Difference between QA and QC
The following statements help differentiate Quality Control (QC) from Quality Assurance (QA):
Quality Control (QC):
- QC relates to a specific product or service.
- QC verifies whether particular attributes exist, or do not exist, in a specific product or service.
- QC identifies defects for the primary purpose of correcting defects.
- QC is the responsibility of the worker.
Quality Assurance (QA):
- QA helps establish processes.
- QA sets up measurement programs to evaluate processes.
- QA identifies weaknesses in processes and improves them.
- QA is a management responsibility, frequently performed by a staff function.
- QA evaluates whether or not quality control is working for the primary purpose of determining whether or not there is a weakness in the process.
- QA is concerned with all of the products that will ever be produced by a process.
- QA is sometimes called quality control over quality control because it evaluates whether quality control is working.
- QA personnel should not ever perform quality control unless doing it to validate quality control is working.