Industrial quality control and assurance are vital processes that not only ensure that products and services function properly, but can also improve a company's production methods and standards for efficiency. Most manufacturers rely on various quality control systems to reduce the rate of product flaws that can result in recalls or even legal liabilities, while processing and service firms keep track of their work to ensure it meets specifications.

Quality control processes are an integral part of building relationships with customers and cultivating long-term contracts, but it is important to update systems to adapt to a changing marketplace. A company may have modified its production practices and product lines, or its business activity may have grown beyond the capacity of its quality control system. In these cases, focusing on improved quality management can make a significant difference in a company's profitability, safety and reputation.

"Most manufacturers would never think of eliminating the quality control function from their production processes. Without quality control, the number of defective products that must be reworked, scrapped or returned would dramatically increase," Customer Think explains. "Almost all consulting/service organizations monitor the quality of the services they deliver to uphold their reputations, ensure satisfied customers and generate repeat business," according to the customer-centric business Web site.

These concerns are becoming increasingly important due to globalized distribution systems in which a single service or product error can have far-reaching effects through the supply chain and down to the customer level. Needless to say, most manufacturers would prefer to avoid a situation like the 2007 Chinese product recalls, which hindered sourcing and damaged consumer trust in numerous companies.

While many quality control systems are automated, the role of personnel is still important in maintaining standards. Quality control often begins at the manufacturing point, with the basic goal that a product should meet design and performance standards when it comes off the assembly line.

"The two main focuses of quality control efforts in the commercial sector include reducing the mechanical precision that is required to obtain quality performance, as well as controlling all aspects of the manufacturing operation to make sure that every part of the assembly remains within a specified zone of tolerance," technology systems site Exforsys.com writes.

Statistical process control, in which random samples are taken from a product run and tested, is a common quality control method among industrial engineers due to the impracticality of testing every product in high-volume runs, Exforsys.com reports.

Lean techniques can also be applied to streamline the quality control process, and this approach typically involves the introduction of quality monitoring at each stage of the production cycle, bringing employees across manufacturing or service levels into the quality control system through a method known as Quality at the Source (QATS).

"[T]he implementation of QATS focuses on placing the skills and knowledge in employees' hands to keep defects from moving through the value stream. To this end, employees are taught the minimum quality standards at each step of the process and empowered to correct defects or remove the defective item before value-added activity is conducted," Quality Magazine explains.

In QATS, after a defect is spotted, it is corrected at the point of discovery and the corrective action is communicated back through the production process to reduce the likelihood of repeating the mistake. If the corrective measure is not cost-effective, the production process may need to be reevaluated to discover alternative methods to achieve the desired result without compromising quality or inflating the cost of production.

"In addition to this being the most cost-effective strategy for correcting defects, it also improves employee ownership in the process. This increased ownership is largely due to employees knowing that everyone else in the value stream is observing their work," Quality Magazine says.

Another approach involves a Learning Management System (LMS), which functions like a company intranet but also provides operations manuals, training materials, videos and testing capabilities to improve quality control on an individual worker-by-worker basis.

"In addition to training employees, an LMS has profound implications for the introduction of new products and services. An LMS allows you to provide detailed information on new product or service offerings immediately across a wide audience while ensuring that it's being done according to your specifications, because it's both instantaneous and auditable," Entrepreneur.com writes.

Apart from reducing the risk of defects and spreading product knowledge, quality control can also improve the efficiency of production methods by helping workers identify problem areas and the steps needed to enhance them. Improvement through quality management involves focusing on continuous progress rather than occasional efforts to eliminate obstacles to efficiency.

Earlier

How Safe is "Made in China?"

Feeling the Heat of Sourcing in Emerging Markets

China: Milk Now Safe, Reputation Still Damaged

Resources

The Importance of Quality Control: How Good Is Your Data?
by Andrew Greenyer
Customer Think, Nov. 26, 2007

Supply Chain Management: Quality Control in Industrial Engineering
Exforsys.com

Quality at the Source
taktX, 2007

Quality 101: Improving Quality Through Lean Concepts
by Mark A. Nash and Sheila R. Poling
Quality Magazine, Nov. 21, 2007

Learning Management System
SearchCIO.com, April 11, 2003

How Strong is Your Franchise's Quality Control?
by Mark Siebert
Entrepreneur.com, July 25, 2008

Face of Quality: Big Q vs. Little Q
by Jimmy L. Smith
Quality Magazine, Sept. 29, 2009