Differential cost of quality

The concept of differential cost of quality, C, is introduced as an expression of the urgency of implementing a corrective action for a known quality or reliability problem affecting fielded equipment and equipment currently being shipped. C can be used to prioritize the corrective action against other improvement opportunities. The method of calculating C" involves three steps: 1) identifying and quantifying the significance of the problem, 2) determining if a retrofit or respond (fix on fail) approach is optimal, and 3) calculation of the differential cost of quality which expresses the urgency.