Page 3 of Glossary of Quality

Chart: A chart used to monitor the number of defects in a production process.

Capability: Likelihood a product will meet specification.

Catchball: Term used to describe the iterative nature of the Hoshin planning process.

Categorizing: The act of placing strengths and weakness into categories in generic internal assessment.

Cause and effect (or fishbone or Ishikawa) diagram: A diagram designed to help workers focus on the causes of a problem rather than the symptoms.

Certification audits: Audits relating to registration (e.g., ISO 9000 audits).

Chain of customers: A philosophy that espouses the idea that each worker’s “customer” is the next worker in the chain of people that produce a finished product or service.

Change: In the context of quality management, this means to move from one

state of operation to another state of operation.

Check sheets: Data-gathering tools that can be used in forming histograms.

The check sheets can be either tabular or schematic.

Compensate: (1) To pay or remunerate for some work; (2) To make up for some lack of ability or acuity.

Complaint-recovery process: Process associated with resolving complaints.

Complementary products: Products that use similar technologies and can coexist in a family of products.

Component reliability: The propensity for a part to fail over a given time.

Computer-aided design (CAD): A system for digitally developing product designs.

Computer-aided inspection (CAI): A system for performing inspection through the use of technology. For example, some systems use infrared to detect defects.

Computer-aided testing (CAT): Technology for taking tests or examinations.

Computer-based training: A form of training that uses specialized software, known as courseware, to address specific topics.

Concept design: The process of determining which technologies will be used in production and the product.

Concurrent engineering: The simultaneous performance of product design and process design. Typically, ­concurrent engineering involves the formation of

Cross-functional teams: This allows engineers and managers of different disciplines to work together simultaneously in developing product and process designs.

Conformance: A dimension of quality that refers to the extent to which a product lies within an allowable range of deviation from its specification.

Consultant audits: Inspections that are performed by consultants to determine how an organization should be changed for improvement.

Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC): An independent federal regulatory agency that helps keep American families safe by reducing the risk of injury or death from consumer products.

Consumer’s risk: The risk of receiving a shipment of poor quality product and believing that it is good quality.

Contact personnel: The people at the “front lines” who interact with the public in a service setting.

Contingency theory: A theory that presupposes that there is no theory or method for operating a business that can be applied in all instances.

Contract review: Contract review involves the steps associated with contracting with suppliers. These steps involve acceptance of the contract or order, the tender of a contract, and review of the contract.

Contrition: Forgiveness for error or mistake.

Control charts: Tools for monitoring process variation.

Control factors: Variables in a Taguchi experiment that are under the control of the operator. These can include things such as temperature or type of ingredient.

Control process: A process involving gathering process data, analyzing process data, and using this information to make adjustments to the process.
Conversion process: Aligning the inputs of a process together to form a product or service.

Criticality: A term that refers to how often a failure will occur, how easy it is to diagnose, and whether it can be fixed.

Cross-functional teams: Teams with members from differing departments and vocations.

Cross-training: Training an employee to do several different jobs.

Customer: Anyone who is the receiver of the goods or services that are produced.

Customer benefits package (CBP): The package of tangibles and intangibles that make up a service.

Customer Contact: A characteristic of services that notes that customers tend to be more involved in the production of services than they are in manufactured goods.

Customer Coproduction: The participation of a customer in the delivery of a service product. For example, in many restaurants it is not uncommon for customers to fill their own drinks.

Customer-driven quality: Term that refers to a proactive approach to satisfying customer needs.

Customer expectations: (1) What customers expect from a service provider; (2) A part of the SERVQUAL questionnaire.

Customer future needs projection: Predicting the future needs of customers and designing products that satisfy those needs.

Customer perceptions: (1) How customers view products or services; (2) The second part of the SERVQUAL survey.

Customer rationalization: The process of reaching an agreement between marketing and operations as to which customers add the greatest advantage and profits over time.

Customer-related ratios: Ratios that include customer satisfaction, customer dissatisfaction, and comparisons of customer satisfaction relative to competitors.

Customer-relationship management: A view of the customer that asserts that the customer is a valued asset that should be managed.

Customer retention: The percentage of customers who return to a service provider or continue to purchase a manufactured product.

Customer Satisfaction: Measure or determination that a product or service meets a customer's expectations, considering requirements of both quality and service.

Customer service surveys: Instruments that consists of a series of items (or questions) that are designed to elicit customer perceptions.