Products can satisfy the needs of people only if they have the quality that determines its purpose. Quality is one of the most important indicators of the enterprise. In the current market conditions, a continuous improvement in product quality strongly determines the growth of production efficiency, the pace of technological progress, the adaptation of all types of enterprises in a competitive environment, and the introduction of innovations.
Quality is a set of product properties that determine its ability to meet specific needs in accordance with its purpose, meaning what is the degree of its suitability. Any product has a combination of chemical, physical, biological and other properties that determine its purpose.
The concept and indicators of product quality are fixed in international standards. In general, products are nothing but the result of a process. It is classified into four categories. The first is services. In this case, we mean the result of at least one type of activity, which is necessarily carried out in the process of interaction between the customer and the supplier.
The second category is intellectual products. It contains intangible information and takes the form of diverse approaches to solving organizational and production problems, business agreements and methods.
The third category is hardware. They are material and their number is a quantitative characteristic (for example, four cars).
The fourth category is recycled products. They are material, and in order to express their quantitative characteristics, as a rule, they resort to measuring volume, weighing, and so on.
The main indicators of product quality are safety, durability, reliability, transportability and others. In the conditions of the modern market, product quality is evaluated on the basis of indicators that reflect the competitiveness of products, both in the domestic and foreign markets.
Product quality indicators have different classification according to different criteria. So in terms of the number of properties that they reflect, there are single indicators, complex and integral. At the stages of determining the products currently distinguish such indicators as production, design, projected and operational.
Product quality indicators are used depending on specific needs. They must be decisive for a particular industry. Suppose if the goal is the safety of operation, then an indicator such as reliability is used.
Quality is an inconsistent quantity, which depends on the discipline of labor, the qualification level of workers, as well as the level of technology and equipment used. Product quality indicators are private and general. The latest indicators of product quality characterize its quality regardless of purpose and type. But the private indicators of products characterize the consumer and its technical properties of enterprises of various economic sectors.
Quality systems are created and then introduced at enterprises, mainly as a means, which is designed to ensure the implementation of appropriate policies in the field of achieving strategic goals and quality.
Quality is also a degree that is the limit for a combination of its own characteristics to meet the requirements. A characteristic is a distinctive feature of the product, which can be quantitative and qualitative, assigned and its own.