Quality Assurance

Many managers or departments have these two words in their titles. The Quality Assurance Department, or Manager of Quality Assurance are both titles that sound like an oxymoron. As we are all fond of saying "Quality is everyone's job." Logically then a department or a manager cannot assure quality. Quality Assurance therefore is a corporate goal.

Quality Control has taken on the meaning of people who inspect or track processes. Inspectors are in the Quality Control group. There is Statistical Process Control, (SPC). We could play the same game with the word "control" as we did with assurance.

The word we can hang our hat on is "quality." Trying to assure and control this requirement of business is appropriate and noble. The sophisticated customers of today expect quality to be built in, period!

So what are we truly after here? Within a business, every process needs to be done to specification, on time, at the highest possible value. This ensures the internal customers are satisfied. The final service or product that goes to the external customer must meet the same criteria, that is "done to specification, on time, at the highest possible value."

Quality starts to get controlled or assured when all processes in a company are "robust" (produced with near-perfect results) and all areas of a company are in "constant improvement" (the employees are trained and execute proper correction to their processes automatically). To achieve this customer-satisfying nirvana usually requires that a number of key events have occurred, and a number of characteristics are present:

• Leadership and commitment to quality at the top of the organization
• Implementation of an ISO/Q9001-2000 type system
• Appropriate resources and extensive involvement of all personnel in building the company's "business platform" from ISO
• Brutally honest internal auditing of the business platform
• Quick, effective corrections and dedication to prevention
• Commitment to extensive, focused training
• Celebrating and rewarding the successes
• Quality, customer oriented culture
• Insure all the stakeholders win

To move your company ahead toward Quality Assurance, contact Holeton Consulting today for your complimentary initial consultation.

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Holeton Consulting
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