Quality

definition
1. General: Measure of excellence or state of being free from defects, deficiencies, and
significant variations. ISO 8402-1986 standard defines quality as "the totality of
features and characteristics of a product or service that bears its ability to satisfy stated
or implied needs."

2. Manufacturing: Strict and consistent adherence to measurable and verifiable

standards to achieve uniformity of output that satisfies specific customer or user
requirements.

3. Objective: Measurable and verifiable aspect of a thing or phenomenon, expressed in

numbers or quantities, such as lightness or heaviness, thickness or thinness, softness
or hardness.

4. Subjective: Attribute, characteristic, or property of a thing or phenomenon that can

be observed and interpreted, and may be approximated (quantified) but cannot be
measured, such as beauty, feel, flavor, taste.

Importance of Quality Assurrance in Manufacturing

 Quality assurrance is the process of using systems and methodologies that
ensure that the manufactured products meet the required quality standards
consistently. The aim of QA is to produce goods right at the first time,
without any rework. Organizations, usually, have a separate department to
assure the quality of their products. For this they may also use the services
of the consultants.

QA is crucial for the manufacturing industry. With so much competition and

such few margins, no manufacturing industry can afford to spend time and
money on rework. Every activity in the industry costs money and so does
rework, but customers do not pay for rework. Customers pay for the value
addition by the company and if they see more valuable additions by some
other company being offered at same or lower costs, they move to that
company. Hence to assure good quality to customers, quality assurrance
plays a significant role.
Benefits of Quality Assurrance
Improve Quality

QA professionals are involved in all critical activities of the organizations like

design, manufacturing, material procurement, packaging, logistics etc. Since
all the processes are being tracked and monitored properly, there are fewer
chances of bad quality or non-compliance of products with respect to the
requirements. These requirements could be standard requirements,
customer requirements, or even legal requirements.

o Low Cost
It reduces the overall costs to the organization. When the product is right
the first time, there are no rework costs, no wastage of material, no wastage
of manpower, and no disruptions in the production process. There are fewer
claims for warranties and guaranties. In short, the cost of poor quality goes
down. All this reduces the operating costs of the organizations and hence
results in increased operating profits.

o Reputation
Since the organizations are able to manufacture good quality products that
are made according to the requirements of the customers, the market
reputation of those organizations improves. This helps the organizations to
retain the existing customers and get more business from them. At the
same time this also helps them in attracting new customers. These in turn
increase the revenue and profit of the organizations.

o Reduce Execution Time

The systems implemented to improve quality reduce the cycle time i.e. time
taken for the execution of the orders. If the quality of products is bad then
there will be more customer complaints and more production downtime. This
results in huge loss of time and resources. Hence, if QA systems are
implemented properly in the organization, the order execution time
automatically gets reduced.

o Compliance To Standards
It ensures that the organizations meet all the standards and guidelines
required for different quality management systems like ISO and other
quality certifications awarded to it.

In short, to meet customer requirements effectively and consistently, it is

very important for every manufacturing industry to have a QA department.
This will ensure that the efforts and processes are moving in right direction
so that the end product not only meets but exceeds the customers
expectations.

 steps In Construction Quality Assurance

Define Requirements

The first step for assurance of quality in the construction business is to

define the requirements of the customer. Based on the exact requirements,
the structural designs of the buildings or structures are developed. During
the design phase, all the material that would be used in the construction is
also decided. The quality standards of the structure are defined to decide the
subsequent stages of the construction quality assurance process. Various
soil and site tests are conducted to check the climatic conditions and terrain
of the site. During construction it is necessary to conform to various
environment protection laws. Considering them at this stage would help in
proper planning of the design and deciding the materials that would be used.
It should be ensured that the construction activity causes minimal sound
pollution, no pollution to the nearby water bodies and zero inconvenience to
people living nearby.

Material Requirements

During this stage, all the material and supplies that would be required in the
construction process are listed along with their respective specifications. The
specific brand and certification of the products and supplies which should be
used in the construction are also specified. Utmost care is taken during this
stage to ensure that the specified materials meet the design and quality
requirements as defined.

Planning

Once the design and material specifications have been decided, the next
step is to plan the workflow for the successful completion of the task.
Various tenders are invited for getting the supplies of the building material.
The entire process is documented for future reference.

Material Testing
Before using the construction material, the materials are tested. The
procedure includes testing the tensile strength of steel, compressive
strength of bricks and mortar etc. The materials can be tested by internal
laboratories or by third party laboratories. Various work quality standards
issued by institutes and are used. Based on the trial results, the material is
approved or disapproved.

Quality During Construction Phase

Adherence to quality standards that have been decided in the preceding

stages is important. Various construction QA measures are taken to ensure
that there is no breach of any quality requirements at this stage. The quality
of workmanship is also checked. Various kinds of tests are conducted to
ensure conformance. Quality is checked with the aid of internal and external
audits. If quality at any stage is not as per standard, then the cause is
determined and accordingly rework is undertaken.

In short, quality cannot be neglected in construction industry, as the cost of

the rework is quite high. Also, the damage that can happen due to poor
quality can be very huge. During construction QA process, various quality
and environment concerns have to be considered.