Consumer rights are protected and promoted by a range of organisations that provide guidance, discrimination, and approval. These include consumer organisations, BSI and the trading standards.
Consumer organisation – which? Provides reports on product testing and best buys. It’s a good source of product info and is regularly updated. Products can also be reviewed though the internet, digital media and printed media such as magazines and websites.
Standards ensure that products fulfil the quality and safety requirements of consumers and the environment and the standards are set at the request of industry or to implement legislation. When you see a product that displays the kite mark, you know what it has been independently tested under controlled conditions to confirm that it complies with a relevant British standard. The manufacture has to pay for this service and must have a quality system in place because the product tested and assessed at regular intervals. This means that every product is made to the same standard. The kite mark symbol provides the customer with the assurance that the product meets the BS and is safe and reliable.
The CE mark shown on a product means that a manufacturer meets essential safety requirements set up by a directive of the European commission. It is used on products that are sold across Europe that are required to meet the common ec legal technical and safety standards.
ITSA
Institute of trading standards administration. They have the power to enforce and advise of a wide range of legislation relating to consumer protection. They have the power to investigate claims about
- False of misleading description of prices
- Inaccurate weights and measures
- Consumer credit
- Safety of consumer goods
Quality control
Categorised by inspection and repair when used without quality assurance and can be very wasteful in terms of material usage and time.
Quality assurance
Manufacturers use feedback to trade faults to the production process and eliminating the cause, possibly by adjusting existing machinery, by using more special equipment or by retraining a machinist to acquire a new skill.
Using TQM system to promote sustained quality based on the British standard. In TQM system, all the areas of an organisation and its suppliers use agreed specifications and quality control methods.
Makin quality the responsibility of everybody in the department of a company, not just the production.
TQM
To build quality into the design and manufacture of a garment rather than relying on inspection and to reduce the need of inspection on every garment. in other words it is proactive rather than reactive.
ISO 9000
An internationally agreed set of standards for the development and operation of QMS. All industrial QMS use structured procedures to manage the quality of the designing and making process. The steps included in the management process is the use of modelling, evaluating the product to the spec, and use research and questionnaires.
Legislation
Statutory rights protect customers eg,
- Trade description act – cant lie
- Weights and measurements act
- Sale of goods act
Children’s clothing
- Cords and ribbons must not be accessible to the child’s mouth
- No cords in hoods
- Fastenings must not imitate food
- Non ties or zips for boys under 4 years old
No comments:
Post a Comment