Quality Assurance (QA) focuses on improving the process of creating products or services, while quality control focuses on testing the end result. The Shewhart Cycle, or PDCA cycle, is a popular QA tool consisting of four phases: Plan, Do, Check, and Act. The cycle is repeated to continually evaluate and improve the process. QA ensures excellence in every component and requires attention to detail. It helps companies refine and improve their processes, leading to long-term growth and change. The goal is to exceed customer expectations in a responsible and measurable process.
Quality Assurance (QA) is a process-centric approach to ensuring that a business or organization provides the best possible products or services. It is related to quality control, which focuses on the end result, such as testing a sample of items from a batch after production. While these terms are sometimes used interchangeably, quality assurance focuses on improving and enhancing the process used to create the end result, rather than focusing on the result itself. Among the parts of the process considered in QA are planning, design, development, production and service.
Shewhart’s cycle
There are many quality control tools that organizations can use that will help guide them through the necessary steps to ensure their processes are as efficient and productive as possible. One of the more popular tools is called the Shewhart Cycle, which was developed by Dr. W. Edwards Deming, a 20th-century American management consultant who named the tool after his associate, Walter A. Shewhart. This quality assurance cycle consists of four phases: Plan, Do, Check and Act (PDCA). At the end of the Shewhart cycle, also called the Deming cycle or PDCA cycle, the steps are repeated to ensure that the process is evaluated and improved on an ongoing basis.
Four steps
During the first phase of the PDCA cycle, Plan, the organization should establish its objectives and determine the processes or changes in processes necessary to deliver the desired results. The second step, Do, is when processes or changes are developed and tested. In the third stage, Check, processes or changes are monitored and evaluated to determine whether the results meet predetermined goals. The final step, Act, is when the actions needed to achieve the desired improvements are fully implemented in the process. The cycle can then be repeated, starting with planning new goals.
Excellence in every component
The Shewhart Cycle can be an effective method of achieving quality assurance because it analyzes the existing conditions and methods used to deliver the product or service to customers. The goal is to ensure that excellence is built into every component of the process. Quality assurance also helps determine whether the steps used to deliver the product or service are appropriate for the time and conditions. Furthermore, if the cycle is repeated throughout the life of the product or service, it helps improve the efficiency of the company by ensuring that the process is always refined and improved.
Care for details
Quality assurance requires a degree of detail to be fully implemented at each stage. Planning, for example, might include determining specific quality levels or measurable outcomes that the organization wants to achieve. Control might involve testing and other objective measurements to determine whether objectives have been met, rather than a simple subjective assessment of quality. Taking action could mean a total overhaul of the manufacturing process to correct a technical or cosmetic defect or very small changes to improve efficiency or accuracy.
Competition for the supply of specialized products and services often results in innovations as well as long-term growth and change. Quality Assurance verifies that any customer offer, whether new or evolved, is manufactured and offered with the best possible materials, as completely and with the highest standards. The goal of exceeding customer expectations in a measurable and responsible process is provided by quality assurance.
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