Quality Check vs Assurance: What’s the Difference?

In the competitive business landscape today, upholding high levels of quality is essential for customer satisfaction, brand image, and long-term success. Regardless of whether you operate in manufacturing, software development, or service sectors, you've probably heard the terms Quality Check (QC) and Quality Assurance(QA). Although they are both key elements of quality management, they play completely different roles.

In this in-depth blog post, we will explore the major differences between quality check and quality assurance, their functions in the manufacturing process, advantages, disadvantages, tools utilized, and why it's so important to know the differences for any business aiming to produce excellent products or services.

What is Quality Assurance (QA)?

Quality assuranceis a preventive process aimed at avoiding defects before they occur. It is one of the process-oriented activities of quality management. QA is a long-term approach that guarantees that the processes, techniques, and methods employed in the production or creation of a product are sufficient to achieve quality requirements.

Main Features of Quality Assurance:

• Preventive in nature: QA operates through spotting weak areas in processes.
• Process-oriented: QA ensures the right process is executed.
• Regular improvement: QA involves recurrent audits, training, and process assessment.
• Standardization: QA follows industry norms such as ISO 9001.
• Documentation-based: QA depends extensively on documentation for monitoring process flow.

QA Activity Examples:

• Process audits and reviews
• Team member training and certification
• Setting up quality management systems (QMS)
• Developing standard operating procedures (SOPs)
• Requirement specification reviews  

Why Understanding the Difference Matters

Converting the difference between QA and QC into practical knowledge has implications for every department in your company. Misapplying or misunderstanding these terms can cause:

• Inefficiencies in the process
• Increased cost of production
• Higher rates of defects
• Unhappy customers
• Compliance problems

By having a clear understanding of the difference between QA and QC, you can better budget resources, optimize process performance, and guarantee consistent product quality.

Advantages of Quality Assurance

• Eliminates waste and rework by correcting the process at the outset.
• Enhances team productivity through optimized workflows.
• Supports compliance with international regulations.
• Increases customer confidence through guaranteed quality.
• Reduces costs of production in the long term.

Advantages of Quality Check

• Detects problems before the customer receives the product.
• Offers quantifiable feedback for product quality.
• Facilitates rapid solutions and product recall when needed.
• Enhances responsibility for completed products.
• Ideal for determining the quality of products from suppliers.

Challenges in QA and QC

Quality Assurance Challenges:

• Needs a high initial investment
• It may be hard to quantify effectiveness directly.
• Cultural resistance to change or process updates

Quality Control Challenges:

• Doesn't stop defects—just detects them after the fact
• Time-consuming for large-scale operations
• Can miss concealed defects if sampling is not exhaustive

When to Prioritize QA vs. QC?  
Ideally, QA and QC should do it together, but based on your business model and sector, you might need to focus on one over the other at any given time.

• Startups and new companies tend to prioritize QA more in order to establish a solid base.
• Manufacturing sectors are based on QC because of the physical nature of the product.
• Software companies prioritize QA through Agile and DevOps methodologies.

Tools Used in QA and QC

Quality AssuranceTools:

• ISO 9001 documentation
• Process flow diagrams
• Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI)
• Six Sigma
• Root Cause Analysis (RCA)

Quality Check Tools:

• Control charts
• Inspection checklists
• Bug tracking tools (e.g., JIRA, Bugzilla)
• Automated testing tools (e.g., Selenium, QTP)
• Statistical process control (SPC)

How QA and QC Work Together

Despite their different roles, QA and QC complement each other. QA emphasizes process improvement, whereas QC verifies that the end product is bug-free. An effective quality management system (QMS) combines both.

For instance:

• QA is responsible for ensuring that software code is coded following coding standards.
• QC entails executing test cases on the finished software to identify bugs prior to release.

Real-Life Use Case Example:  Assume a company produces smartphones.

• The QA department makes sure the assembly line process is according to standards, materials are obtained ethically, and workers are trained adequately.
• The QC department checks the assembled smartphones for screen problems, button functionality, and packaging quality prior to shipping.

In case a customer complains about a defect:

• The QC department can identify the batch the unit belonged to and correct the exact problem.
• The QA team can review the whole assembly line process to understand why the defect itself existed in the first place.

Final Thoughts:

In short, Quality Assurance(QA) and Quality Check/Control (QC) are both essential to producing quality products and services. Yet, they tackle the objective of quality in different ways. QA is concerned with making and keeping the processes better so that issues do not occur, whereas QC is concerned with detecting issues in the final product.

An effective quality management strategy incorporates both QA and QC collaborating to improve performance, minimize errors, and surpass customer expectations.

Through the identification of the differences between quality assuranceand quality check, companies can establish a stronger and more stable quality management system, guaranteeing growth, conformity, and a competitive advantage in the market.