Reductions in both product cost and product defects would come from improving the manufacturing engineering department. Improvements can be made in staff selection, further training, pay, authority, and supervision. Marketing The marketing department is the interface between the customers and the other departments. Marketers help the other departments please the customers by explaining what pleases and what displeases. It is a management responsibility to make the other departments pay attention to the marketers.
Pleasing customers sells products.
Conclusions Defect reduction requires investment in both money and personal relationships but the successes of our Japanese and German competitors teach that the investments are profitable in the long run. For other essays in this series, Consulting engineering.