# 028 - "How Much Does Poor Quality Cost?" with H. James Harrington

- Show: [Let's Combinate](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/lets-combinate)
- Published: 2022-04-13
- Length: 1h 10m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/lets-combinate/2022-04-13-028-how-much-does-poor-quality-cost-with-h-james-harrington
- Listen: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/letscombinate/episodes/028---How-Much-Does-Poor-Quality-Cost--with-H--James-Harrington-e1h3ho7

## Summary

Dr. H. James Harrington, CEO of Harrington Management Systems, explains his book Poor Quality Costs (PQC), arguing that the term 'cost of quality' has a negative connotation and that companies should instead focus on quantifying the financial impact of errors. He details how IBM implemented a PQC system to distinguish between controllable costs (prevention and appraisal) and resultant costs (internal and external errors), demonstrating that ignoring customer impact leads to massive hidden losses. Harrington also discusses 'white collar' poor quality costs in business processes, executive error rates, and the importance of empowering employees to resolve customer issues to retain loyalty.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/lets-combinate/2022-04-13-028-how-much-does-poor-quality-cost-with-h-james-harrington#t=0) Introduction: Subi Sedate and Dr. H. James Harrington
- [2:38](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/lets-combinate/2022-04-13-028-how-much-does-poor-quality-cost-with-h-james-harrington#t=158) The Connotation of 'Cost of Quality' vs. 'Poor Quality Costs'
- [4:27](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/lets-combinate/2022-04-13-028-how-much-does-poor-quality-cost-with-h-james-harrington#t=267) IBM's Implementation of PQC and the Failure of Unit Testing
- [10:29](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/lets-combinate/2022-04-13-028-how-much-does-poor-quality-cost-with-h-james-harrington#t=629) Direct vs. Indirect Costs and Customer Impact
- [13:55](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/lets-combinate/2022-04-13-028-how-much-does-poor-quality-cost-with-h-james-harrington#t=835) Dollarizing Problems and Prioritizing Prevention
- [18:44](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/lets-combinate/2022-04-13-028-how-much-does-poor-quality-cost-with-h-james-harrington#t=1124) Putting Problems to Bed vs. Burying Them
- [27:31](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/lets-combinate/2022-04-13-028-how-much-does-poor-quality-cost-with-h-james-harrington#t=1651) External Error Costs and Appraisal Equipment
- [37:36](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/lets-combinate/2022-04-13-028-how-much-does-poor-quality-cost-with-h-james-harrington#t=2256) Indirect and White Collar Poor Quality Costs
- [52:28](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/lets-combinate/2022-04-13-028-how-much-does-poor-quality-cost-with-h-james-harrington#t=3148) White Collar PQC and Business Process Improvement
- [1:01:20](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/lets-combinate/2022-04-13-028-how-much-does-poor-quality-cost-with-h-james-harrington#t=3680) Executive Error Rates and Behavioral Patterns

## Topics

- [Quality & yield](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/quality-and-yield)
- [Leadership, teams & culture](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/leadership-and-culture)
- [Direct-to-consumer & e-commerce](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/direct-to-consumer)
- [Manufacturing partners & offshoring](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/manufacturing-partners)

## Most relevant to

established companies

## Mentioned

- Harrington Management Systems (company)
- IBM (company)
- Poor Quality Costs (other)
- ASQ (other)
- General Electric (company)
- Costco (company)
- IKEA (company)
- ISO 9000 (other)
- Motorola (company)
- Six Sigma (other)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [How Safety Drives Your Bottom Line and Why It Starts With You w/ Brian Fielkow](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-manufacturing-executive/2026-09-01-how-safety-drives-your-bottom-line-and-why-it-starts-with-you-w-brian-fielkow) (The Manufacturing Executive)
- [8 Silent Business Killers For Manufacturers w/ Steve Blue](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-manufacturing-executive/2023-02-28-8-silent-business-killers-for-manufacturers-w-steve-blue) (The Manufacturing Executive)
- [Digitizing Quality Management](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-manufacturing-executive/2022-08-09-digitizing-quality-management) (The Manufacturing Executive)
- [Quality Management in a Changing Manufacturing Environment w/ Naveen Poonian](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-manufacturing-executive/2024-08-27-quality-management-in-a-changing-manufacturing-environment-w-naveen-poonian) (The Manufacturing Executive)
- [#422: ISO 14971 and the Road to Risk Management with Edwin Bills](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/global-medical-device-podcast/2025-09-01-422-iso-14971-and-the-road-to-risk-management-with-edwin-bills) (Global Medical Device Podcast)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/lets-combinate/2022-04-13-028-how-much-does-poor-quality-cost-with-h-james-harrington. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to Let's Combinate.