Should QC be under QA in the Organization or should both be independent?

[kazengg]

please tell the QC department should be under QA or both departments should work independently. what is recommended. i am working in manufacturing industry which has NDT, machining, fabrication and testing.

 

[John Broomfield]

Re: QC should under QA or both independent

please tell the QC department should be under QA or both departments should work independently. what is recommended. i am working in manufacturing industry which has NDT, machining, fabrication and testing.

kazengg,

QC should be a manufacturing responsibility. You cannot hold people responsible for quality unless you provide them with the tools to verify conformity per the router or inspection and test plan.

This frees QA to focus their efforts on customers and on the management system that helps employees to control quality.

John

 

[Big Jim]

Re: QC should under QA or both independent

please tell the QC department should be under QA or both departments should work independently. what is recommended. i am working in manufacturing industry which has NDT, machining, fabrication and testing.

QC stands for quality control, and tends to center around inspection. QA stands for quality assurance, and tends to center around continual improvement.

Many people use the terms interchangeably. In the end, it is up to top management to determine if they are the same, different, combined, complimentary, or opposed to each other. I have seen examples of each of those.

My preference is to call all of it QA.

 

[Randy]

Re: QC should under QA or both independent

Doesn't matter.

It isn't anybody's business but yours.

Do whatever works best for you.

 

[Bjourne]

Re: QC should under QA or both independent

QC stands for quality control, and tends to center around inspection. QA stands for quality assurance, and tends to center around continual improvement.

Many people use the terms interchangeably. In the end, it is up to top management to determine if they are the same, different, combined, complimentary, or opposed to each other. I have seen examples of each of those.

My preference is to call all of it QA.

In my company (semiconductor manufacturing), the QC which is tasked to do "inspection" in all the manufacturing process "is" under QA / QMS Dept. All customer related issues and management schemes are handled by QMS. It used to be only QA Dept. but QC and QA/QMS is under it's roof. I guess it will be on your company what they will ne preferring as long as the goal is as stated by John,

QC should be a manufacturing responsibility. You cannot hold people responsible for quality unless you provide them with the tools to verify conformity per the router or inspection and test plan.

This frees QA to focus their efforts on customers and on the management system that helps employees to control quality.

Just my two cents

 

[John Broomfield]

...and gradually QC evolves to become process control as the management system enables further reductions in the cost of quality.

 

[kazengg]

Re: QC should under QA or both independent

actually at my setup QA exists and QC is its part. QA division has NDT section, tensile and other mechanical testing machines. QA division has one QA section also which prepares quality plan, internal audit etc. now our external auditor says that separate QA division from QC. QC should function separately so that can be checked by QA. provision of latest tools is responsibility of company and QC has all tools. auditor insists that if QA head is also head of QC then he might skip some procedures to save time etc.,
Pl guide is this logical to separate the two QA and QC

 

[John Broomfield]

Re: QC should under QA or both independent

actually at my setup QA exists and QC is its part. QA division has NDT section, tensile and other mechanical testing machines. QA division has one QA section also which prepares quality plan, internal audit etc. now our external auditor says that separate QA division from QC. QC should function separately so that can be checked by QA. provision of latest tools is responsibility of company and QC has all tools. auditor insists that if QA head is also head of QC then he might skip some procedures to save time etc.,
Pl guide is this logical to separate the two QA and QC

kazengg,

Ask the auditor to show you the requirement for this. There is, of course, no such requirement. Under no circumstances ask for or follow the advice of your auditor. Before long you'll join the ranks of the other organizations this person is bossing about.

Do your internal auditors have any difficulty in avoiding their own work when taking their audit samples? This possibly could be what is worrying the auditor.

Also make sure the processes are monitored by the people doing the work and by the people supervising the people doing the work.

Ask your auditors to focus on the effectiveness of your management system and its processes instead of inventing requirements.

As Randy said, mixing QC with QA is none of their business.

John

 

[Sean Kelley]

I have been a part of it done both ways. Keeping QC and QA separate really depends on how the organization functions. Currently QA and QC are separate and some of it depends on the size of the company. Smaller companies tend to combine roles more often while larger can often have enough work to separate them.

My personal preference is to just call it Quality and not use the QA / QC distinction but I try to be involved in both functions as well.

 

[kazengg]

thanks to all