Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Wiktionary
n. A control, such as inspection or testing, introduced into an industrial or business process to ensure quality.
WordNet
n. maintenance of standards of quality of manufactured goods
Wikipedia
Quality control, or QC for short, is a process by which entities review the quality of all factors involved in production. ISO 9000 defines quality control as "A part of quality management focused on fulfilling quality requirements".
This approach places an emphasis on three aspects:
- Elements such as controls, job management, defined and well managed processes, performance and integrity criteria, and identification of records
- Competence, such as knowledge, skills, experience, and qualifications
- Soft elements, such as personnel, integrity, confidence, organizational culture, motivation, team spirit, and quality relationships.
Controls include product inspection, where every product is examined visually, and often using a stereo microscope for fine detail before the product is sold into the external market. Inspectors will be provided with lists and descriptions of unacceptable product defects such as cracks or surface blemishes for example.
The quality of the outputs is at risk if any of these three aspects is deficient in any way.
Quality control emphasizes testing of products to uncover defects and reporting to management who make the decision to allow or deny product release, whereas quality assurance attempts to improve and stabilize production (and associated processes) to avoid, or at least minimize, issues which led to the defect(s) in the first place. For contract work, particularly work awarded by government agencies, quality control issues are among the top reasons for not renewing a contract.
Quality control is a process for maintaining proper standards in manufacturing.
Quality control may also refer to:
- Analytical quality control
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Quality Control (album), a 2000 album by Jurassic 5
- "Quality Control" (song), from the above
- A song from Summer Girl, the fifth LP from Smash Mouth
Quality Control is the second studio album by American hip hop group Jurassic 5. It was released on Interscope Records in 2000.
Usage examples of "quality control".
The techno-societies could defer the arrival of experientialism, could maintain a more conventional economy for a time by maximizing traditional production, shifting resources to environmental quality control, and then launching absolutely massive anti-poverty and foreign aid programs.
They were quickly discouraged by our veteran crew from even attempting to impose order or quality control or change of any kind.
Once completed, the examiner's report is forwarded to quality control for an independent review of accuracy and analysis and to ensure that all issues have been covered.
We've invested a fortune into quality control to make sure they would stay with us&mdash.
On Music, they delivered their samples, and the datacubes, to the pharmaceutical industry's combined quality control laboratory.
The system was relatively simple for imperial technology, but to ensure that everything worked properly, the ammunition manufacturer's quality control had to be precise, or the condition of the weapon firing it had to be perfect.
It shouldn't have, as this was a truly elegant, expensive carpet, but quality control had been deteriorating everywhere recently.