Which term describes the total costs associated with poor quality products or services, including internal and external failure costs, appraisal, and prevention?

• A. Cost of quality
• B. Quality costs
• C. Total quality costs
• D. Cost of poor quality

Answer: (D)

The main idea is that the total costs from not meeting quality standards are captured by the cost of poor quality. This figure adds up the four standard categories: prevention costs (activities to avoid defects), appraisal costs (inspections and testing to detect defects), internal failure costs (defects found before delivery), and external failure costs (defects found after delivery). When you sum these, you get the economic impact caused by poor quality—the cost of poor quality. While some people use COQ to mean quality-related costs in general, the term that specifically refers to the costs arising from poor quality is cost of poor quality.