What is the Difference Between Quality Assurance and Quality Control?
🆚 Go to Comparative Table 🆚Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Control (QC) are both part of quality management, but they have distinct differences:
- Focus: QA is process-oriented and focuses on preventing quality issues, while QC is product-oriented and focuses on identifying quality issues in manufactured products.
- Phase: QA occurs during the entire process, from planning to maintenance of a product or project, while QC happens during the inspection phase.
- Proactivity: QA is proactive, focusing on the processes during development, while QC is reactive to any glitches or problems found.
- Scope: QA is an organization-wide responsibility, encompassing all activities within a quality management plan to ensure a high-quality product is produced, while smaller teams handle QC work, testing the product.
- Technique: QA is the technique of managing quality, while QC is the technique to verify quality.
In summary, QA and QC share the same goal of ensuring a high-quality product, but they differ in their focus, phase, proactivity, scope, and technique.
Comparative Table: Quality Assurance vs Quality Control
Here is a table highlighting the differences between Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Control (QC):
| Aspect | Quality Assurance (QA) | Quality Control (QC) |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | Process orientation | Product orientation |
| Goal | Prevent defects in the product development process | Identify and correct defects in the finished product |
| Approach | Proactive | Reactive |
| Activities | Improving processes, defining standards, and creating methodologies | Inspection, testing, and verification of product quality |
| Responsibility | Ensuring high-quality products and services | Ensuring the best resulting product |
| Relation | QA helps create quality plans and standards for QC to follow | QC follows the standards and processes defined by QA |
In summary, QA focuses on improving the actions or processes used to create the product, while QC is focused on delivering the best resulting product. QA is a proactive process that aims to prevent defects, whereas QC is a reactive process that identifies and corrects defects in the finished product. Both QA and QC are essential components of a quality management system and contribute to producing high-quality products for customers.
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