Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Control (QC):
Quality Assurance (QA):
- QA is a proactive process that focuses on preventing defects and ensuring that quality requirements are met throughout the entire product development lifecycle.
- Key aspects of QA include:
- Confidence Building: QA provides confidence to both internal management and external stakeholders (such as customers, regulators, and certifiers) that quality requirements will be fulfilled.
- Systematic Activities: QA encompasses all planned and systematic activities within the quality system that demonstrate the product or service’s ability to meet quality requirements.
- Process Improvement: QA aims to improve development and testing processes to prevent defects during product development.
- In summary, QA is about building confidence that quality expectations will be met.
Quality Control (QC):
- QC, on the other hand, is more focused on detecting and correcting defects in the finished product.
- Key aspects of QC include:
- Inspection and Testing: QC involves operational techniques and activities used to fulfill quality requirements. It includes inspecting and testing the product to ensure it meets specifications.
- Reactive Approach: Unlike QA, which is proactive, QC operates reactively by identifying mistakes or deviations from specifications after the product is developed.
- QC ensures that the final product adheres to the desired quality standards.
In summary, QA aims to prevent defects by improving processes, while QC focuses on identifying and correcting defects in the finished product. Both QA and QC play crucial roles in maintaining overall product quality