Product quality comes out of production or inspection?

The quality of the products depends on production rather than inspection. And it can be guaranteed only if each step is carried out in strict accordance with the requirements of the production process and work instructions.

But the topic of "the quality depends on production or inspection" has long been a point of contention in the corporate world: Producers say quality depends on inspection. The inspectors did not check out the inferior products, which led to the flow to the market; Inspectors say quality depends on production, if the producer does not make unqualified products, there is no inferior product on the market!

Wrong point of view:

1. It is inevitable to tolerate a few and unexpected defects;

2. Quality belongs to the responsibility of quality control department;

3. Only pay attention to the inspection, the inspector should be responsible for solving the defects;

4. The quality department is to blame for all the quality issues.

I think many friends who work in quality field have more or less experienced such bad feeling: Often when writing a report, it's all done by the quality department lonely, with the all rest of departments largely absent. The boss thinks quality is not important, research and development are much more important, and making money is the most important thing than anything else. Therefore, sometimes the quality department does not have a equal position in the company, can even be kicked out simply as telling the truth.

So, does product quality depend on production or on inspection actually?

First of all, we must get to know, who comes first and who follows, and who is active and who is passive. As we all know, the production is before the inspection. In other words, if the product is not available, it cannot be tested.

Obviously: Production is active, inspection is passive. Before the concept “Quality depends on production not on inspection”, early quality management is limited to quality inspection, only to the quality after the check. The famous remark from William Deming points out that it can be guaranteed only if each step is carried out in strict accordance with the requirements of the production process and work instructions. If the process control is neglected and only inspection is needed, it is impossible to guarantee product quality, because quality inspection can only eliminate defective products and wastes, and cannot improve product quality. That is to say, the focus of quality control should be carried out in advance, must be on the every manufacturing stage, the every production process stage.

Why quality issues happen?

The problem is not solved before product development, and the pass-through rate of mass production is too low, hope to remedy it by quality, and increase the frequency of inspection to reduce defective or non-conforming products.

Adding rework material, unqualified material, but without prior check and verification, without accurate perception of product quality fluctuation;

The customer is urging for the goods, the person in charge makes the decision to release the non-conformed goods specially by his own so-called practical experience, the disaster runs out.

The industry has upgraded the product quality standards, the company still follows the outdated standards;

In the production process, there are quality issues not related to human factor, but not in the range of inspection frequency...