Need of Quality system

Need of Quality system

Organizations -- industrial, commercial or governmental -- supply products intended to satisfy a customer's needs and/or requirements ... To be competitive and to maintain good economic performance, organizations/suppliers need to employ increasingly effective and efficient systems ... Customer requirements are often incorporated in specifications. However, specifications may not in themselves guarantee that a customer's requirement will be met consistently, if there are any deficiencies in the organizational system to supply and support the product. These concerns have led to the development of quality system standards and guidelines that complement relevant product requirements given in the technical specifications. The cornerstone of the family is ISO 9000, which clarifies the principal quality-related concepts, and the distinctions and inter-relationships among them, and provides guidance for the selection and use of the ISO 9000 family.

In order to assure the quality of a product, the manufacturer must ensure its quality. So, to ensure this quality it is necessary to make a systematic study and control check at every stage of production. It is also essential to take critical review of efforts and achievements of the company with respect to the quality of the product. Thus it is necessary to develop a standard quality system.

The quality assurance system should provide for contract review to ensure that customer requirements are adequately defined and documented and that the company has the capability to meet these requirements.

Quality assurance comes from process control. Therefore, quality assurance systems include documented procedures for production, installation, and service activities; the appropriate equipment and working environment; methods for monitoring and controlling critical quality characteristics; approval processes for equipment; criteria for workmanship, such as written standards, samples, or illustrations; and maintenance activities. Process control also includes monitoring the accuracy and variability of equipment, operator knowledge and skills, the accuracy of measurement results and data used, and environmental factors.

Traditionally, quality assurance was a result of mass final inspection. Heavy reliance on inspection proliferated because of the industrial revolution and the division of labor. The role of the inspection department was to seek out defective items in production and remove them prior to shipment.

Deming tried to eliminate mass inspection. According to him the true purpose of inspection is to provide information to control and improve the process effectively.

Inspection and/or testing is performed at three points in the production process: at receipt of incoming materials, during the manufacturing process, & upon completion of production.