Quality control
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Quality control popularly abbreviated as QC. It is a Engineering process used to ensure quality in a product
or a service. It does not deal with the processes used to create a product; rather it examines the quality of the
“end products” and the final outcome.
The main aim of Quality control is to check whether the products meet the specifications and requirements
of the customer. If an issue or problem is identified, it needs to be fixed before delivery to the customer.
QC also evaluates people on their quality level skill sets and imparts training and certifications. This
evaluation is required for the service based organization and helps provide “perfect” service to the
customers.
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Quality control is essential for any company that manufactures products or provides a
service.
It helps improve customer satisfaction by consistently delivering quality products or
services, reducing wastage of resources and increasing efficiency and profits for the
company.
Learning more about this concept may help you understand why it's important for
businesses and your particular industry.
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What is quality control?
Quality control, or QC, is the process that businesses use to ensure that a product or service
adheres to a predefined set of quality standards or meets the requirements of customers or
clients.
It usually requires the business to create an environment where employees and
management are always striving for perfection.
This involves extensive training, creating benchmarks for measuring product or service
quality and testing to check for any significant variations in quality.
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Why is quality control important?
Encourage quality consciousness:
Quality control encourages employees to keep quality in mind throughout the
manufacturing process, which can help the company achieve the desired level of
quality each time.
Lower production costs:
The process used for quality control checks the production of items that don't meet
quality standards, correcting any problems and bringing down the cost of production.
Increase customer satisfaction:
Quality control ensures that customers receive products free from error or defect, which
typically increases customer satisfaction overall.
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Enhance goodwill:
Producing high-quality products that meet all of an organization's quality control
requirements generally indicates that the products consistently satisfy the customer's
needs, raising the established reputation of the business.
Raise employee morale:
When employees recognize that they're producing high-quality products that deliver
value to consumers, it can improve overall company morale.
Improve production methods:
Quality control processes help streamline and improve production processes, which
means improved methods and designs and often higher productivity.
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Boost sales:
Consistent quality control can help the company develop a reputation for quality,
which may attract new customers and increase sales.
Ensure effective use of resources:
Quality control ensures that a company is effectively utilizing resources by minimizing
product and material waste and increasing efficiencies.
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How quality control works
1. Set testing standards
To implement a quality control program, a company first decides what standards it wants
to meet.
Next, it determines the extent of the actions to take. For example, the team must decide
how many samples to take and test.
2. Test raw materials and various stages
Quality control usually involves testing every step of a company's manufacturing process.
For example, QC employees may begin by testing the raw materials that are used to
create a product.
They may continue testing at various stages within the manufacturing process to identify
where any problems are occurring.
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3. Correct problems
Employees correct the problems they identified to prevent them from happening again
in the future.
The exact quality control that a company uses is dependent on the industry and product.
For example, in food manufacturing, the company QC team performs microbiological
testing to ensure that the completed product doesn't make consumers sick and may
review the food in its packaging to ensure it's visually appealing.
In the car manufacturing industry, however, quality control may focus on the way that
different parts interact and operate together.
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4. Collect data and make decisions
Next, employees collect real-world data and create reports to deliver to management to
review and determine any additional actions to take.
For example, the company may decide to repair any remaining defective units or
eliminate them.
Similarly, if too many of the products are defective, it's best for the company to
establish a plan for improving the production process or, if the problem is with the
supplies being used, purchasing raw materials from elsewhere.
It's important for the company to continue using its quality control method to monitor
for new signs of problems.
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