complicated subjects until some basic erroneous assumptions are examined and altered. "The first erroneous assumption is that quality means goodness, or luxury, so shininess, or weight. We must define quality as conformance to requirements if we are to manage it. The second erroneous assumption is that quality is an intangible and therefore not measurable. In fact, quality is precisely measurable by the oldest and most respected of measurements - cold hard cash", says the author. For example, "It is much less expensive to prevent errors than to rework, scrap or service them".This book does not only have theoretic approach, but also brings practical value. It offers a quality improvement program that can be installed in any service or manufacturing company.Philip Crosby's "Quality Is Free", first published in 1979, influences the book "Business @ Speed of Thought" by Bill Gates, released twenty years afterwards. With a bright set of modern case studies, he illustrates the basic concepts presented by Philip Crosby: - There is absolutely no reason for having errors or defects in any product or service.- Basically, we are slow to change because we reject newness.- Transmitting: how you come across to others should not be left to chance.- It is much less expensive to prevent errors than to rework, scrap or service them.- Business is ... communication that we control and utilize. The effectiveness of the business is determined by how well we do that data transmission.In the same year when the Bill Gates's book was published, Philip Crosby exposes his own case studies entitled "Quality and Me: Lessons from an Evolving Life".

An important book. It should open your eyes.

Phil Crosby was a manager at ITT when he conceived the "zero defect" concept. Later its true meaning was lost and the phrase became a meaningless slogan. He realized that managment was usally passing the buck on quality, and blaming poor quality on blue collar workers, rather than accepting full responsibility for quality. He also emphasizes that many management policies encourage poor quality. He recommends that companies determine the real costs of quality errors, which often rise to 25% of gross sales in manufacturing firms. Even more alarming, in the service industries mistakes often cost up to 40% of gross income. There is a lot of money to be saved!