Year: 2004
Type: article
Abstract: A Need to QuantifyQuality and Reliability Engineering International has now been in publication for two decades, and during this period significant steps have been made in the fields of quality and reliability, both at the technical level and at the management level.Giant steps in technology, not least in computers and in communications, have changed the daily lives of millions of people world-wide.Laptop computers have now a capability that was undreamed of 20 years ago.The mobile phone and the Internet are milestone inventions of the 20th century.Nevertheless, many people express frustration over the quality of the end product.Computer software, for example, becomes quickly outdated, and transferring programmes and data from an old to a new system can become a major undertaking.In communications, the Internet has opened up an avenue for software vandalism in the form of viruses, which disrupts the trouble-free use of this technology.Help lines have been established to assist users in sorting out such problems, but all to often a call to a help line only adds to the frustration of the customer, not least because of the seemingly endless time it takes to make contact with a real person.It is quite likely that most of us spend far too much time in getting round these problems, which at the end of the day reflect a fundamental quality issue.I have only seen sporadic attempts in the literature to quantify, say, the economical implications of problems such as these on a national or a global basis.With this in mind Quality and Reliability Engineering International has plans to publish a special issue on the Quality of Services.The views of the experts on these matters is sure to make interesting reading.
DOI: 10.1002/qre.676
Author: Finn Jensen
Language: English
Subfield: Marketing
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2005586597