Understanding and application of quality costs in automotive manufacturing companies in North Macedonia: empirical study

Abstract

PurposeThis study aims at presenting deeper insights regarding the understanding and application of the quality costs (CoQ) in the automotive manufacturing industry. The empirical research included three general determinants: reasons for, difficulties during and benefits from implementing quality costs, as well as two specific determinants: measuring and evaluating quality cost elements.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical research methodology employs the expert evaluation method – the Delphi method, using a survey questionnaire comprising a total of 200 questions, and answered by 9 companies.FindingsThe survey results showed that companies do recognize the reasons for implementing quality costs as a need arising from the quality management standards, the lack of knowledge of quality costs by employees and management as the biggest difficulty while the biggest benefit includes the quality costs enhance the company competitiveness. The costs competence and qualification, the quality management system costs, the costs for improvement, the production control costs, the input control costs, the new measuring and control equipment calibration costs, the costs related to scrap, repairs and product finishing are the most significant elements of the quality costs.Research limitations/implicationsThis study is limited by the small number of surveyed companies from the automotive cluster.Practical implicationsThe proposed quality costs model provides to the management to conceive CoQ elements as possible drivers in the improvement process of product quality. The structure and the nature of the CoQ elements is expected to advance the process of detailing the quality costs elements.Originality/valueThe novelty of this paper refers to development of a generic quality cost model, whose relevance is confirmed by the structuring of the model with elements published in literature and validating in research companies.

Weibull Integrated AHP for The Selection of Natural Fiber Composites Material

“…Quality costs determine the costs that are specifically associated with the achievement or non-achievement of the product quality including the whole set of product or service requirements [61]. The MCDM method, developed in this research work, combines both AHP tool and the Weibull two parameters distribution.…”