Cost of Quality | CWX Workflow Tools
CWX_WORKFLOW_TOOLS// MOD 04 · COST OF QUALITY ← OPS CONSOLE

Ops Console / Module 04 / Cost of Quality

Cost of Quality

Count what getting it wrong really costs.

Every shop pays for quality twice: once to prevent and check, and again, far more, when defects escape into scrap, reprints, and returns. This tool sorts those costs into conformance and failure so the true price of poor quality stops hiding in the overhead.

Time20–40 min
FormatCost calculator
SavesPDF · JSON record
← FMEANext: Process Sigma →

What it is

The cost of quality sorts spending into four buckets: prevention and appraisal (what you spend to get it right) versus internal and external failure (what it costs when you do not).

When to use it

To prove the case for investing in prevention. In most shops the failure costs dwarf prevention, and the math makes that impossible to ignore.

How to run it

List each quality cost, tag its bucket, and enter the amount. The tool splits conformance from failure and, if you add sales, shows it as a share of revenue.

BucketCost itemAmount ($)
Saved

Worked example: last quarter

Prevention spend (training, a proofing checklist) is $3,000 and appraisal (press checks, QC time) is $5,000, so conformance is $8,000. Internal failure (reprints, scrap) runs $14,000 and external failure (returns, redo, a lost account) runs $9,000, so failure is $23,000. Nearly three dollars of failure for every dollar of prevention. The tidy conclusion: a little more prevention is cheap insurance.