Title: The application of quality costing to engineering changes

Authors: F. Machowski, B.G. Dale

Addresses: Quality Management Centre, Manchester School of Management, UMIST, PO Box 88, Manchester, M60 1QD, UK. ' Quality Management Centre, Manchester School of Management, UMIST, PO Box 88, Manchester, M60 1QD, UK

Abstract: This paper reports the findings of a quality costing exercise undertaken on the engineering change procedure of an organisation involved in the manufacture of telecommunications equipment. It was established that the average administration cost per change note was £1000, and that the yearly non-conformance costs of the engineering change procedure were estimated to be between £168,000 and £210,000. A number of actions have been taken to reduce the costs involved with engineering changes, including the introduction of a new change-note awareness programme for engineers, and the use and application of both design and process failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA).

Keywords: engineering change; failure mode and effects analysis; FMEA; quality costing; telecommunications equipment.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMPT.1995.036463

International Journal of Materials and Product Technology, 1995 Vol.10 No.3/4/5/6, pp.378 - 388

Published online: 03 Nov 2010 *

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