Checking the Quality of Weld Inspection Using SERVQUAL Model and Importance-Performance Analysis

Abstract

The existence of various industries such as energy, propulsion, construction, machinery, military and power plants have led Iran to become one of the major users of weld science and technology and other joining methods in the Middle East. The economic significance of welding is to a degree that more than 50% of the gross industrial product of the various countries and 42% of the Iran economy are said to be related to welding. The quality of the inspection services will be effective in increase the safety of the structures and reduce the impact of disasters and costs. The goal of this study is to identify the effective components in the quality of the welding inspection and ultimately provide the possibility of improving the performance of welding inspection companies in the country. This study is carried out as a descriptive and sectional study from employers of a technical inspection company using a 25-items questionnaire with standardized 5-point Likert scale and adjusted SERVQUAL in six dimensions of competence, reliability, accountability, service guarantee, security / secrecy and independence/ Impartiality. Data analysis was done by t-paired test using SPSS software. Based on the quality of the welding inspection services, the security / secrecy dimension has the highest gap and independence has the lowest gap and competence dimension has the highest quality. According to the importance –performance analysis, the dimensions of responsiveness power and guarantee of the evaluated services of company are located in the first area of importance-performance matrix. The results can be effective in assessing the competitive position of the organization and identifying opportunities for improving the inspection companies.