A pilot study of quality costs at Sun Microsystems

Abstract

Quality costs tend to be elusive and studies have indicated that they may form a very large part of the manufacturing costs associated with a product. This paper sets out to illustrate that problems still exist with these costs, even when well educated, determined staff are involved in ensuring quality assurance throughout the system in an enlightened organization. The study took place in Sun Microsystems when the industry had recently faced changes affecting sales. The objectives included: investigating key areas in order to identify problems associated with quality costs, suggesting improvements and offering guidelines for the establishment of a robust system, which would, in time, help the organization to overcome these areas of concern.