Defining the costs of poor quality for an aviation company, one must admit that the risks are far too high. Seeing that the quality of an aircraft or certain devices used by the pilots defines the safety of the flight and the landing, it can be assumed that poor rates thereof may lead to accidents. Therefore, maintaining quality rates at a consistently high level is crucial. Unless the appropriate measures are taken, the organization is likely to suffer the costs related to the loss of customers, reduction in the workforce drops in revenues, reputation issues, and even possible lawsuits in case of injuries or deaths.
A drop in the company’s revenues is the first and the most likely outcome to follow the reduction in quality rates as a result of non-compliance with the Six Sigma approach. As soon as the clients realize that the organization no longer delivers the products of the required quality, the will most likely switch to purchasing aircraft from the organizations with higher quality assurance standards.
With the reduction in revenues, a decrease in staff salaries is expected. Consequently, staff satisfaction rates will also drop. Therefore, resignations are to be expected (Cost of poor quality – COPQ. iSix Sigma, n. d.). Another obvious cost that the firm will have to pay sooner or later if the quality rates drop concerns the impressive reduction in the reputation rates of the organization in the realm of the global economy. While the reputation issue might seem not as big a threat as it seemed several decades ago, the situation has changed drastically now. Because of the numerous tools for ranking specific services on a certain scale, the lack of quality control in the company will be exposed to all those concerned or interested within days or even hours.
The loss of clients, which the Sikorsky organization will suffer as a result of the negative reviews that it is highly likely to receive is another negative effect of refusing from applying the principles of Six Sigma to the framework of entrepreneurship. Not only will the firm fail to attract new customers but also most likely lose the ones that it has now. With a drop in customer loyalty rates, Sikorsky is expected to sink in the highly competitive environment of the global economy (Pyzdek, & Keller, 2014).
Finally, the possibility of having a legal issue to face needs to be brought up as a highly likely consequence of failing to follow the Six Sigma principles. In case the customers suffer damages or injuries in the course of transportation, they are likely to file a lawsuit against the organization. Thus, the aircraft company will have to confront the organizations that purchased the aircraft and suffered accidents due to the firm’s negligence.
The necessity to maintain high-quality rates is obvious for an aviation organization, as low rates thereof will lead to not only a drop in customer satisfaction rates but also lack of enthusiasm among the staff members, reduction of the firm’s profit margins, a poor reputation, and even the possibility of a lawsuit, not to mention the need to pay refunds to the customers. Therefore, the principles of Six Sigma framework must be applied to the key processes and operations. As long as there is a solid foundation for entrepreneurship to convince the staff to assure quality, entrepreneurship will flourish.
Reference List
Cost of poor quality – COPQ. iSix Sigma. (n. d.). Web.
Pyzdek, T., & Keller, P. (2014).The Six Sigma handbook (4th ed.). New York City, NY: McGraw Hill Professional.