Quality (Management, Control, Assurance, and Improvement) Differences Explained.
What is the difference between Quality Management, Assurance, Control, and Improvement?
First of all, they all have “Quality†in them, Apparently! So they all have something to do with the quality of the product and services.
“Quality is the degree to which an object or entity (e.g., process, product, or service) satisfies a specified set of attributes or requirements.†ISO 9001: 2015
So, let’s begin exploring these quality concepts:
Firstly, Quality Management is a broad concept that contains the other three concepts.
Roughly speaking, it has the following activities:
1- Setting the quality policy and objectives
2- Designing the quality management system that organizes the working environment through documentation and training,
3- Setting the needed verification and validation (check and balance).
4- Determining continuous-improvement practices.
As you can see from the abovementioned, quality management is about everything related to quality.
Quality Assurance is about ensuring that the final product meets the requirements. While Quality Control is about the prevention of errors and executing the procedure as documented in the quality management system. Therefore, quality control practices are within the system.
Lastly, Quality Improvement happens, virtually speaking, for the whole system. It is an ongoing practice that aims to enhance processes whether they were related to management, control or assurance; and thus enhancing the overall quality of products.
Now, let’s discuss a practical example:
A company that produces chocolate bars will have the following:
Quality Management: represented in a Quality Management System (QMS) that contains the quality policy and objective of the company (Like having the biggest market share), and the needed documentation of production processes and support functions and so on and so forth.
Quality Control: represented in all the controls over sub-processes outcomes such as: controlling the quality of received raw materials, their storage conditions, the quality of each step in the production line, etc.
Quality Assurance: represented in checking the final product of each batch whether it meets the standard requirements of weight, shape, hardness, taste, you name it.
Quality Improvement: it depends partially on the outcomes of the Quality Assurance process, where findings and trends in defects can lead to improvement to the whole system. Like if they had a lot of inconsistency in weight they will need to adjust the machines or the calibration method.
Finally, a little bit of history behind the concepts:
It is believed, that in the 1920s, Quality Control was the first concept of all to be developed following the Industrial Revolution and the rise of mass production. At first, the focus was on meeting engineering requirements. Later, as the manufacturing process became more complex, the focus shifted toward controlling process variations that affect the product’s quality.
Then in the 1950s, Quality Assurance and audits concepts were introduced when an independent verification of quality was needed in sectors in which public health and safety were at stake.
In the same era, Dr. Deming was helping the Japanese in their miracle after WW2 when he developed the Total Quality Management concept which had the “Continues Improvement†impeded in it as one of the main principles.