Tool Gate · How it works
How the Cost-of-Poor-Quality Ledger gate works
How the Cost-of-Poor-Quality Ledger sums 5 cost streams into one COPQ%: a dominance gate forces BLEEDING when one stream is both over 60% of the total and over $25,000 — which is how a 7.7% COPQ that would read COST DRAG still reads BLEEDING because warranty is 75% of it.
How the gate works
This tool grades a manufacturing cell's true cost of poor quality against its own revenue. Each control is marked from your own evidence and weighted into a 0–100 score — and then the score is run past a gate that can only make the verdict worse.
The 5 weighted controls
| Signal | Weight |
|---|---|
| Scrap | 6 |
| Rework | 9 |
| Containment | 4 |
| Warranty/returns | 75 |
| Expedite | 6 |
| Total | 100 |
The verdict bands
A single cost stream that is both 60%+ of the cell's total COPQ dollars and over a $25,000 floor forces BLEEDING regardless of the ratio-only score - a concentrated leak in one stream is a different problem than the same dollars spread thin, and a ratio alone would hide it.
In the worked sample it scores 25 out of 100 and still reads BLEEDING — The five weighted streams score 25 - COST DRAG on their own math, since no stream is a runaway on its own weight. But Warranty/returns is $52,000, 75% of this cell's $69,000 total COPQ (7.7% of $900,000 revenue) and clears the $25,000 concentration floor - the dominance gate forces BLEEDING regardless of the ratio. The one thing to fix first: Attack Warranty/returns first - it is 75% of this cell's COPQ ($52,000), the concentrated leak driving the gate. Cut it below the 60% dominance share (or under $25,000) and the verdict releases to its ratio band..
Common questions
Can something score well on the How the Cost-of-Poor-Quality gate works and still fail?
Yes. The weighted score is run past a worsen-only gate — the Dominance gate — that can only make the verdict worse. In the worked sample it scores 25 out of 100 and still reads BLEEDING, because the five weighted streams score 25 - COST DRAG on their own math, since no stream is a runaway on its own weight. But Warranty/returns is $52,000, 75% of this cell's $69,000 total COPQ (7.7% of $900,000 revenue) and clears the $25,000 concentration floor - the dominance gate forces BLEEDING regardless of the ratio.
What is a worsen-only gate?
A dispositive rule that can only lower a verdict, never raise it. One fatal flaw overrides an otherwise-good score, because a single disqualifying gap shouldn't hide behind a high average. The tool also names the one thing to fix first — here, "Attack Warranty/returns first - it is 75% of this cell's COPQ ($52,000), the concentrated leak driving the gate. Cut it below the 60% dominance share (or under $25,000) and the verdict releases to its ratio band.".
Your own cost inputs, computed offline. Not an audited financial figure or an industry benchmark.
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<iframe src="https://redhub.ai/visuals/tool/cost-of-poor-quality-ledger.html" title="How the Cost-of-Poor-Quality Ledger gate works — RedHub AI" width="760" height="1650" loading="lazy" style="border:0;width:100%;max-width:760px"></iframe>
<p style="font:14px/1.5 system-ui,sans-serif"><a href="https://redhub.ai/visuals/tool/cost-of-poor-quality-ledger">How the Cost-of-Poor-Quality Ledger gate works</a> — by <a href="https://redhub.ai">RedHub AI</a>, the AI that tells you when to doubt it.</p>Image + link — a static picture for any blog
<a href="https://redhub.ai/visuals/tool/cost-of-poor-quality-ledger"><img src="https://redhub.ai/visuals/tool/cost-of-poor-quality-ledger-share.png" alt="Diagram of the Cost-of-Poor-Quality Ledger: five cost streams summed to a 7.7% COPQ and a dominance gate forcing BLEEDING because warranty is 75% of the total." width="760" loading="lazy" style="max-width:100%;height:auto;border-radius:16px"></a>
<p style="font:14px/1.5 system-ui,sans-serif"><a href="https://redhub.ai">RedHub AI</a> — the AI that tells you when to doubt it.</p>
This is how Cost-of-Poor-Quality Ledger works. More diagrams in the Visual Field Guide.