How do production employees carry out the actual quality control?

For quality control, it is important to take the right steps, apply the appropriate methods and bring everything into harmony. For this, the production employees prepare the measures, carry them out, evaluate the results and initiate corrective actions to eliminate the errors.

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

How do production employees in quality assurance prepare control measures?

For various measures within quality control, it is essential to make preparations. If measuring instruments are to be used, they must be calibrated. Only in this way can employees ensure that possible deviations from the desired result are truly deviations in the product and not errors in the measurement itself. Likewise, the employees who perform the actual measurements must be instructed on how to use the devices and how the measurements are to be carried out.

How do employees carry out these measures?

The control measures are given precisely to the employees responsible. This serves several purposes. Firstly, the heads of quality control know exactly how the measures, for example the measurement of dimensions, are carried out. Secondly, they can repeat the measurements in the same way as often as required and thus ensure that all products meet the same specifications. Furthermore, they can adjust the measurements. If, for example, deviations are not in the product but in the way the measurements are carried out, this part of the process can be improved by finding new ways to perform the measurements correctly.

How do production employees evaluate the results of these measures?

The control measures deliver results. However, as long as these results are not evaluated, there can be no meaningful conclusions. In other words: the evaluation of the results is just as important as carrying out the control measures themselves.

The evaluation takes into account the customer’s specifications, legal regulations, company rules and common sense. The key is to determine whether the results meet the required standards, fall short of them or exceed them. Based on this, the production employees set corrective measures.

How do production employees record the results of the quality controls?

Production employees document their work, nowadays usually in digital form. But it is not only about recording the results of the controls themselves. The documentation also describes how the results were achieved. It is essential to record everything in such a way that other employees can later trace it. This makes it possible to identify whether the processes, and thus the control results, were faulty, or whether the deviations from the specifications lay directly in the product. In the latter case, the control measures can be repeated to ensure that the corrective actions are successful.

What is important in terms of corrective actions?

Quality control does not primarily look for errors, but for deviations. That means it checks whether the products comply with the specifications, whether these were defined by the customer, the legislator or the company itself. If this is not the case, a deviation is present.

Deviations basically have three causes. Either the quality target was underachieved, overachieved, or the control itself was not correct. Production employees must now determine which of the three causes applies.

If the control itself was not carried out correctly, the control processes must be optimised. For this, the control process can be tested on known products whose accuracy has been confirmed. The process is then adapted until it delivers the confirmed result.

If the quality target was overachieved, this is not necessarily a good outcome. Of course, the customer might be pleased, but they may also not be so happy. The same applies to the company itself. The reason is that quality and costs are directly connected. Too high a quality also means higher than necessary costs. This may upset the customer, who could have achieved a better price, or the company management, since lower costs at the same sales price mean higher profit. Therefore, production employees must now initiate corrective measures to reduce the quality to the required level.

If the quality target was not reached, then the manufactured products cannot be delivered. They are now rejects and have caused unnecessary costs for the company. Therefore, production employees must ensure that the production processes, raw materials or other inputs are adjusted so that the final products meet the quality targets.

Conclusion

Quality control is an essential part of production. Only it can guarantee that, in the end, the company delivers the right products to the customer in accordance with all specifications. It makes it possible to detect, identify and correct errors. In this way, it ensures the necessary customer satisfaction and repeat orders. In other words: it decides the success or failure of the company.