As is defined above, QA tends to be something of quite a different
nature than usually at first thought considered to be. It can be said to be no more than a
well run management system with the appropriate procedures and if such is already in place
than QA is being implemented and further discussion of the topic can be omitted. However
should such not be the case then a further elaboration seems useful.
As to management systems one might say that there are basically three
kinds: Undocumented, documented, quality assured
Obviously the variant we are after is the quality assured management
system, which can be further identified and described as follows: a documented management
system with check, mistake correction and altering mechanism.
Clearly the checking part is of vital importance. However once a
mistake has been detected there must be some kind of a procedure to correct such and then
an altering mechanism should take effect which ensures that this mistake does not take
place in future again.
Certain essential QA elements can be distinguished as being:
quality policy
procedures
work instructions
auditing
corrective action
management review
Thus, in general one might say that QA is a mission, offering a method,
providing an interface for obtaining certain relevant standards. An important point to
remember here is that the management actually holds the responsibilities for the quality
system loop required to check the products with.
QA in itself does not necessarily guarantee a high standard but does
ensure that the standard described is reached. On the other hand, if the standard
described is high and the QA system is sucessfully implemented then automatically that
high standard is achieved as well!
3. QA systems.
Various systems of standards exist for QA of which ISO 9000 (or it's
British equivalent BS5750) is quite commonly known (International Organization for
Standardization, 1994).
Acreditation can be obtained through an auditing body performing an
assessment of the procedures and production. Once choosen there should be a continuous
system of auditing with regular checks according to an agreed schedule and should a non-
compliance be discovered then corrective action should be taken. Finally quality records
are to be kept in order to show and prove that the system is performing according to
standard.
