Table of Contents
What is a quality inspection?
An inspection measures, examines, and tests one or more of the characteristics of products and compares the results with the specified requirements to establish whether conformity is achieved. Inspection also refers to checking products, whereas an audit applies to analyzing the manufacturing process. A quality inspector usually follows a pre-established checklist, which is based on the specifications of the product. The inspected products are then fit to be used for production, as semifinished goods as well as finished goods ready for shipments to customers. In addition, practicing quality inspection has a positive impact on employee conduct. Quality inspection can inspire employees to create high-quality goods, leading to greater customer satisfaction. Quality inspection protocols may help you lower your inspection costs and use your resources in a more cost-effective manner.
What do quality inspectors do?
Quality inspectors protect the consumer from defective products and the company from damage to its reputation due to inferior manufacturing processes. If the testing process reveals issues with the product, the inspector can fix the problem himself, return the product for repairs. Quality inspectors set and maintain the standards for product quality, while ensuring the correct procedures are in place to ensure compliance with those standards.
Duties for a quality inspector include:
- Establishing quality standards for all products and services provided by a company.
- Creating rules for standards and communicating them to the relevant staff to ensure quality levels are maintained.
- Writing documents to outline all standards clearly to create references for employees.
- Working with all management-level employees to ensure they are maintaining any new standards and compliance with all relevant regulations.
- Performing random quality inspection checks on products or services to assess quality levels.
They also read and understand blueprints and specifications, monitor and observe operations to ensure they meet the relevant production standards, recommend adjustments to the process, inspect, test or measure materials used in the final products, accept or reject finished items, remove all products and materials that fail to meet the specifications, discuss the inspection results with the people in charge, and report all the inspection and test data.
Why it is important to have a Quality inspection?
Quality is an essential factor when it comes to any product or service. With the high market competition. What must you do when your purchase from a supplier has defective pieces that do not meet your specifications? You may need to get your supplier to rework the effected goods. You may run into shipping issues, or you may not have much choice but to accept unsellable goods, you may not even realize the problem until you get the package, long after the supplier has done nothing to correct the problem. The result is usually customer dissatisfaction and increased costs. You can avoid these risks in product inspection to the sourcing process. Any issues that may arise with your product will be reported to your supplier immediately, so you can deal with them immediately. You need to have the confidence to make an intelligent shipping decision, and this comes from having an inspection.
Therefore, all manufacturers and service providers out there constantly look for enhancing their product or the service quality. In order to maintain or enhance the quality of the offerings, manufacturers use two techniques, quality control and quality assurance. These two practices make sure that the end product or the service meets the quality requirements and standards defined for the product or the service. When it comes to standards for quality, there are many. ISO (International Standards Organization) is one of the prominent bodies for defining quality standards for different industries. Therefore, many organizations try to adhere to the quality requirements of ISO. In addition to that, there are many other standards that are specific to various industries.
