The Quality Call

In quality management, the most expensive defect is the one you catch last. Every step downstream from a defect's origin — machining, assembly, packaging, shipping, the customer's hands — adds cost that cannot be recovered. Prevention-based quality systems intervene before material and machine time are wasted; detection-based systems find the damage after it's done. The economic case for upstream quality investment is almost always stronger than it appears, because defect costs compound across every process step between origin and detection.