Managing Quality

Introduction

In this era of globalization the global economy is characterized by intense completion . To sustain and grow in such a competitive economic environment business organizations have to manufacture a product or provide a service that is of optimum quality , is customized to individual customer requirements and is delivered on time at minimum possible price . Product or service quality is a very significant factor that determines the success or failure of any organization in the long run . Better quality reduces costs due to returns , rework and scrap . It increases productivity , profits

and other measures of success . Most important better quality results in highly satisfied customers who reward the organization with loyalty and word of mouth advertising Managing quality to gain strategic advantage is very crucial today for any business as in the case of Xerox Corporation

Xerox Corporation is the world 's leading document management technology and services enterprise and has its corporate office at Stamford Connecticut , United States . The company was founded in the year 1906 as the Haloid Company and then changed its name to Haloid Xerox in 1958 The first plain- copier Xerox 914 , which is considered by many as one of the most successful product introduction in business history , was introduced by the company in the year 1959 . The company was named Xerox Corporation in the year 1961 and grew rapidly in the 1960s selling all it could produce and reached the 1 billion in revenues in a record-setting time . Today Xerox stands at the rank of 142 in the Fortune 500 ranking . It has employee strength of 53 ,700 all over the world with 28 ,400 employees in the United States . The company operates in 160 countries . In the year 2006 it earned revenue of 16 billion with an income of 1 .2 billion . Anne M . Mulcahy is the current Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of Xerox Corporation . The company 's strategic focus is on three primary markets : high-end production and commercial print environments , networked offices from small to large and value-added services

The company offers a broad portfolio of offerings for the document industry . Its offers include digital systems in color and black-and-white printing and publishing systems , digital presses multifunction devices , laser and solid ink network printers , copiers and fax machines . The services offered by Xerox include helping businesses develop online document archives , analyzing how employees can most efficiently share documents and knowledge in the office , operating in-house print and building Web-based processes for personalizing direct mail , invoices , brochures etc . Xerox also offers associated software support and supplies such as toner , and ink . Xerox products are consistently rated among the world 's best by independent testing organizations

The mission statement of the company is Our strategic intent is to help people find better ways to do great work -- by constantly leading in document technologies , products and services that improve our customers ' work processes and business results . The company operates under the guidance of six core values since inception which are stated by...