There is an increasingly close relationship between Systems Engineering and the work of Quality Management. Product quality is, of course, one important area where the overall total systems approach is of major significance. The quality manager, in attempting to improve the quality of his products and at the same time reduce the costs of this quality, must lead in the solution of those system problems which exist in the quality areas of the business. Systems analysis demonstrates the principle that the task of creating the proper quality and controlling this quality for a product is affected by actions in all areas of a business.

Quality is affected by the actions of many men, many machines, and much material throughout all the stages of the production cycle as explained earlier. The twin objectives of better product quality and lower quality cost cannot be achieved by concentrating upon any one phase of the cycle alone or by concentrating efforts in any one functional area alone - design engineering, inspection, quality equipment, reject troubleshooting, operator education or statistical analysis - important as each phase is in its own right.

Doing the job adequately requires, instead, a broad, overall technically oriented program that integrates, from design through shipment and service, all of the many quality elements in the product cycle. It requires the analysis, development, programming, design, and installation of a broad and integrated man-machine-information system. In sum, it requires a technology of systems engineering used in conjunction with that of quality control engineering.

Such a systems engineering approach substantially improves product quality and significantly reduces quality costs.