What is a Quality Control Inspection?
A quality control inspection is an assessment of a product’s quality against predetermined specifications. Inspection in quality control identifies defects and other signs of non-conformance with the organization’s quality standards. Quality control inspectors also evaluate a variety of product-related factors, such as cleanliness, size, color, weight, material, operation, and packaging.
Is Quality Control the Same as Inspection?
Quality control is not the same as inspection. Rather, inspection is part of quality control, such is the case with Quality Control (QC) inspections. Aside from inspection, quality control procedures and quality audits help develop the quality control of an organization as a whole. Solely relying on inspection for QC or equating QC with inspection can lead to neglect in other areas of quality control.
What are the 4 Types of Quality Control?
While there are different approaches to the types of quality control, the majority of publicly available sources focus on the types of quality inspections, which are process, product, 100% mode, during production, pre-production, container loading, and pre-shipment. However, with this approach, there are more than 4 types of quality control.
Here are the proposed 4 types of quality control, which emphasize that QC covers several parts and/or aspects of an organization’s production workflow:
- Compliance-based quality control – complying with industry standards like ISO 9001
- Output-based quality control – adhering to the six sigma or zero defects philosophy
- Organization-based quality control – shaping QC according to quality objectives and improving QC by implementing changes to the organization’s structure, culture, or standard procedures
- Data-driven quality control – using inspection data to identify areas of production that consistently fail QC checks
What is the Role of Quality Control Inspectors?
The role of quality control inspectors is to accept or reject products based on QC inspection test results, which usually include recommendations for the quality auditor. Quality control inspectors also monitor the production workflows of their respective organizations and check if there are any errors in processes and equipment that could potentially cause product deviations. Their main goal is to isolate and remove defective, low-quality, or unsafe products.
What are the Common Steps in Quality Control Inspection?
The common steps in quality control inspection are the following:
- Identify the product to be inspected and record its ID, Stock Keeping Unit (SKU), serial, or item reference number.
- List the processes involved in making the product; the locations of the product, its materials, or equipment used to manufacture it; and the teams involved and what they were responsible for.
- Determine the inspection type, sampling standard, plan, and/or level.
- Evaluate the product’s visual appearance.
- Check measurements/dimensions.
- Compare product characteristics with design specifications.
- Identify and describe any defects and form corrective actions for them.
- Apply on-site tests and provide your assessment on the results.
- Inspect the product’s packaging.
- State if the product passes or fails the inspection and provide recommendations to the quality auditor or Quality Assurance (QA) team.
