Everywhere I go & anywhere I am, my message is the same: Quality starts with me!! Quality starts with you!! Quality should be everybody’s responsibility!! Somebody even said that, “Quality is doing right when no one is looking,” but because in most cases some people are not doing the right things if not checked/supervised/monitored, QUALITY ASSURANCE had to come in. It is also very important to practice Total Quality Management (TQM) for maximum gains.
There is a big difference between quality assurance & quality control such that they cannot be used interchangeably. Quality assurance is preventive & proactive while Quality control is reactive & a form of fire-fighting. Quality assurance is about detecting gaps & loopholes in inputs, processes & outputs before a lot of damage is done. On the other hand, quality control is done at the end to remove products & services that do not meet standards. This wasteful.
