Quality control, or QC for short, is a process by which entities review the quality of all factors involved in production. ISO 9000 defines quality control as "A part of quality management focused on fulfilling quality requirements".
This approach places an emphasis on three aspects (enshrined in standards such as ISO 9001):
- Elements such as controls, job management, defined and well managed processes, performance and integrity criteria, and identification of records
- Competence, such as knowledge, skills, experience, and qualifications
- Soft elements, such as personnel, integrity, confidence, organizational culture, motivation, team spirit, and quality relationships.
Inspection is a major component of quality control, where physical product is examined visually (or the end results of a service are analyzed). Product inspectors 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.
Video Quality control
History and introduction
Modern humans are distinguished from other species by their extensive use of tools to control and adapt to their surroundings. Early stone tools such as anvils had no holes and were not designed as interchangeable parts. Mass production established processes for the creation of parts and system with identical dimensions and design, but these processes are not uniform and hence some customers were unsatisfied with the result. Quality control separates the act of testing products to uncover defects from the decision to allow or deny product release, which may be determined by fiscal constraints. For contract work, particularly work awarded by government agencies, quality control issues are among the top reasons for not renewing a contract.
The simplest form of quality control was a sketch of the desired item. If the sketch did not match the item, it was rejected, in a simple Go/no go procedure. However, manufacturers soon found it was difficult and costly to make parts be exactly like their depiction; hence around 1840 tolerance limits were introduced, wherein a design would function if its parts were measured to be within the limits. Quality was thus precisely defined using devices such as plug gauges and ring gauges. However, this did not address the problem of defective items; recycling or disposing of the waste adds to the cost of production, as does trying to reduce the defect rate. Various methods have been proposed to prioritize quality control issues and determine whether to leave them unaddressed or use quality assurance techniques to improve and stabilize production.
Maps Quality control
Notable approaches
There is a tendency for individual consultants and organizations to name their own unique approaches to quality control--a few of these have ended up in widespread use:
In project management
In project management, quality control requires the project manager and/or the project team to inspect the accomplished work to ensure its alignment with the project scope. 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)
- Eight dimensions of quality
- First article inspection (FAI)
- Good Automated Manufacturing Practice (GAMP)
- Good manufacturing practice
- Quality assurance
- Quality management framework
- Standard operating procedure (SOP)
- QA/QC
References
- This article incorporates public domain material from the General Services Administration document "Federal Standard 1037C" (in support of MIL-STD-188).
Further reading
- Radford, George S. (1922), The Control of Quality in Manufacturing, New York: Ronald Press Co., OCLC 1701274, retrieved 2013-11-16
- Shewhart, Walter A. (1931), Economic Control of Quality of Manufactured Product, New York: D. Van Nostrand Co., Inc., OCLC 1045408
- Juran, Joseph M. (1951), Quality-Control Handbook, New York: McGraw-Hill, OCLC 1220529
- Western Electric Company (1956), Statistical Quality Control Handbook (1 ed.), Indianapolis, Indiana: Western Electric Co., OCLC 33858387
- Feigenbaum, Armand V. (1961), Total Quality Control, New York: McGraw-Hill, OCLC 567344
External links
- ASTM quality control standards
Source of the article : Wikipedia