Coauthored with Douglas C. Wood, Principles of Quality Costs, Fifth Edition is a practical examination of how organizations can understand and use the costs associated with quality to improve their decisions and performance.
Principles of Quality Costs, Fifth Edition
Understanding the Strategic Implementation of Process Management
Douglas C. Wood and W. Frazier Pruitt
ASQ Quality Press, 2026 · 296 pages
Softcover ISBN: 9781636942117
Print edition at ASQ Quality Press
Ebook edition at ASQ Quality Press
About the book
Quality costs are often understood in terms of scrap, rework, and returns. But organizational performance is also affected by less visible costs: delays, disrupted work, lost knowledge, repeated coordination, and downstream consequences.
The fifth edition updates the language and application of cost of quality for contemporary organizations. It explores how to establish useful measures and then use them through the disciplines of planning, control, and improvement. The emphasis is on making cost information practical for people working across quality, operations, engineering, finance, and leadership.
A conversation about the book
Doug and I joined ASQ’s All Things Quality podcast during the 2026 World Conference on Quality and Improvement to talk about the hidden costs organizations overlook, and the importance of fundamentals, communication, business understanding, and people.
Listen to “The Real Cost of Quality” on Spotify | Apple Podcasts
All Things Quality, episode 25 · June 2026 · 31 minutes
Related articles
Two articles in Quality Progress offer an introduction to ideas developed in the book:
- Expert Answers: Cost of Quality — June 2026, with Douglas C. Wood.
- Take Control — October 2026, an excerpt from the book, with Douglas C. Wood.