Emerging trends in cost of quality practices: an overview

Cost of quality practices, an invariable element of quality management is getting increasing attention across the broad spectrum of organisations globally. Simultaneously there is continuous advancement in manufacturing and allied activities in business environment. Initial development of quality cost methodology dates back to 1960s, which is tracked by many researchers and presented the finding in the form of review papers. However, recently, owing to the increasing use of advanced technologies, supported by use of computers, information technology infrastructure, innovative methodologies for problem solving in business functions are having a great impact on the ways in which quality cost practices are used. The present article focuses on emergence of new trends in cost of quality practices in tandem with advancement in technology by reviewing the published literature. In addition, a general framework for quality cost management system (QCMS) is proposed and the interaction of QCMS with other organisational elements is illustrated.