Prevention and appraisal costs increased substantially, but internal and external failure costs decreased. Thus, the soundest conclusion is that the increase in prevention and appraisal costs resulted in a higher-quality product.

Point-of-sale terminals capture data by optical scanning or by keying. The data are then transmitted to a CPU. The system permits collection of sales data, updating and ordering of inventory, pricing at the point of sale, and checking of customer credit cards.

The intent of quality control is to ensure that goods and services conform to the design specifications. Whether the focus is on feed forward, feedback, or concurrent control, the emphasis is on ensuring product or service conformity.