Customer Reviews

Quality Is Still Free: Making Quality Certain in Uncertain Times

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Some people who read 'Quality Is Free' observed that the title is somewhat misleading (because it oversimplifies the real message). This book's title is definitely misleading, because it suggests that the book is an update to "Quality Is Free'. This, however, is not at all the case - this book does not have anything to do with "QIF", except the author and his general attitude towards quality (which is quite convincing, however).

"Still Free" is just an account of Crosby's career from his earliest work experiences, through ITT to his own quality consulting firm. The focus, however, is almost always on quality philosophy and implementation, rather than personal matters - they are touched on only to illustrate the professional aspects. Generally, it is a good account but I doubt that this is a reasonable form of explaining author's quality philosophy because it's intrinsically simple and intuitive; as far as can be seen from the book, it has not evolved much over years of its application by the author. This being the case, it is not worth explaining in this particular form.

The book would be more valuable if it were written before "Quality Is Free", not after. Maybe they should be read in this order; doing it the other way round does not seem to be very useful.

An advantage of this book over "QIF" is its language: much more clear and readable. All in all, it may be worth reading if you only want to get a general idea of Crosby's quality concept. If you need a program for actions, better read "QIF".

Crosby wrote an excellent book that is very useful to managers, quality professional and any individual concerned about quality. The author clearly explains the meaning of quality, which is conformity to requirements. He also shows a useful way to measure quality in terms of cash and not just the usual metrics such as the number of rejects per specified number of units produced. The profits that would flow from producing quality products and services is a good measure. Crosby explains that adopting the cost effective practice of preventing errors will result in avoiding rework, scrap or servicing, which result in increased profits.

The author explains that quality processes should pervade the whole organisation, including areas like public relations or industrial relations, and not confined to customer specific areas.

The book is practical oriented with the author providing some suggestions on how to implement his philosophies in a manufacturing organisation. The book is a bit dated but this does little to diminish the quality of the author's message. The book is applicable to all organisations in any industry, although the author had a bias towards manufacturing enterprises. This is a classic book that is highly recommended.