Quality Assurance

Quality assurance encompasses all planned and systematic actions and programs that are designed to provide confidence that a product or service will meet customer expectations. Quality assurance also refers to the activities necessary to ensure that a module, component or system conforms to established technical requirements. The following activities are typically part of a quality assurance program: design, development, production, distribution, installation, servicing and/or documentation. Many companies have entire departments devoted to quality assurance. A quality assurance system can help increase a company's credibility and enable them to compete better with others. One of the most widely used methodologies in quality assurance management is the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) approach. This quality assurance paradigm is a repetitive cycle designed to improve business processes. Failure testing is a primary component of quality assurance, which exposes weaknesses in a product, service or component. In manufacturing and construction, quality assurance practices are primarily defined by the International Standards contained in the ISO 9000 series.