Quality control is a process within an organization to ensure that the quality of its product will be maintained or improved. It requires the company to create an environment of continuous improvement, where management and employees strive for perfection.
This is just one of the many definitions created for quality control over the years, many of which are still used today. What they all have in common is the pursuit of identifying and correcting deviations from established quality standards.
The process involves monitoring and inspecting products or services at various stages of production or delivery to customers. This ensures that they meet the desired quality level, avoid errors or defects, and improve manufacturing and delivery processes.
To help you understand everything about quality control, we will discuss how the term originated, talk about the main tools, and explain how to implement it in your organization. Scroll down and don’t miss anything!
How quality control originated
The demand for contemporary quality control techniques emerged shortly after the Second Industrial Revolution, in the late 19th century. The development of standardization techniques and mass production created a need to define and control the quality of products leaving factories.
In the 1920s, quality control aimed to ensure that engineering requirements were met by the final product. By the early 1950s, the profession of quality manager emerged, with related areas such as quality assurance (QA) and quality auditing.
Things changed significantly in 1956 with the creation of Total Quality Control (TQC). The concept was popularized by businessman Armand V. Feigenbaum, who published a book and an article in the Harvard Business Review on the subject.
TQC emphasizes the need to involve all departments of the company in quality management—not just the production area. The approach highlights the importance of involving sectors such as engineering, purchasing, finance, marketing, and manufacturing.
In the following 60 years, the field of quality control continued to evolve with the advent of new tools and approaches. Among them are Statistical Process Control (SPC), Company-Wide Quality Control (CWQC), Total Quality Management (TQM), Six Sigma, and Lean Six Sigma.
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What is quality control for
Without proper supervision, the process of creating a product ends up being costly, time-consuming, and even posing safety risks. Depending on the industry in which your company operates, selling defective products can even result in legal issues or image crises.
This is where quality inspectors come in, responsible for ensuring that products with defects or safety flaws can be identified and corrected.
In other words, quality control has the following functions:
- Reduce production costs: The process checks production items that do not meet quality standards. By correcting what caused the problem, you reduce investment in products that will never reach the market.
- Improve your reputation: By manufacturing high-quality products, you increase the chances of satisfying your customers and enhancing your business’s credibility.
- Optimize production methods: The approach helps your organization simplify and improve production processes, resulting in more efficient methods and greater productivity.
- Use resources effectively: The quality control area allows the company to use resources efficiently by minimizing waste of materials and products, as well as reducing inefficiencies.
- Increase sales: After developing a good reputation for the quality of your offerings, you will start attracting new customers and see an increase in sales.
- Boost employee morale: The morale of your teams will change once employees realize they are producing high-quality products, especially if they are market leaders.
- Encourage quality thinking: Quality control motivates employees to consider quality at every stage of production, helping the company consistently achieve desired standards.
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7 best tools for quality control
Since factories began standardizing their products and producing them in mass, the field of quality control has undergone various innovations. As this field of knowledge evolved, more efficient tools for ensuring excellence emerged.
In this section, we will talk about the main methods that have emerged to ensure the consistency of your products and services.
1. Statistical Quality Control (SQC)
The oldest technique on the list, used in the market since the 1930s. It is a statistical method that uses charts and samples to verify product quality.
Here, the goal of the person responsible for process planning is to select the equipment and tools that will ensure the product is manufactured according to specifications. For this, inspection techniques derived from statistical sampling theory are implemented.
Samples from a batch are inspected, and then statistical inferences are used to draw conclusions about the entire production. Thus, SQC can be applied to any process where the product can be measured in some way.
2. Total Quality Control (TQC)
Invented in 1956, TQC emphasizes the importance of including other departments in the quality control process. From then on, this management included sectors such as marketing, accounting, sales, and HR, among others.
This was the first method that divided quality control measures into different elements. These segments include process control, control charts, acceptance sampling, and product quality control.
Since then, the term Total Quality Control has become an umbrella for all quality management practices that are part of the Japanese Just in Time (JIT) manufacturing system. It describes a system of integrated controls that ensure customer satisfaction and good economic quality management.
3. Statistical Process Control (SPC)
This tool focuses on individual processes and uses feedback as a weapon to regulate the quality control process. It allows you to monitor process behavior, discover problems in internal systems, and find solutions to production problems.
The most popular SPC method is the control chart, developed by American statistician Walter Shewhart. It allows your quality manager to record procedure data in search of unusual events.
4. Company-Wide Quality Control (CWQC)
Company-Wide Quality Control (free translation) was invented in Japan by organizational theorist Kaoru Ishikawa — the same person who created the Ishikawa diagram. CWQC represents an advanced approach to quality control and functions as an extension of Total Quality Control (TQC).
The main goal of this method is to align the steps of the product development process with other procedures from different operational areas. As with previous tools, CWQC also aims to achieve superior quality products and happier customers.
To achieve this, Company-Wide Quality Control seeks to involve employees at all hierarchical levels. The main difference from previous methods is that no quality testing is performed.
Instead, the focus is on promoting continuous quality improvement throughout the company — with special care to promote improvements in the most relevant production processes.
5. Total Quality Management (TQM)
Another tool derived from TQC, Total Quality Management is relatively new: it only began to be used in 1985. It also works with the concept of continuous improvement, with one of its most famous applications being in the Quality Management System (QMS) of the United States Department of Defense (DoD).
Despite its governmental and military use, TQM is especially suitable for customer-centric organizations. It uses strategies, data, and effective communication to integrate quality management into the company’s culture and activities.
6. Six Sigma
It is the most popular quality control method of all. It was created by Motorola in 1986 by external consultant Bill Smith. Its goal was to emphasize the discovery and elimination of errors and defects.
Initially, it defined an acceptable limit of 3.4 defects per million opportunities. Based on parameters like these, companies can improve their procedures in search of more stable and predictable results.
Among the benefits of adopting the tool are waste reduction, error reduction, and increased operational efficiency. Additionally, companies that invest in Six Sigma generally have reduced legal risk and greater flexibility in their processes.
7. Lean Six Sigma
One of the most recent quality control methods, Lean Six Sigma was created in 2001 by American authors Chuck Mills, Barbara Wheat, and Mike Carnell. It follows the philosophy of combining the lean manufacturing method with the original Six Sigma, improving quality and production cycle time in factories.
Among its objectives are the removal of waste and defects from the manufacturing process. As a result, organizations end up saving time and money.
The set of Lean Six Sigma principles is as follows:
- Customer is the priority
- Recognition and understanding of workflow
- Supervision, improvement, and simplification of processes
- Elimination of unnecessary steps and inefficiencies
- Data-based decisions with minimal inconsistencies
- Engagement and empowerment of individuals involved in the processes
- Methodical conduct of improvement efforts
How to implement quality control in your company
Quality control can be used by any type of business, whether it is Business-to-business (B2B), Business-to-consumer (B2C), product-based or service-based. After all, we are talking about an essential component of any well-managed organization.
For your company to also earn its place on the select list of companies recognized for their quality, just follow these steps:
1. Define your quality standards
In some industries, companies need to meet quality standards defined by regulatory agencies or legislators. If your company fits this definition, you can skip to the next step.
Otherwise, it will be necessary to create your own quality standards. Each department will have different parameters, but the important thing is that they are all measurable. To achieve them, you can use the same methods for defining KPIs.
2. Decide which quality standards to focus on
Focus on the most important parameters, which are those with the greatest effect on your customer’s experience and your company’s profit. This will help you achieve results more quickly and prevent your team from becoming overwhelmed.
For example, if you work in a pharmaceutical factory, you will certainly want to monitor the cleanliness of your employees’ bathrooms in your quality control program. Although this increases their morale and quality of life, it is not the most important factor for your business’s survival.
First, you need to ensure that the production lines are sterilized and that the drugs are manufactured accurately and safely. After all, this has a direct effect on the quality of your product and the safety of your patients.
3. Create operational processes to ensure quality
Well-designed processes lead to high-quality products and services. If you create good procedures and continuously measure their results, your products or services will only improve.
Create processes that include benchmarks for all your critical operations. For example, consider that you are responsible for a car factory and the procedures require each vehicle to undergo a complete quality inspection within 24 hours after assembly.
This will ensure that any defects are identified and corrected quickly, maintaining high safety and performance standards.
4. Review your results
Business software like SoftExpert Suite allows you to customize the information you collect and use dashboards to visualize it more easily. Take advantage of these features and regularly review the collected information to know if your company is meeting its quality standard.
5. Collect feedback
Seek measurable opinions from external sources. They can be from customer surveys, online reviews, or Net Promoter Scores (NPS) metrics. They will help you get a more complete picture of the quality of your product or service.
At the same time, don’t forget to seek feedback from your employees. Ask them how the operational processes are working and if they are helping them deliver the expected quality. See if they have any ideas on how to improve them.
6. Implement improvements
Finally, it’s time to put everything you’ve learned into practice. But don’t stop once you’ve reached your quality control standards.
The idea of continuous improvement is always to be looking to improve your processes and enhance your product. No matter how refined your procedures are, quality control will always find ways to improve them. And don’t forget: sometimes small changes can bring great results.
Conclusion
An effective quality control system will allow your company to remain competitive and deliver products or services that meet customer expectations. As we have seen, quality control is not just a technical process but also a management philosophy involving all organizational levels.
By adopting the tools and methods described in this article, your company will not only avoid failures and waste but also optimize production and increase customer satisfaction.
Remember that this effort is continuous and vital for long-term success, as the pursuit of excellence should never stop. With a solid quality control approach, your company will be prepared to face market challenges and build a reputation for trust and excellence.
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