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Thursday, April 17, 2008

Wait, QA and QC are not the same?

Some of my students already know that QA and QC are not exactly the same. However, a very small percentage can actually tell me the difference between the two.

For many of us, we refer to quality under one breath, even going as far as having roles in our organizations such as Director of QA/QC. This only further confuses the masses. In short, QA (Quality Assurance) is setting the standard and QC (Quality Control) is testing to ensure that standard has been met.

One of my clients operates a convenience store chain. The person who determined that milk must always be between 38 degrees and 42 degrees at all times is in QA. The inspector who samples the milk to ensure that requirement is met is in QC.

Now imagine if the QA and QC people both report to the same person. What happens when the milk is consistently over 42 degrees? Does she change the standard or does she find a solution to the problem? You can see how she may faced with a dilemma. That’s why QA and QC should typically not be managed by the same person.

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