Quality assurance, or QA for short, refers to a program for the systematic monitoring and

evaluation of the various aspects of a project, service, or facility to ensure that standards of
quality are being met.

It is important to realize also that quality is determined by the program sponsor. QA cannot
absolutely guarantee the production of quality products, unfortunately, but makes this more
likely.

Two key principles characterise QA: "fit for purpose" (the product should be suitable for the
intended purpose) and "right first time" (mistakes should be eliminated). QA includes regulation
of the quality of raw materials, assemblies, products and components; services related to
production; and management, production and inspection processes.

It is important to realize also that quality is determined by the intended users, clients or
customers, not by society in general: it is not the same as 'expensive' or 'high quality'. Even
goods with low prices can be considered quality items if they meet a market need. QA is more
than just testing the quality of aspects of a product, service or facility, it analyzes the quality to
make sure it conforms to specific requirements and comply with established plans.

Contents
[hide]

 1 Early efforts to control the quality of production

 2 Wartime production
 3 Postwar
 4 Accuracy of Quality Assurance
 5 Steps for Quality Assurance Process
 6 Quality assurance versus quality control
o 6.1 Failure testing
o 6.2 Statistical control
o 6.3 Total quality management
 7 QA in software development
o 7.1 Models and standards
 8 Company quality
 9 Using contractors and/or consultants
 10 Industrial resources
 11 Scientific resources
 12 Academic resources
 13 See also
 14 Notes and references
 15 External links
[edit] Early efforts to control the quality of production

Early civil engineering projects needed to be built from specifications, for example the four sides
of the base of the Great Pyramid of Giza were required to be perpendicular to within 3.5
arcseconds.[citation needed]

During the Middle Ages, guilds adopted responsibility for quality control of their members,
setting and maintaining certain standards for guild membership.

Royal governments purchasing material were interested in quality control as customers. For this
reason, King John of England appointed William Wrotham to report about the construction and
repair of ships. Centuries later, Samuel Pepys, Secretary to the British Admiralty, appointed
multiple such overseers.

Prior to the extensive division of labor and mechanization resulting from the Industrial
Revolution, it was possible for workers to control the quality of their own products. Working
conditions then were arguably more conducive to professional pride.

The Industrial Revolution led to a system in which large groups of people performing a similar
type of work were grouped together under the supervision of a foreman who was appointed to
control the quality of work manufactured.

[edit] Wartime production

Around the time of World War I, manufacturing processes typically became more complex with
larger numbers of workers being supervised. This period saw the widespread introduction of
mass production and piecework, which created problems as workmen could now earn more
money by the production of extra products, which in turn led to bad workmanship being passed
on to the assembly lines.

To counter bad workmanship, full time inspectors were introduced into the factory to identify,
quarantine and ideally correct product quality failures. Quality control by inspection in the 1920s
and 1930s led to the growth of quality inspection functions, separately organised from
production and big enough to be headed by superintendents.

The systematic approach to quality started in industrial manufacture during the 1930s, mostly in
the USA, when some attention was given to the cost of scrap and rework. With the impact of
mass production, which was required during the Second World War, it became necessary to
introduce a more appropriate form of quality control which can be identified as Statistical
Quality Control, or SQC. Some of the initial work for SQC is credited to Walter A. Shewhart of
Bell Labs, starting with his famous one-page memorandum of 1924.

SQC came about with the realization that quality cannot be fully inspected into an important
batch of items. By extending the inspection phase and making inspection organizations more
efficient, it provides inspectors with control tools such as sampling and control charts, even
where 100 per cent inspection is not practicable. Standard statistical techniques allow the
producer to sample and test a certain proportion of the products for quality to achieve the desired
level of confidence in the quality of the entire batch or production run.

[edit] Postwar

In the period following World War II, many countries' manufacturing capabilities that had been
destroyed during the war were rebuilt. The U.S. sent General Douglas MacArthur to oversee the
re-building of Japan. During this time, General MacArthur involved two key individuals in the
development of modern quality concepts: W. Edwards Deming and Joseph Juran. Both
individuals promoted the collaborative concepts of quality to Japanese business and technical
groups, and these groups utilized these concepts in the redevelopment of the Japanese economy.

Although there were many individuals trying to lead United States industries towards a more
comprehensive approach to quality, the U.S. continued to apply the Quality Control (QC)
concepts of inspection and sampling to remove defective product from production lines,
essentially ignoring advances in QA for decades.

[edit] Accuracy of Quality Assurance

There is an extensive process of trial and error in order to ensure quality assurance. By the end of
the trials you arrive at an acceptable process that helps you decide the reliability and efficiency
of the sample. The process involves meeting specifications such as performance measures and
depends on environment operation. The costs of resulting in failure is very high which result in
the process of Quality Assurance to be extensive and it is acceptable to delay production until all
tests are done and double-checked.

[edit] Steps for Quality Assurance Process

 Test previous article

 Plan to improve
 Design to include improvements and requirements
 Manufacture with improvements
 Review new item and improvements
 Test new item

The process for Quality Assurance is very rigorous and requires a lot of testing and planning.
The team or firm has to comply with previous requirements, implement new requirements and
improve the old item. Other than following requirements, the team or firm has to comply with
consumers needs.

[edit] Quality assurance versus quality control

Quality control emphasizes testing of products to uncover defects, and reporting to management
who make the decision to allow or deny the release, whereas quality assurance attempts to
improve and stabilize production, and associated processes, to avoid, or at least minimize, issues
that led to the defects in the first place.[citation needed]. On applying Quality Assurance in Education
the gross purpose of applying quality assurance is served.

To prevent mistakes from arising, several QA methodologies are used. However, QA does not
eliminate the need for QC: some product parameters are so critical that testing is still essential.
QC activities are treated as one of the overall QA processes.[citation needed]

[edit] Failure testing

A valuable[citation needed] process to perform on a whole consumer product is failure testing or stress
testing. In mechanical terms this is the operation of a product until it fails, often under stresses
such as increasing vibration, temperature, and humidity. This exposes many unanticipated
weaknesses in a product, and the data are used to drive engineering and manufacturing process
improvements. Often quite simple changes can dramatically improve product service, such as
changing to mold-resistant paint or adding lock-washer placement to the training for new
assembly personnel.

[edit] Statistical control

Many[citation needed] organizations use statistical process control to bring the organization to Six
Sigma levels of quality, in other words, so that the likelihood of an unexpected failure is
confined to six standard deviations on the normal distribution. This probability is less than four
one-millionths. Items controlled often include clerical tasks such as order-entry as well as
conventional manufacturing tasks.[citation needed]

Traditional statistical process controls in manufacturing operations usually proceed by randomly

sampling and testing a fraction of the output. Variances in critical tolerances are continuously
tracked and where necessary corrected before bad parts are produced.

[edit] Total quality management

Invariably, the Quality of output is directly dependent upon that of the participating constituents,
[1]
some of which are sustainably and effectively controlled while others are [not]. The fluid state
spells lack of Quality control, and the process(es) which are properly managed for Quality such
that Quality is assured, pertain to Total Quality Management.

The major problem which leads to a decrease in sales was that the specifications did not include
the most important factor, “What the specifications have to state in order to satisfy the customer
requirements?”.

The major characteristics, ignored during the search to improve manufacture and overall
business performance were:

 Reliability
 Maintainability
 Safety
  Strength

As the most important factor had been ignored, a few refinements had to be introduced:

1. Marketing had to carry out their work properly and define the customer’s specifications.
2. Specifications had to be defined to conform to these requirements.
3. Conformance to specifications i.e. drawings, standards and other relevant documents,
were introduced during manufacturing, planning and control.
4. Management had to confirm all operators are equal to the work imposed on them and
holidays, celebrations and disputes did not affect any of the quality levels.
5. Inspections and tests were carried out, and all components and materials, bought in or
otherwise, conformed to the specifications, and the measuring equipment was accurate,
this is the responsibility of the QA/QC department.
6. Any complaints received from the customers were satisfactorily dealt with in a timely
manner.
7. Feedback from the user/customer is used to review designs.
8. Consistent data recording and assessment and documentation integrity.
9. Product and/or process change management and notification.

If the specification does not reflect the true quality requirements, the product's quality cannot be
guaranteed. For instance, the parameters for a pressure vessel should cover not only the material
and dimensions but operating, environmental, safety, reliability and maintainability
requirements.

[edit] QA in software development

See also: Software quality assurance

The following are examples of QA models relating to the software development process.

[edit] Models and standards

ISO 17025 is an international standard that specifies the general requirements for the competence
to carry out tests and or calibrations. There are 15 management requirements and 10 technical
requirements. These requirements outline what a laboratory must do to become accredited.
Management system refers to the organization's structure for managing its processes or activities
that transform inputs of resources into a product or service which meets the organization's
objectives, such as satisfying the customer's quality requirements, complying with regulations, or
meeting environmental objectives.

The CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration) model is widely used to implement Quality
Assurance (PPQA) in an organization. The CMMI maturity levels can be divided in to 5 steps,
which a company can achieve by performing specific activities within the organization.

[edit] Company quality

During the 1980s, the concept of “company quality” with the focus on management and people
came to the fore. It was realized that, if all departments approached quality with an open mind,
success was possible if the management led the quality improvement process.

The company-wide quality approach places an emphasis on four aspects :-

1. Elements such as controls, job management, adequate processes, performance and

integrity criteria and identification of records
2. Competence such as knowledge, skills, experience, qualifications
3. Soft elements, such as personnel integrity, confidence, organizational culture, motivation,
team spirit and quality relationships.
4. Infrastructure (as it enhances or limits functionality)

The quality of the outputs is at risk if any of these aspects is deficient in any way.

The approach to quality management given here is therefore not limited to the manufacturing
theatre only but can be applied to any business or non-business activity:

 Design work
 Administrative services
 Consulting
 Banking
 Insurance
 Computer software development
 Retailing
 Transportation
 Education

It comprises a quality improvement process, which is generic in the sense it can be applied to any
of these activities and it establishes a behaviour pattern, which supports the achievement of
quality.

This in turn is supported by quality management practices which can include a number of
business systems and which are usually specific to the activities of the business unit concerned.

In manufacturing and construction activities, these business practices can be equated to the
models for quality assurance defined by the International Standards contained in the ISO 9000
series and the specified Specifications for quality systems.

Still, in the system of Company Quality, the work being carried out was shop floor inspection
which did not reveal the major quality problems. This led to quality assurance or total quality
control, which has come into being recently.

[edit] Using contractors and/or consultants

It has become customary to use consultants and contractors when introducing new quality
practices and methods, particularly where the relevant skills and expertise are not available
within the organization. In addition, when new initiatives and improvements are required to
boost the current quality system, or perhaps improve upon current manufacturing systems, the
use of temporary consultants becomes a viable solution when allocating valuable resources.

There are various types of consultants and contractors available in the market; most will have the
skills needed to facilitate improvement activities such as Quality Management Systems (QMS)
auditing and procedural documentation writing. More experienced consultants are likely to have
knowledge of specialized quality improvement activities such as CMMI, Six Sigma,
Measurement Systems Analysis (MSA), Quality Function Deployment (QFD), Failure Mode and
Effects Analysis (FMEA), Advance Product Quality Planning (APQP).