Definition Quality Control vs Quality Assurance - Differences or Semantics

#11
It might be said that ISO 9001 drives QA while an inspection system drives QC.

To drive QC, the emphasis is on inspection while driving QA involves the entire company.

If only QC were to be emphasized we would only need a few sections of ISO 9001 (some of 7.5, 7.6, 8.2.4, and 8.3). QA requires all of the rest of ISO 9001.
Quality Management is the focus of ISO 9000, surely?
 
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Helmut Jilling

Auditor / Consultant
#13
In the old days...(you know, back in the day when we walked to school...uphill ...both ways...and barefoot....) QC inspected parts coming off the line and inspected the quality in. My Dad used to tell me after WW II, he did inspection at a ball bearing plant. They sorted them into different grades of product characteristics. The best ones went to Mercedes, the medium ones to VW, and the lowest were exported...lol...

So, QC inspected and sorted parts. Gradually, companies began to try to build more quality INTO the parts thru new fangled quality tools like SPC and a variety of process controls...and QA gradually came to be...an effort to build Quality into the products and processes to ASSURE products had the needed quality...Quality Assurance began to replace Quality Control.

Some companies still use the term - QC - but most of them are practicing Quality Assurance.
 

harry

Super Moderator
#16
If we are looking at the conceptual point of view, both evolved from developments in quality thinking and practices with QA coming after (or an improvement of) QC. This had been extensively discussed in an earlier effort by Paul Simpson in this thread: History of Quality Control. He provided some links to the CQI here and also an attachment - 070403 History of Quality.pdf

Today, many organizations had evolved beyond that stage and hence, the terms QA & QC may mean the same in every day use and is therefore semantics to some.
 
S

supreecha

#18
:agree:

QC QA
- Walkthrough - Quality Audit
- Testing - Defining Process
- Inspection - Selection of tools
- Checkpoint review - Training
 
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bobdoering

Stop X-bar/R Madness!!
Trusted Information Resource
#19
Here's the dirty little secret: None of the activities that we like to refer to as "quality" should actually be called quality at all.

Why?

Because the minute you do that, there is an "understood" assumption that it is the "quality department's problem" and not anybody else's. There should be a move to remove "quality" term from any processes, and rephrase them as simply mandatory process activities.
 
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