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n. degree of excellence, relative nature or kind or character.
Writing in the early stages of Suite 101 development gives me the opportunity to approach fundamental topics and concepts that future readers can refer to if they find my writing advanced or over-assuming. In the past editorial we defined "redundancy" as the primary parameter of good engineering. But when it comes time to evaluate the worth of the products of engineering, we often use the term "quality". Many tend to confuse the word quality with the degree of excellence that one possesses. If this approach is followed then one can argue that how good or bad something really is, is a matter of taste and/or conceptual capacity (or lack of both) We cannot discuss or seek quality... And that makes all advisors redundant! Certainly this is not the case as far as quality is concerned. Mind you, in my first editorial I pointed out that one has to listen to the equipment before buying it because in hi-fi audio the borderline between what is good and bad for each one of us is not, and cannot be, explicitly defined due to the sensory nature of the topic. So how can one briefly describe quality? The critical term here is predictability. Predictability also merges the term "quality" with "good". Allow me to bring in the example of the good car driver. The good driver is the predictable driver. The one who drives without posing a danger to passengers and fellow drivers. One who knows when to speed and when to slow down so that if an incident does happen an accident won't occur. You may find this discussion primitive and patronizing but I have experienced the difficulty in explaining to people the association between quality and predictability. When I was working for Ford Motor Company, I was honored to have as my personal Mentor Mr. J.H. Fluegge, the Supervisor of the Ford Alpha Manufacturing Development Center in Detroit. Mr Fluegge was the first American Executive (then a mere scientist) working for a blue-chip Corporation to embrace Genichi Taguchi's theory on quality. The Taguchi theory helps quantify quality and finds the cost of quality in dollars, and assesses the manufacturer costs. Since space does not permit me finalize this general discussion on quality, this topic will continue for the next two weeks. Go To Page: 1 2
The copyright of the article Quality... Part I: a listening in Audio Equipment is owned by . Permission to republish Quality... Part I: a listening in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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