Abstract

The Impact of quality control for profitability in a brake pad manufacturing company was evaluated in this work. The extent to which quality control practices are applied by car brake pad manufacturing firms in Nigeria was examined. The impact of quality control on the profitability of the car brake pad manufacturing firms was determined by establishing the relationship between quality control practices and profitability performance of the manufacturing firms in Nigeria. Also, a conceptual model that correlates quality control practices/techniques and profitability in car brake pad manufacturing firms in Nigeria was developed, in accordance with the third objective. The study used structured questionnaires to generate primary data and descriptive statistical tools were used to analyze the data generated. The study established that the quality control practices (commitment of senior management, training, zero defect, benchmarking, supplier relations, employee focus, process improvement, customer focus and Quality management) have been applied to a large extent by the brake pad manufacturing firms in Nigeria. More so, the study found that there is a positive relationship between dependent variable (profitability) and the independent variables (quality control practices). The relevant statistical methods were also employed to analyze the responses obtained from the structured questionnaires sent to the Brake Pads Production firms. The multiple linear regression results revealed that there is a positive relationship between dependent variable (profitability/productivity performance) and independent variables (commitment of senior management, training, employee focus, zero defects, benchmarking, supplier relations, process improvement, customers focus and Quality measurement). The regression coefficient values represented were all < 5% (from 0.06 – 0.37) and only three of them were the predictors used which are significant. Similarly, the sample used Z-statistic represented by t since the sample size is more than 30. Three of the t values were > 1.96 hence only three values are significant (Commitment of senior management, training and supplier relations.) These findings are in agreement with previous research work that describes the relationship between quality control practices and the financial performance of manufacturing firms as well as the effectiveness of the application of quality control practices in engineering production processes. However, conclusion and recommendations were made to improve upon further research that will be conducted on quality control practices, and how it affects the performance of firms in the manufacturing industry.