You're new to Quality Assurance. How do you distinguish it from Quality Control effectively?

In the manufacturing industry, Quality Assurance and Quality Control serve different roles: QA is process-oriented and proactive, focusing on preventing defects by improving processes for efficiency and effectiveness. It involves everyone and covers the entire production process. QC is product-oriented and reactive, focusing on identifying and fixing defects in finished products through inspections and testing. While QA ensures processes prevent defects, QC ensures any defects in the final product are detected and corrected before delivery.

Having only recently started working in the Quality area of commercial aviation, my focus at the moment is to develop robust processes and train employees in them. The next step is to improve these processes, capturing the experiences of the operation, and improving specific training. After that, start controlling the defects, and develop action plans, controlling their effectiveness. The SMS (safety management system) policies of commercial aviation lead us on this path, whose objective is to increase flight safety, and reduce maintenance costs.

QA is focused on preventing defects by ensuring that the processes used to design, produce, and deliver products are effective and compliant with regulations. This includes document control, change management, training, and compliance with regulatory requirements. QA ensures that all operations comply with Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and other relevant guidelines, such as Annex 1 for sterile manufacturing. It plays a key role in audits, risk assessments, and the management of deviations and corrective actions. QC would focus on the day-to-day testing and inspection of raw materials, in-process samples, and final products to ensure they meet the necessary quality standards.

Quality Control (QC) QC is a reactive process that focuses on detecting and correcting defects after they have occurred. It involves inspecting products or services to ensure that they meet the established quality standards. QC activities typically include: Inspection and testing: Examining products or services to identify defects or non-conformities. Sampling: Selecting representative samples of products or services for inspection. Corrective actions: Taking steps to address identified defects or non-conformities. Preventive actions: Implementing measures to prevent similar defects from occurring in the futures.

QC plays a crucial role in safeguarding the integrity of the products before they reach customers. It involves meticulous attention to detail, where every batch or item is evaluated against established standards. While QA focuses on preventing defects, QC is essential for catching any issues that may have slipped through earlier stages, ensuring that only products that meet strict quality criteria are shipped. Effective QC processes also provide valuable feedback that can inform and improve QA practices, creating a cycle of continuous improvement. By balancing both QA and QC, we can ensure that our products not only meet but exceed quality expectations.

In my industry, (Aviation) Quality Assurance is about compliance. They ensure regulatory and Company compliance is being adhered to. Quality Control is generally live active work being performed on the product while the work is being produced. It is a real time check as work is being produced and bought back prior to the product being released. Both jobs are similar, as QA can show up and perform a live audit to ensure compliance is being performed while the product is being produced. So in my world, QA is not always present, but they can be if an audit is required. QC is always on site to ensure a quality end product is produced when released.

O controle de qualidade tem um papel importantíssimo, para garantir que o produto chegará aos clientes da forma mais eficiente e eficaz

Proactivity vs. Reactivity: QA is proactive, aiming to improve processes to prevent defects, whereas QC is reactive, focusing on identifying defects in the final products. Scope: QA encompasses the entire development and production process, while QC is limited to the end products. Responsibility: QA is a managerial tool focused on process and system improvements, while QC is more technical and concerned with identifying defects in the product. QA aims to prevent defects through process improvement and standardization, QC ensures that the final product meets quality standards. By integrating both QA and QC, they achieve higher levels of customer satisfaction, reduced costs due to fewer defects, and improved efficiency in their operations.

QA is about ensuring that the process used to produce a product is effective in preventing defects. It’s about how things are done. QC is about ensuring that the product itself meets quality standards. It’s about what has been produced.

QA and QC are interdependent and work together to ensure product or service quality. QA establishes the framework for quality, while QC verifies that the framework is being followed. A strong QA program can help prevent defects, reducing the need for extensive QC activities. Conversely, QC can provide valuable feedback to QA, helping to identify areas for improvement in the quality system.

A and QC are two essential processes in any organization that work together with the same goal of ensuring high-quality products or services. By working together, they help to ensure that products or services are delivered with consistency and reliability.

Quality control (QC) involves testing the final product to identify and resolve issues before it is released to the market. Implementing an effective QA process enhances team collaboration, shortens development time, and reduces costs. Although the specific stages of the QA process may vary among companies, the core stages remain the same.

Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Control (QC) are complementary but distinct practices. QA is a proactive process that focuses on improving and ensuring the quality of processes that create the product. On the other hand, QC is reactive, inspecting and verifying that the final product meets the required quality standards. Effective QA reduces the need for extensive QC by minimizing errors during production. Together, they create a balanced approach to maintaining high-quality outcomes—QA ensures the right processes, and QC confirms the right results.

Implementing QA systems in place to achieve Right First Time will enhance reduction in non-conformances and helps define set points for mandatory QC detections. This will help build quality

To implement QA effectively, establish comprehensive policies, procedures, and standards that guide the organization in maintaining quality. Ensure all team members are trained and understand these guidelines. QA focuses on continuous improvement, seeking ways to refine processes and prevent defects proactively. This involves regular reviews and updates to procedures based on feedback and performance data. By fostering a culture of quality and emphasizing process optimization, you build a strong foundation that minimizes errors and enhances overall product reliability.

An example to remind decision makers of the efficacy of QA teams is to agree to ISO: 9001 Quality Management Systems, DMAIC etc. The entirety of the company needs to buy-in that improving quality and assuring it, is the most important to maintain, otherwise there will be waste and inefficiencies that will start to trickle into other systems and processes. The wider the inefficiencies and shaking out of normal distribution of data/results will lead to more losses of profit that could've been mitigated earlier on. However, even slipping out of normal distribution of the process results would be easier to rectify if there are previous QA treatment plans, and QC staff that are committed to controlling the processes and services.

To implement Quality Assurance (QA) effectively, it's essential to establish comprehensive policies, procedures, and standards. These guidelines are crucial for ensuring that everyone in the organization consistently maintains quality. Key steps include: Developing Policies and Procedures: Training and Development: Continuous Improvement: By focusing on these elements, you can build a robust QA system that not only maintains but continuously elevates the standard of quality within your organization.

1. Quality Assurance (QA): Focuses on process-oriented activities to prevent defects, ensuring quality in the design and development stages. 2. Quality Control (QC): Involves product-oriented activities to identify and correct defects in the final product, ensuring it meets quality standards. 3. QA: Proactive, aiming to build quality into the process. 4. QC: Reactive, aiming to detect and fix issues in the final product. 5. QA: Includes activities like process audits, training, and documentation. 6. QC: Includes inspections, testing, and verification.

Executing Quality Control involves inspecting and testing the final product or service to ensure it meets the defined standards and specifications. This process is more reactive, focusing on identifying defects or issues after production. QC execution includes routine checks, sampling, testing, and comparing results against acceptance criteria. If defects are found, corrective actions are taken to address them. The primary goal of QC is to ensure that only products that meet quality requirements reach the customer, maintaining overall consistency and reliability.

Last line of defense is extremely important for Test Engineer and QCs to create all types of test cases and functional tests to then escalate to DevOps and other senior programmers that work on their software to create fixes and patches to problems before the next software push and release. The pressure might be high at some points, however the dedication to consistency and QC keeps the whole team running well at a high quality standard.

Executing Quality Control (QC) involves setting up rigorous tests and inspections to identify and catch defects before they reach the customer. Key steps include: Developing Test Cases: Create detailed test cases to thoroughly evaluate the product’s performance and functionality. Performing Stress Tests: Conduct stress tests on software to ensure it can handle high usage and extreme conditions. Inspecting Physical Products: Carefully inspect physical products for any flaws or defects to maintain high quality standards. Attention to Detail: Maintain a keen eye for detail and a methodical approach to ensure that no issues slip through the cracks.

In QC we test to check that all critical parameters of product quality has been maintained by using different instruments and validated analytical procedure. If any quality parameter is not met during analyzing raw material, we reject the raw material and if the same happens during analyzing finished products, we reject as well. This is done to ensure that no product with substandard quality reaches the consumer.

Executing QC involves setting up tests and inspections to catch defects. This might include developing test cases, performing stress tests on software, or inspecting physical products for flaws. Your goal in QC is to catch any issues before they reach the customer. It's important to have a keen eye for detail and a methodical approach to ensure that nothing slips through the cracks.

Fantastic answers here! Another simple example is bottled wine - Quality Assurance (QA) focuses on maintaining effective winemaking and bottling processes, while Quality Control (QC) ensures the quality of the wine before it is bottled (so there are no issues with the bottled wine later).

In a pharmaceutical industry, QA uses quality management tools to ensure product quality such as deviation management, failure investigation, Corrective and preventive action, training program, risk assessment etc. Note that all the tolls are actually documentation tools. On the other hand, QC uses primarily validated analytical method and analytical instruments to check product quality. QC also uses similar tools to QA for document control but QC is responsible to check product quality mainly in lab and QA is responsible to assure product quality in overall manufacturing unit.

QA is about preventing defects. It focuses on ensuring that processes are in place to produce quality products from the start. QC is about identifying defects. It focuses on inspecting and testing the product to find and correct issues before the product reaches the customer. In short. QA is about process, QC is about product. QA is proactive, QC is reactive. QA aims to prevent issues, QC aims to detect and fix issues.

um exemplo simples e geral seria a produ??o de um bolo. O controle da qualidade seria verificar se o bolo está assado no ponto certo, se a cobertura está uniforme e se o sabor está adequado. Já a garantia da qualidade envolve garantir que os ingredientes sejam de boa qualidade, que os funcionários sejam treinados para seguir as receitas corretamente e que os equipamentos de cozinha estejam em bom estado.

To distinguish between QA and QC effectively, familiarize yourself with the relevant tools for each. For QA, use process mapping software and project management platforms to design, track, and improve quality processes. These tools help ensure compliance and facilitate proactive improvements. For QC, employ testing tools like defect tracking systems and automation software to identify and address defects in the final product. Understanding and utilizing the right tools for QA and QC will enhance your ability to manage quality, prevent issues, and ensure that standards are met throughout the production cycle.