Levels of Quality, Quality Control and Productivity.
All institutions exist to provide products or services to human beings. The essential aspect of these products or services is that they be fit for use. The phrase "fitness for use" is the basic meaning of the word "Quality". The company's survival depends on the income it gets from selling its products and services and the ability to sell is based on fitness for use.
The Quality function, The meaning of Quality, The meaning of control and the meaning of Quality Control:
The Quality function can be defined as the collection of activities through which we achieve fitness for use. The two parameters of fitness for use are :
(a)	Quality of design, or grade
(b)	Quality of conformance.
Two more parameters added are :
(c)	Availability, i.e. the extent to which the user can secure continuing use of the product.
(d)	Customer services, i.e., the extent to which the manufacturer and distribution chain make good in case of product failure.
Grade : This is the degree to which a class or category of product possesses satisfaction for people generally.
Quality of Conformance: This is the degree to which a specific product conforms to a design or specification.
Quality Characteristic: This is any distinguishing feature or a grade of a product, i.e., appearance, dimension, performance, length of life, dependability, reliability, durability, maintainability, taste, odour etc.
Quality Function: This is the name for that area of responsibility in industrial companies through which we achieve fitness for use.
The Meaning of "Quality Control"
It is the entire collection of activities through which we achieve fitness for use, i.e. carry out the company's quality function.
Quality control is defined as 'a system for programming and co-ordinating the efforts of various groups in an organisation to maintain or improve quality, at an economical level which allows for customer satisfaction'. Defined as such quality control is a subset of quality assurance i.e. a substantial/integral part of it and not a separate addition to it.
PRINCIPLE OF CONTROL:
All control requires the establishment of a standard for the means of comparison, the assessment of conformity with the standard, and the application of suitable corrective action where necessary.
The collective success of quality control depends on having an adequate systems, organized and managed to ensure that all proper information, resources and facilities are provided, are properly used and that all activities are carried out in an economic, efficient and effective manner.
DESIGN/SPECIFICATION CONTROL:
Quality must be designed into a product before manufacture, by the translation of purchaser requirements into practical designs and specifications that permit production, maintenance and servicing to be technically and economically feasible. 
Irrespective of whether purchaser-requirements are fully detailed in the programme, management should ensure that the design function is given adequate information concerning:
1.	Minimum functional requirements;
2.	Maximum environmental expectations;
3.	Cost limitations;
4.	Safety and reliability requirements;
Sampling procedures, when properly employed, provide a set of useful and economical tools for objectively estimating the level of quality or achieved control of a process with a minimum of efforts. Where safety is critical, e.g. aircraft structural components, 100 percent inspection of certain items may be essential. Most sampling schemes relate sample sizes to batch because of the prime need to ensure a representative sample, which becomes increasingly difficult as the batch size increases. Accordingly, the penalty for rejecting a 'good' batch, or accepting a 'bad' batch, based perhaps on insufficient sample data, also increases. These risks, due to sampling, which apply to both producers and consumers, cannot be completely eliminated although they can be accurately assessed by statistical techniques.

DOCUMENTATION:
Although normally successful systems of administration and control are well documented, it is important to remember that excessive paper work is counter-productive and simplicity plays an important part in the creation of efficient operational procedures.
Quality manuals can provide aids useful for purposes such as training or marketing. Especially if the consequences of modifications necessary to satisfy particular customer requirements are emphasized e.g. costs of deviating from standards. Additionally they can provide:
1.	Information from which a purchaser may derive confidence in a supplier's organization.
2.	The responsibilities are inter-related activities of personnel and functional groups.
3.   	A vehicle for auditing, reviewing and evaluating the management and/or quality control systems.
Defect/failure analysis and remedial action :
Poor work methods or non-compliance with work instructions are frequent causes of defects and failures in service. Poor design inadequate specifications arc often the cause. As the need indicates remedial, action requires:
1.	Changing unsatisfactory designs, specifications and work methods,
2.	Enforcing compliance with satisfactory designs, specifications and work methods;
Prompt, effective remedial action is essential to a sound quality program and segregating unacceptable material from acceptable material is rarely sufficient.
CONTROL OF NON-CONFORMING MATERIAL AND COMPONENTS i
Best procedure must be established to inspect incoming materials components. Procedures should include provisions for identification segregation and disposal to prevent unauthorized use, shipment and inter-mingling with conforming supplies.
REVIEW AND EVALUATION PROCEDURES:
Review and evaluation procedures take many forms and during the development of any project, product, service, systems or organization, they are by the nature of things continually being carried out.
In establishing a system, management has had to specify its objectives, establish a programme, plans and procedures to accomplish them, assign duties, delegate authority, set up adequate methods and standards of performance and evaluate the results objectively. Consequently, such reviews must be methodical and depending on the nature of the organisation, they may take the form of management audits, systems audits or project or product audits, carried out at particular points in time.
       
The concept of different levels of quality is another basic idea in quality control nowadays. We tend to judge competing products by subtracting the value of the money we have to pay for the product from the product's usefulness to us to get the value of the product. If we were buying tyres for an ordinary car, tyre, which lasted for 100 miles, or a tyre which lasted for 2,50,000 miles would be equally unsatisfactory. The 100-mile tyre, no matter how cheap would be useless while the cost of the 2,50,000 mile tyre would be totally unrelated to its usefulness.
QUALITY CONTROL AND PRODUCTIVITY :
The figures for industrial production shows that materials are the major cost element in Indian industry. The proportions vary from industry to industry. In some industries the cost of materials, fuel, containers etc. is over 80 of the value of gross output; in other, it is as low as 30%. Another way of looking at the published figures is to calculate the material/wages ratio. This average is for transportable goods industries but can vary from a high of 16 to a low of 0.85. The adoption of quality control ideas can have a major effect on productivity by eliminating waste of valuable resources. 
Unfortunately, it is customary to regard quality problems, as being confined to the production area and it is not sufficiently appreciated that many different company functions can actually be responsible for the re-work and scrap that arise in production. Poorly drafted specifications can contribute to excessive scrap and rework while purchasing is another function, which can affect quality enormously. The influence of proper training on quality is now being recognized.
And even after goods have been produced, other functions can affect quality. Proper packing, appropriate transportation and after-sales service are areas, which can cause damage to a company's quality image. The writer has come across cases where goods of acceptable quality before shipment were down graded on receipt by the customer -just because they had been superficially damaged in transportation.