Definition Quality or Quality Assurance - The term "assurance" should not be used?

G

gdn47

#1
One of the comments when ISO 9001:2000 was issued was that the term "assurance" should not be used and that quality alone was more acceptable. However I still see lots of use of "assurance". Am I right in assuming that most quality personnel do not use the term "Quality Assurance"?
 
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ScottK

Not out of the crisis
Staff member
Super Moderator
#2
Re: Quality or Quality Assurance

One of the comments when ISO 9001:2000 was issued was that the term "assurance" should not be used and that quality alone was more acceptable. However I still see lots of use of "assurance". Am I right in assuming that most quality personnel do not use the term "Quality Assurance"?
I'm not sure I understand your question.
Are you asking strictly withing teh context of the ISO9001 standard?
If so, it makes sense to just use "quality" in the standard becuase what on company calls quality assurance, another might call quality control.

In job titles and org charts, though, "assurance" is still used all over.
 
P

piney

#3
Re: Quality or Quality Assurance

A quick internet search produced the following:

Quality Control
The managerial process during which actual process performance is evaluated and actions are taken on unusual performance. It is a process to ensure whether a product meets predefined standards and requisite action taken if the standards are not met. Quality Control measures both products and processes for conformance to quality requirements.

Quality Assurance
A planned and systematic set of activities to ensure that variances in processes are clearly identified, assessed and improving defined processes for fulfilling the requirements of customers and product or service makers. A planned and systematic pattern of all actions necessary to provide adequate confidence that the product optimally fulfils customer's expectations. A planned and systematic set of activities to ensure that requirements are clearly established and the defined process complies to these requirements.

ISO 9001:2000 is a Quality Management System standard that when followed is all about Quality Assurance and has very little to do with Quality Control.
 

Jen Kirley

Quality and Auditing Expert
Staff member
Admin
#4
Re: Quality or Quality Assurance

One of the comments when ISO 9001:2000 was issued was that the term "assurance" should not be used and that quality alone was more acceptable. However I still see lots of use of "assurance". Am I right in assuming that most quality personnel do not use the term "Quality Assurance"?
The terms are used so liberally, even among long time professionals in this field, that I wouldn't count on us as definitive and reliable sources during normal conversation. Here it is in a nutshell:

1. "Quality" is a very broad sense of what Dr. Juran terms "fitness for use."

2. "Quality Assurance" is the set of activities to see that #1 is achieved; has more to do with planning and prevention than "Quality Control", which is largely made up of intervention activities like inspection and what happens after that.

3. "Quality Management System" is the organization of #2.

So I hope you see why ISO does not want us to just say "Quality" when we mean the set of activities regarding the assurance and control of fitness for use in our products and services.

I hope this helps!
 
C

curryassassin

#5
Re: Quality or Quality Assurance

Dear Jennifer,

In response to your definition of QA which states that QA is 'set of activities to see that quality is achieved', surely 'quality control' also contributes as it often means measurement of quality and decisions based on measurement?

So QC is a part of QA?

Cheers.
 

Jen Kirley

Quality and Auditing Expert
Staff member
Admin
#6
Re: Quality or Quality Assurance

Dear Jennifer,

In response to your definition of QA which states that QA is 'set of activities to see that quality is achieved', surely 'quality control' also contributes as it often means measurement of quality and decisions based on measurement?

So QC is a part of QA?

Cheers.
Yes, you see how I have also liberally defined my terms, except that I did try to control myself by adding the parts about prevention and detection. Historically QA generally refers to planning and prevention, while QC generally applies to quality and decisions based on measurement--at least in the references I use.
 
C

curryassassin

#7
Re: Quality or Quality Assurance

So has QA been supplanted by the term quality management? Can you have QA without quality management?
 
P

pong35

#8
Re: Quality or Quality Assurance

Hi Curryassassin,

Quality Assurance is an implied system and the Quality Management is the Governing body of the body that runs the Quality Assurance.
 
A

AndyJP - 2012

#9
Re: Quality or Quality Assurance

Yes. Quality Managment as is it implies is a method of mangement whilst QA vs QC is a matter of setting methods in place for the producing of a "quality" product and control is a way of checking that the "quality" is in the product.

Think of assurance of giving instructions so a good product can be made and control as the way that you check and repair or scrap the parts.

Managment is for quality a method of controlling how a whole business is governed, back in the dim and distant past a manufacturing company would on see quality in terms of the production process and when Quality Management came along quality spread from the shop floor into the support areas.

I hope that is now a clear as mud
 
#10
Re: Quality or Quality Assurance

My experience has been that there are many 'quality assurance' programmes which are mainly derived from the military requirements for contractors, such as NATO AQAP1 and 2, Mil-Std-9858A, MoD Def-Stan 05/21, Ford Q1, GM Targets for Excellence, etc.

Most of these were based on the idea that as long as there were documented procedures and that the organization followed them, there was a (good) chance that the product would be to the agreed specification. Rarely were 'management' involved - with the exception, perhaps, of the Quality manager.

The (recent) recognition that 'quality' is broadly about (external) customer satisfaction and (internally) not wasting resources getting the product to the customer and that these are aligned with business objectives, has seen a move away from systems of (heavy procedural) documentation, and more towards process management. This is, I believe, at the heart of the changes to not just terminology but also a philosophical/strategic realignment of quality systems as a management tool.
 
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