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The Different “Flavors” of Quality
10 Nov 2020 John Hanagan

The Different “Flavors” of Quality

People tend to use the term “Quality” as a catch-all for any function that makes sure we get things right. Under that umbrella, Complemar uses different kinds of Quality methods.

 

Quality Assurance

Quality Assurance is the term used to describe the maintenance of a desired level of quality in a service or product. That is, we make sure that the process is set up to produce the desired outcome, especially by means of attention to every stage.

 

Quality Control

Quality Control is a system of maintaining standards by inspecting a sample of the output against a specification. For example, QC is used when we get first-piece approval, or when we check incoming materials for the right quantity and condition, or when we check that outgoing materials have the right paperwork.

 

Quality Management System

System Quality is an organized effort to manage how businesses provide products or services they sell. Its primary goal is to ensure that companies act responsibly and have the organizational structure, procedures, processes, and resources in place. That’s what Complemar talks about when we mention “ISO.” ISO 9001 and ISO 13485 are sets of stringent quality management system requirements that we comply with.

 

Inventory Quality

In our business, we also look at how well we control our inventory. It’s vitally important to our customers (and to their customers) that we know exactly how much of their stuff we have on hand for them to sell. We ensure Inventory Quality by carefully keeping track of where we put things away and where we pick them from (Quality Assurance). Additionally, we perform cycle counts and random location verifications to double-check that customer property is where it’s supposed to be (Quality Control).

 

These quality functions are in place to make sure we satisfy our customers.