Concept of Quality Assurance

 The Concept of Quality Assurance

Before we talk about quality assurance or quality control, let's discuss Quality.

Quality a subjective term for which each person or sector has its own definition

In technical usage, quality can have two meanings:

1) The characteristics of a product that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs;

 2) A product or service free of deficiencies.

 

According to Joseph Juran, quality means “fitness for use”;

According to Philip Crosby, it means “conformance to requirements”

 

Other way Quality can be define as “the degree of excellence which a product possesses"

 

When I searched for the phrase “what is excellence” in one of the search results I found below story  

 

“A person once visited a temple under construction where he saw a sculptor making an idol of God. Suddenly he noticed a similar idol lying nearby. Surprised, he asked the sculptor, “Do you need two statues of the same idol?” “No,” said the sculptor without looking up, “We need only one, but the first one got damaged at the last stage.” The gentleman examined the idol and found no apparent damage. “Where is the damage?” he asked. “There is a scratch on the nose of the idol.” said the sculptor, still busy with his work. “Where are you going to install the idol?

The sculptor replied that it would be installed on a pillar twenty feet high. “If the idol is that far, who is going to know that there is a scratch on the nose?” the gentleman asked. The sculptor stopped his work, looked up at the gentleman, smiled and said, “I will know it.”

The desire to excel is exclusive of the fact whether someone else appreciates it or not. “Excellence” is a drive from inside, not outside. Excellence is not for someone else to notice but for your own satisfaction …

The quality of an item is predetermined. It is predetermined by the MATERIAL selected, the DESIGN, and the MANUFACTURING processes used. The quality can be compromised by Incompetency, Errors, poor Judgment, Attitude, and Lack of knowledge. Quality can be compromised by improper procedures and faulty manufacturing techniques and equipment’s.

Quality cannot be enhanced by INSPECTION. There is an old saying in the industry, which says "Quality cannot be inspected in". This is true; Inspection and testing will only tell you whether certain intended quality attributes were achieved. Inspection and testing will tell you whether a product is acceptable with respect to certain limited attributes.

Most manufacturers, as well as companies who are in the domain of Food, Drugs, Consumer goods, Oil field, do inspection and testing. They do it because it’s a business need to maintain their Brand Image, GOOD WILL in today’s competitive market & it is generally cost-beneficial. And this is the reason many manufacturers have implemented a quality control program.

Quality control involves comparing physical characteristics of a product with set standards. It includes material analysis, measurements, inspections and tests. It includes inspection of incoming materials.

Quality control, through PROCESS control, procedures and inspections, provides better confidence that the end product will pass through the final acceptance tests.

Now let's talk about Quality Assurance. It involves following and meeting standards to assure stakeholders that the final product will meet their needs, expectations, and requirements. Quality assurance activities concerned with the product design aspects and process improvements. Its all about process improvement. Watch out powerfull video on Process ….

Quality Assurance implements a set of planned and systematic activities and processes defined within the project’s quality management plan that helps to: - 

·        Design an optimal and mature product by implementing specific design guidelines that address specific aspects of the product,

·        Build confidence that a future output will be completed in a manner that meets the specified requirements and expectations through quality assurance tools and techniques such as quality audits and failure analysis,

·        Confirm that the quality processes are used and that their use meets the quality objectives of the project, and

·        Improve the efficiency and effectiveness of processes and activities to achieve better results and performance and enhance stakeholders’ satisfaction.

We said before that quality control is sub-set of quality assurance & both are sub-set of Quality Management System.

In this context we can define quality control as "Those quality assurance activities which provide methods to control and measure the characteristics of an artifact, process, or facility to previously established requirements."

We can summarize the fundamental principles of quality assurance in three brief statements:

1. Plan what you will do

 2. Do what you plan

3. Document that you did it

Why does quality assurance matter?

Quality assurance matters because of what occurs when it’s overlooked. In other words, when organizations that don’t take their products and customers seriously across every operational steps, will inevitably run into gloom & doom It takes years to build a company’s reputation but takes minutes to see it crumble.

When left unaddressed, these wide scale problems pool to influence your entire brand:

• You Will Lose Customers-Todays customer has more choices then ever. This is no catchy tagline. It’s a 21st-century reality. They will flock to greener pastures if their needs aren’t taken care of across the board.
• You Will Lose Revenue- As your consumer base falls and your brand’s reputation drops with it, you ultimately hurt your bottom line.
• You Will Lose Sight of Your Mission, Goal

What a take away from this is that quality is driven from the outside (fueled by the needs of customers and other stakeholders) whereas excellence is holistic, pervasive, and emerges from within….

 

 

Reference –

https://www.pmi.org/

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