True quality Characteristics and Substitute quality Characteristics
True quality characteristics are the quality attributes
demanded by the customer. They are expressed in the language of the customer in
his own words.
Substitute quality characteristics are the customer
requirements in the language of the
producer. Substitute quality characteristics can be determined by translating
the customer demands in the language of engineers (producer) in the form of
product specification, targets and tolerances.
Quality characteristics that are positive advantage of the
product – the special features that make it superior to competing products and
can be used as sales points, such as, ‘easy to use’, ‘comfortable to use’, are called forward looking qualities or
attractive qualities. In contrast to the above, the absence of defects is a
backward looking quality or a must-be quality.
Absence of defect in a product is essential, but not a
sufficient condition for selling in competitive situations. Designer’s target
should be to create forward-looking qualities in the product.
