What are the four types of quality costs?

Costs of quality or quality costs does not mean the use of  expensive or very highly quality materials to manufacture a product. The term refers to the costs that are incurred to prevent, detect and remove defects from products. Quality costs are categorized into four main types. Theses are:

  1. Prevention costs
  2. Appraisal costs
  3. Internal failure costs and
  4. External failure costs.

These four types of quality costs are briefly explained below:

It is much better to prevent defects rather than utilizing additional resources in finding and removing them from products. All costs that are incurred to avoid or minimize the number of defects at first place are known as prevention costs. Some examples of prevention costs are improvement of manufacturing processes, workers training, quality engineering, statistical process control and technical support for suppliers etc.

Appraisal costs:

Appraisal costs (also known as inspection costs) are those costs that are incurred to identify defective products before they are shipped to customers. All costs associated with the activities that are performed during manufacturing processes to ensure required quality standards are also included under this category. Identification of defective products involves the maintaining a team of inspectors which may prove very costly for some organizations.

Internal failure costs:

Internal failure costs are those costs that are incurred to remove defects from the products before shipping them to customers. These costs should not be confused with the appraisal costs described above, because appraisal costs are the result of identification of defects issues in the products whereas internal failure costs are the result of actually removing the defects from products. Examples of internal failure costs include cost of rework, rejected products, scrap and debugging software errors etc.

External failure costs:

If defective products have been shipped to customers, external failure costs arise. External failure costs include warranties, replacements, lost sales because of bad reputation, payment for damages arising from the use of defective products etc. The shipment of defective products can dissatisfy customers, damage goodwill and reduce sales and profits.

More examples of quality costs

Examples of prevention cost

  • System development
  • Quality engineering
  • Quality training
  • Quality circles
  • Statistical process control
  • Supervision of prevention
  • Quality improvement projects
  • Technical support to suppliers
  • Quality data gathering, analysis and reporting
  • Audit of the quality system

Examples of appraisal cost

  • Test and inspection of incoming materials
  • Final product testing and inspection
  • Supplies used in testing and inspection
  • Supervision of testing and inspecting activities
  • Depreciation of test equipment
  • Maintenance of test equipment
  • Plant utilities in inspection area
  • Field testing and appraisal at customer site

Examples of internal failure cost

  • Net cost of scrap
  • Net cost of spoilage
  • Rework labor and overhead
  • Reinspection of reworked products
  • Disposal of defective products
  • Down time caused by quality problems
  • Analysis of the cause of defects in the production
  • Retesting of reworked products
  • Re-entering data because of keying
  • Debugging software errors

Examples of external failure cost

  • Cost of field servicing and handling complaints
  • Warranty repairs and replacement costs
  • Liability arising from defective products
  • Lost sales arising from a reputation of poor quality
  • Returns and allowances arising from quality problems
  • Product recalls
  • Repairs and replacements beyond the warranty period

Armand V. Feigenbaum first described the concept of the cost of poor quality in a 1956 Harvard Business Review article.

Cost of quality refers to costs incurred while ensuring that you get high-quality deliverables. It also includes the cost of dealing with any defects in your work. This is different from the cost of production, which refers to the total amount spent on labour and materials.

CLASSIFICATION:

The cost of quality can be categorized into four categories:

  • Prevention Cost
  • Appraisal Cost
  • Internal Failure Cost and
  • External Failure Cost

1. Prevention Costs:

Prevention costs are the costs of all activities that are designed to prevent poor quality from arising in products or services. The examples of the prevention costs include:

  • Quality planning
  • Education and training
  • Conducting design reviews
  • Supplier reviews and selection
  • Quality system audits
  • Process planning and control
  • Product modifications
  • Equipment upgrades

2. Appraisal Costs:

Appraisal costs are costs that are incurred to ensure the conformance to quality standards and performance requirements. The examples of the appraisal costs include:

  • Test and inspection (receiving, in-process and final)
  • Supplier acceptance sampling
  • Product Audits
  • Calibration

3. Internal Failure Costs:

Internal Failure Costs are the costs that are associated with defects found within the organization before after the customer receives the product or service. The examples of the internal failure costs include:

  • In-process scrap and rework
  • Troubleshooting and repairing
  • Design changes
  • Inventory required to support poor process yields and rejected lots
  • Re-inspection / retest of reworked items

4. External Failure Costs:

External Failure Costs are the costs that are associated with defects found after the customer receives the product or service. The examples of the external failure costs include:

  • Sales returns and allowances
  • Replacing defective products
  • Service level agreement penalties
  • Complaint handling
  • Field service labor and parts costs incurred due to warranty obligations
  • Product recalls / Legal claims
  • Lost customers and opportunities
  • Downgrading
  • Processing of customer complaints

Classification of the Cost of Quality - Some Examples:

Let's look at some examples to understand the classification we discussed above.

1. Cost of getting company certified to ISO 9001

This will be a prevention cost, as our intention is to establish a system to avoid problems from happening in the first place.

2. The cost of quality-related training

This will also be a prevention cost, as the training is being delivered to avoid or prevent poor quality.

3. Review of drawings

This is an appraisal cost, as in this case, you are checking if the drawings have been made correctly.

4. Preparation of quality management system and inspection procedures

This will be a prevention cost, as the quality management system and inspection procedures help us avoid quality problems.

5. Product recall and warranty repairs

This will obviously be an external failure cost.

6. Defects found by customers after receiving the product

Once again, this will be an external failure cost.

7. Inspection and re-inspection of the repaired product

These will be internal failure costs.

Visible vs Invisible Cost of Quality:

Cost of quality can also be classified as visible and invisible costs (also called the hidden costs). The below graphic explains both of these types of costs.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, it is important for companies to understand what they need to do to reduce their overall cost of quality. This will help them improve their business processes and operations, which ultimately lead to better profitability.

The worst type of cost out of these four categories of the cost of poor quality is the external failure costs. Organizations should make their best effort to reduce the external failure cost.

Spending more on prevention and appraisal costs usually leads to a reduction in internal and external failure costs.

What are the four costs under the Cost of Quality model?

The Cost of Quality can be divided into four categories. They include Prevention, Appraisal, Internal Failure and External Failure.

What are the 3 types of quality cost?

Quality costs definition.
Appraisal Costs. As was the case with a prevention cost, an appraisal cost is incurred in order to keep a quality problem from occurring. ... .
Internal Failure Costs. An internal failure cost is incurred when a defective product is produced. ... .
External Failure Costs..

What are different forms of Cost of Quality?

The Cost of Quality consists of four categories such as Prevention Cost, Appraisal Cost, Internal Failure, and External Failure.

What are the four major categories of quality?

Quality costs can be organized into four major categories: prevention costs, appraisal costs, internal failure costs, and external failure costs.