Exploring the relationship between cost of quality and quality management in the South African manufacturing industry

Abstract: In the highly demanding business environment of today, companies are looking for affordable and sustainable methods of meeting customer demands, while improving business performance. The South African manufacturing industry is not excluded from the challenging business environment of today. Over the past years the South African manufacturing sectors have experienced the challenges relating to economic trends, globalisation and political influences. The government has tried to save the industry through the implementation of trade laws and policies. However, despite the support from Government the success of the manufacturing company in the 21st century is dependent on the quality management systems and partnerships. This research derived the concept of quality management and cost of quality from the literature. The study further explores the relationship between quality management factors and cost of quality categories. Over and above identification of the relationship between quality management factors and cost of quality categories; the research investigated the ability of quality management factors to predict the cost of quality categories. The research also aimed at investigating the quality management maturity of the South African manufacturing industry and benchmark the result with international companies. The quality management factors used in the current research include customer focus, leadership, process management, employee focus and business result focus. The cost of quality categories included conformance cost, failure cost and hidden cost. ..D.Phil. (Engineering Management