{"id":5728,"date":"2026-10-06T20:55:35","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T18:55:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/skillagility.com\/en\/resources\/cost-of-poor-quality\/"},"modified":"2026-10-07T10:39:02","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T08:39:02","password":"","slug":"cost-of-poor-quality","status":"publish","type":"docs","link":"https:\/\/skillagility.com\/en\/resources\/cost-of-poor-quality\/","title":{"rendered":"Cost of Poor Quality (COPQ)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Defects and mistakes cost money, but most of these costs stay hidden. Calculating the Cost of Poor Quality turns your problem into a business case your sponsor understands. Watch the short video, then work with the toolkit PDF: it explains the method, shows a worked example and gives you a blank template to fill in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group ska-tk-video is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"ska-tk-label wp-block-paragraph\">Tool video<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The short tool video will appear here.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n        <div id=\"ep-gutenberg-content-5645db031e2d14266bf7c8a1660dff3f\" class=\"ep-gutenberg-content aligncenter ep-percentage-width   ep-content-protection-disabled\" data-embed-type=\"PDF\" data-embed-url=\"https:\/\/skillagility.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Cost-of-Poor-Quality_Toolkit_EN.pdf\">\n            <div class=\"embedpress-inner-iframe emebedpress-unit-percent ep-doc-5645db031e2d14266bf7c8a1660dff3f\" style=\"max-width:100%\" id=\"embedpress-pdf-cost-of-poor-quality-en\">\n                <div >\n                    <div class=\"ep-embed-content-wraper\"><div class=\"position-right-wraper gutenberg-pdf-wraper\"><iframe title=\"Cost-of-Poor-Quality_Toolkit_EN\" class=\"embedpress-embed-document-pdf embedpress-pdf-cost-of-poor-quality-en\" style=\"width:100%;height:640px; max-width:100%; display: inline-block\" src=\"https:\/\/skillagility.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/embedpress\/assets\/pdf\/web\/viewer.html?&#038;file=https%3A%2F%2Fskillagility.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2026%2F10%2FCost-of-Poor-Quality_Toolkit_EN.pdf#key=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\" frameborder=\"0\" oncontextmenu=\"return false;\"><\/iframe> <\/div><\/div>                <\/div>\n            <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    \n\n\n<h2 id=\"in-short\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Cost of Poor Quality in short<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>List the failure costs.<\/strong> Collect all internal and external failure costs linked to your problem.<\/li>\n\n\n<li><strong>Put a number on each.<\/strong> Use finance data where possible, careful estimates where not.<\/li>\n\n\n<li><strong>Add them up.<\/strong> Calculate the current COPQ per month or per year.<\/li>\n\n\n<li><strong>Apply your goal.<\/strong> Multiply the COPQ by the expected reduction from your SMART goal.<\/li>\n\n\n<li><strong>Separate hard and soft savings.<\/strong> Only hard savings directly hit the P&amp;L; list soft savings separately.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group ska-tk-key is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"ska-tk-label wp-block-paragraph\">Key points<\/p>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>COPQ = internal + external failure costs.<\/li>\n\n\n<li>Most quality costs are hidden below the waterline.<\/li>\n\n\n<li>Projected saving = COPQ \u00d7 expected reduction.<\/li>\n\n\n<li>Keep hard and soft savings apart.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ska-tk-related wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Related tools:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/skillagility.com\/en\/resources\/smart-goals\/\">SMART Goals<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\"https:\/\/skillagility.com\/en\/resources\/project-charter\/\">Project Charter<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\"https:\/\/skillagility.com\/en\/resources\/voc-translation-matrix\/\">VOC Translation Matrix<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Defects and mistakes cost money, but most of these costs stay hidden. Calculating the Cost of Poor Quality turns your problem into a business case your sponsor understands. Watch the short video, then work with the toolkit PDF: it explains the method, shows a worked example and gives you a blank template to fill in. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"doc_category":[153],"doc_tag":[],"knowledge_base":[151],"class_list":["post-5728","docs","type-docs","status-publish","hentry","doc_category-01-define","knowledge_base-b303-lean-six-sigma"],"year_month":"2026-10","word_count":178,"total_views":"4","reactions":{"happy":"0","normal":"0","sad":"0"},"author_info":{"name":"Stefan Lachmann","author_nicename":"stefan-lachmann","author_url":"https:\/\/skillagility.com\/en\/author\/stefan-lachmann\/"},"doc_category_info":[{"term_name":"01 DEFINE","term_url":"https:\/\/skillagility.com\/en\/resources\/b303-lean-six-sigma\/01-define\/"}],"doc_tag_info":[],"knowledge_base_info":[{"term_name":"B303 Lean Six Sigma","term_url":"https:\/\/skillagility.com\/en\/resources\/b303-lean-six-sigma\/","term_slug":"b303-lean-six-sigma"}],"knowledge_base_slug":["b303-lean-six-sigma"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/skillagility.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs\/5728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/skillagility.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/skillagility.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/docs"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skillagility.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skillagility.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5728"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/skillagility.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs\/5728\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5786,"href":"https:\/\/skillagility.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs\/5728\/revisions\/5786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/skillagility.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"doc_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skillagility.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/doc_category?post=5728"},{"taxonomy":"doc_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skillagility.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/doc_tag?post=5728"},{"taxonomy":"knowledge_base","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skillagility.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/knowledge_base?post=5728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}