In the broad sense, quality assurance means any action taken in order to provide consumers with products (goods and services) of adequate quality.
Quality assurance
Quality assurance is an important aspect of production operations throughout history, but it is in the 1920s that the term would be consolidated.
At this time, the employees of the inspection department of WESTERN ELECTRIC were transferred to BELL TELEPHONE LABORATORIES. The actions of this group included the formulation of new theories and inspection methods to improve and maintain quality.
The pioneers of quality assurance, Walter Shewnart, Harold Dodge and George Edwards were members of this group. It was there that the term quality assurance was coined. Shewnart's development of control charts, Dodge sampling techniques, and economic analysis techniques to solve problems were the basis of modern quality assurance.
What is it?
Quality assurance can be defined as the total effort to raise, organize, direct and control quality in a production system with the aim of providing customers with products of adequate quality. It is simply ensuring that quality is what it should be.
Modern methods of quality assurance were created and refined in manufacturing industries. The introduction and adoption of quality assurance programs in services has lagged behind manufacturing, perhaps as much as a decade.
Administrators of service organizations out of habit have assumed that their service is acceptable when customers do not frequently complain. Only recently have they realized that service quality can be managed as a competitive weapon.
Ensuring manufacturing quality is at the heart of the quality management process. It is at this point, where a good or service is produced, where quality is "built-in" or incorporated
Management or General Senenela, which includes the finance and sales groups, has overall responsibility for planning and executing the quality assurance program.
Quality systems
All companies, large and small, already have an established way or system of doing business. In a small company, the system is most likely to be highly effective, but informal and probably not documented. Quality system standards identify these traits that can help a company consistently meet its customers' requirements. They are not trying to impose something totally new.
What are they?
Quality systems are about evaluating how and why things are done. A large number of small companies will already be carrying out many of the operations specified in the standards.
Why have one?
Some clients, both in the private and public sectors, seek the confidence that a small business can have with a quality system. While meeting these expectations is one reason for having a quality system, there may be others, such as:
- Improve performance, coordination and productivity Focus on your business objectives and the expectations of your clients Achieve and maintain the quality of your product to satisfy the implicit and explicit needs of your clients Confidence that the quality that is sought, is being achieved and maintained Evidence to clients and potential clients. Organizational capabilities Opening or maintaining new market opportunities Certification / registration Opportunity to compete on equal terms with larger organizations (eg ability to offer quotes or participate in public tenders)
Although the quality system can help meet these expectations, it is only a means and cannot take the place of the objectives set for the company. The quality system must be notified and regularly updated to be sure that valuable and economically viable improvements are being achieved.
A quality system, by itself, does not automatically lead to improved work processes or product quality. It does not solve all problems. This means that a more systematic approach should be given to the company. Quality systems are not just for large companies, as they deal with how a company is run, they can be applied to all sizes of companies and to all aspects of administration, such as marketing, sales and finance, as well as core business. It is up to each one to decide the scope of the application.
Quality standards should not be confused with product standards. Most organizations, for which the concepts of quality systems and in particular the ISO 9OOO series are new, confuse product quality with the concept of quality management. £ 1 use of product standards, lockout standards, and approaches to quality improvement are means of increasing customer satisfaction and company competitiveness and are not mutually exclusive.
It is not desirable that quality systems result in excessive bureaucracy, paperwork, or lack of flexibility. All businesses have a management structure and this is the basis on which the quality system is built.
You may find that you are already meeting many of the requirements included in these standards but have not registered how you do so. It is advisable to make changes and additions only if they are necessary to meet the requirements of the standard or help the company in some way.
In short, a quality system does not mean the solution to all problems, but in these times of high competitiveness and internationalization, it is better to have one
