9/5/13 Quality Assurance vs Control

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QA vs QC - what's the difference?
Many people think QA and QC are just interchangeable
terms. Not so.
Quality Control - QC
This is the most basic level of quality. It started with
activities whose purpose is to control the quality of
products or services by finding problems and defects.
At its simplest, QC is inspecting, testing or checking
something (service or product) to make sure it's OK.
The intent is to identify anything that isn't OK, and
either fix it or eliminate it, to make sure it conforms to
the specifications, and has/does/functions as required.
QC is typically done at the end of the line, before it
'goes out the door'. If the something isn't OK, this is
called 'nonconformity' or a nonconforming
service/product.
Service Example
Specifications: A consulting company is hired to make
an expert assessment of the safety systems,
methods & procedures at a particular firm. The
deliverable is a written report that should include an
assessment of whether the various systems &
procedures are adequate, if there are any risks to the
firm, and recommendations to address any identified
risks or problems.

Q: Consider the following possible outcomes. Which
would be rejected as nonconforming?
1. The delivered report contains information on all
sections above; it is professionally written and
presented.
2. The report is delivered to the client, but somehow the
last page was left out (final couple of paragraphs from
the recommendations section).
3. The delivered report has information on all the
required sections. But it is badly written and poorly
presented, below the standard that the consulting firm
sets for its reports to clients.

A: Only report 1 is OK. The reports for 2 and 3 aren't.
Report 2 is missing parts of a required section. While
Report 3 has all the agreed content wanted, its
presentation doesn't meet the internal standards set
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QA vs QC
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QC, QA & Management
and expected by the consulting company.

Product Example
Specifications are defined in a production plan &
accompanying drawing. Each widget is to be made of a
particular grade of steel, 5 cm x 3.5 cm, with 2 holes
drilled into it (as per the drawing); it must be perfectly
square, and have a smooth finish.

Of 100 widgets coming off the production line, 98 meet
these specifications, but two don't. One is 5cm x 3.4
cm, the other is 5 x 3.35 cm. Both these widgets
should be rejected as nonconforming.

Quality Control does not ensure quality, it only finds
instances where quality is missing. Obviously it's
better than nothing, but it has its limitations. The most
important of these is that you only find out that things
aren't OK at the end of the process.
Quality Assurance (QA)
Quality Assurance
developed from the
realisation that quality
could be improved by
looking 'further up the
line'. It is aimed at
preventing
nonconformities/defects.

QA still has QC at its
core to control the
quality of service/product, but it goes beyond mere
testing or inspection to also consider related activities
or processes (such as training, document control
and audits) that may be resulting in defects further
down the line.

Think of QC as something like doing periodic checks to
see that a horse is still in its stable, whereas QA would
aim to make sure that the stable doors and gate locks
work properly and that all the stablehands are trained
and aware of the need to close and bolt doors
properly.

Service Example - QA
Using the same example as above, QA would aim to
find out:
for Report 2. Why was the last page of the
recommendations left out - eg, was this requirement not
passed on to the consultant? Or did it happen when
the report went to the printing department? And what
must change to prevent it happening again?
Again, for Report 3: Why did these problems occur with
the report - was it perhaps written by a new staff
member or a contractor? If so, why didn't they know
the standards? And why wasn't it checked before
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delivery? What needs to change to stop this kind of
thing happening again?

Product Example - QA
What happened to make these two widgets fail? The
fault is in the same dimension, suggesting perhaps a
similar cause. Did a machine slip? Is the machine
wearing? If the fault was in the machine, is the
maintenance program perhaps inadequate? And so
on.
Quality Management
As the quality movement matured and improved, it
developed into Quality Management. Now the
emphasis has widened to include developments in
systems thinking and management systems. Quality
management is a much broader field. While it includes
quality planning, as well as quality control and quality
assurance, it also includes quality improvement and
extends beyond just QA and QC to a systems
approach and looking at the quality management
system as a whole.

The systems approach considers the various elements
of the entire system. In the 9001 model, this comprises
five main components of:
the system as a whole and its processes
management responsibility
management of resources
management of the service or product
'realisation' processes (doing/making stuff), and
management of measurement, analysis and
improvement.

Author: Jane Bennett
Map Wright Phone: (03) 9416 7344 click here