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Looking to improve a product or service? Having quality control processes in place is vital to ensure that what you’re offering is the absolute best version it can be.
Read on to find out exactly what quality control is, what the different types are, and how you can implement it into your production process.
What is Quality Control
Quality control is the method by which a product or service is tested to ensure it meets the required standards. It involves inspection at various points during the production or delivery service, through which a business can find points for development and improve upon their product or service.
Ultimately, the two main goals of quality control inspections are to ensure uniformity across products/services and to identify and minimise any errors or inconsistencies.
What are the 4 Types of Quality Control?
There is no single, universal process for quality control. It can depend quite heavily on the industry; for example, quality control for food and pharmaceuticals will include thorough, scientific testing, whereas a personal services such as education will require a much more qualitative approach.
So, what are quality control systems? There are many different quality control methods in production, but the four most commonly recognised include:
Acceptance Sampling
Acceptance sampling involves sampling or testing a batch of products to ensure they meet the overall standard of the manufacturer.
Control Charts
Graphs and charts are used in this process to understand the change in processes and how to optimise internal processes for the best effectiveness and quality.
Process Control
In this type of quality control, internal processes are assessed. This might include how samples are handled, exam assessment, or anything else in which a differentiation in process could affect the result.
Process Protocol
Process protocol involves setting markers throughout a process so that the final product is always up to scratch. In doing so, businesses can be sure that each stage of the process is meeting the correct standard, which makes final product uniformity much easier.
Quality Control vs. Quality Assurance
Quality control and quality assurance are ultimately very similar, and these two titles are often interchangeable as they’re both vital in ensuring an overall, high-quality experience. In fact, quality control is often recognised as a sub-category of quality assurance.
The key difference between the two is that quality control focuses on the product itself, and quality assurance focuses on the procedures behind it.
During quality control, the product is reviewed and tested to make sure it meets the highest possible standards, such as acceptance sampling and process control. Quality assurance, on the other hand, is the use of techniques like control charts and process protocol.
Steps of a Quality Control Inspection
When it comes to physically testing a product, there are several different stages at which this can occur. These are as follows:
- Pre-Production Inspections (PPI): These are inspections conducted on raw materials before a product is made, ensuring there are no issues before production begins.
- During Production Inspection (DUPRO): These are held when production is underway, but not finished, typically about 20% of the way through the process. This allows any major issues to come to light before too much work has been completed.
- Pre-Shipment Inspections (PSI): The most common type of inspection, pre-shipment inspections occur when all products have been made and most have been packaged.
- Loading Inspections (LI): Once a shipment is complete, packaged, and ready to go, loading inspections provide a final chance to spot any errors before products are shipped out.
- Sort Inspections (SI): Sort inspections occur after an error has been found. The found error will then be specifically looked for in the rest of the batch to decipher whether it was a one-off error or a reoccurring issue.
Control Quality Easily with Label Source
At Label Source, we supply quality assurance tags and labels to make your quality control experience as easy as possible.
Whatever product you need to test for quality, our tabs and labels make it easy. For more information on how we can help, just get in touch, or stay up to date with the latest industry news on our blog.
