Quality control

Quality control, or QC for short, is a process by which entities review the quality of all factors involved in production. This approach places an emphasis on three aspects:

1. Elements such as controls, job management, defined and well managed processes,^[1][2] performance and integrity criteria, and identification of records
2. Competence, such as knowledge, skills, experience, and qualifications
3. Soft elements, such as personnel integrity, confidence, organizational culture, motivation, team spirit, and quality relationships.

Controls include product inspection, where every product is examined visually, and often using a stereo microscope for fine detail before the product is sold into the external market. Inpsectors will be provided with lists and descriptions of unacceptable product defects such as cracks or surface blemishes for example.

The quality of the outputs is at risk if any of these three aspects is deficient in any way.

Quality control emphasizes testing of products to uncover defects and reporting to management who make the decision to allow or deny product release, whereas quality assurance attempts to improve and stabilize production (and associated processes) to avoid, or at least minimize, issues which led to the defect(s) in the first place. For contract work, particularly work awarded by government agencies, quality control issues are among the top reasons for not renewing a contract.^[3]

Contents 1 Total quality control 2 Quality control in project management 3 See also 4 Notes 5 References 6 Further reading

Total quality control

"Total quality control", also called total quality management, is an approach that extends beyond ordinary statistical quality control techniques and quality improvement methods. It implies a complete overview and re-evaluation of the specification of a product, rather than just considering a more limited set of changeable features within an existing product. If the original specification does not reflect the correct quality requirements, quality cannot be inspected or manufactured into the product. For instance, the design of a pressure vessel should include not only the material and dimensions, but also operating, environmental, safety, reliability and maintainability requirements, and documentation of findings about these requirements.

Quality control in project management

In project management, quality control requires the project manager and the project team to inspect the accomplished work to ensure its alignment with the project scope.^[4] In practice, projects typically have a dedicated quality control team which focuses on this area.

See also

• Analytical quality control
• Corrective and Preventative Action (CAPA)
• First article inspection (FAI)
• Good Automated Manufacturing Practice (GAMP)
• Good manufacturing practice
• Standard operating procedure (SOP)
• Quality assurance

Notes

References

•  This article incorporates public domain material from the General Services Administration document "Federal Standard 1037C" (in support of MIL-STD-188).
• Godfrey, A. B., Juran's Quality Handbook, 1999. ISBN 007034003.
• Pyzdek, T., Quality Engineering Handbook, 2003. ISBN 0824746147.

Further reading

• OSDL Data Base Test Suite Backgrounder, Press releases, Open Source Development Labs, 3 March 2003, archived from the original on 5 June 2004, http://web.archive.org/web/20040605173457/http://www.osdl.org/newsroom/press_releases/2003/2003_03_03_beaverton_backgrounder.html, retrieved 29 June 2009 
• QACity: Resources for Busy Testers, LogiGear, archived from the original on 9 October 2004, http://web.archive.org/web/20041009213226/http://www.qacity.com/front.htm, retrieved 29 June 2009 
• Home, Saksoft, 29 May 2004, archived from the original on 10 August 2004, http://web.archive.org/web/20040810002450/http://www.saksoft.com/sak_feb/testing_services.htm, retrieved 29 June 2009 
• The Quality Assurance Journal, 01 April 2010, http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/15634/home, retrieved 2 May 2010 
• Quality Progress Magazine, 01 April 2010, http://www.asq.org/qualityprogress/index.html, retrieved 2 May 2010 
• Quality Assurance in the View of a Commercial Analytical Laboratory, 01 April 2010, http://www.springerlink.com/content/q922ehvpaq49pw6q/, retrieved 2 May 2010 

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