{"id":34093,"date":"2022-08-01T06:04:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-01T13:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/?p=34093"},"modified":"2024-04-07T19:56:25","modified_gmt":"2024-04-08T02:56:25","slug":"quality-assurance-vs-quality-control","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/quality-assurance-vs-quality-control\/","title":{"rendered":"Quality Assurance vs. Quality Control \u2014 What&#8217;s the Difference?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>Before implementing quality assurance and quality control, it\u2019s important to understand<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>the differences and similarities\u00a0between the two. Read on to learn about\u00a0quality assurance vs. quality control<\/em> and <em>how Autodesk Fusion Operations can help.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"643\" src=\"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/shutterstock_1436843120-1024x643.jpg\" alt=\"quality-control-quality-assurance-prodsmart\" class=\"wp-image-34094\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/shutterstock_1436843120-1024x643.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/shutterstock_1436843120-300x188.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/shutterstock_1436843120-768x482.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/shutterstock_1436843120-1536x964.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/shutterstock_1436843120.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"what-is-quality-assurance\"><strong>What is Quality Assurance?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n<p>Quality assurance has a future focus. It\u2019s that&nbsp;part of quality management&nbsp;that is about ensuring you will meet requirements in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Quality assurance&nbsp;builds confidence&nbsp;that a product or service will meet requirements by designing a quality system with planning and activities to achieve this end.<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"what-is-quality-control\"><strong>What is Quality Control?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n<p>Quality control looks backward. It\u2019s that part of quality management that is about making sure that requirements have been met in the past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Quality control gives confidence that a&nbsp;product or service has met requirements&nbsp;by designing a quality system with checks and an inspection regime to achieve this end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/prodsmart\/overview\">Autodesk Fusion Operations<\/a> facilitates smart, data-driven decisions 24\/7 from virtually any location to improve QA and QC.<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how-manufacturing-software-aids-both-quality-assurance-and-quality-control\"><strong>How Manufacturing Software Aids Both Quality Assurance and Quality Control<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n<p>Data is often key to the effectiveness of a quality management process. Specification data is necessary to support quality assurance activity. Audit data is a requirement to support quality control activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When data is a factor, software solutions come into their own.&nbsp;Manufacturing software&nbsp;can help<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>track <a href=\"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/preventing-manufacturing-bottlenecks\/\">manufacturing operations<\/a> and&nbsp;analyze orders, materials, time, and&nbsp;cost. It can provide visibility of processes in real-time to help comply with standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It can provide reports to check conformance with expectations. While highlighting errors and waste and even indicating opportunities for improvement.<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"quality-assurance-vs-quality-control\"><strong>Quality Assurance vs. Quality Control<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n<p>These two terms are distinctively different.&nbsp;Quality assurance&nbsp;is about the&nbsp;prevention of defects,&nbsp;whereas&nbsp;quality control&nbsp;is about&nbsp;detecting defects&nbsp;and&nbsp;correcting them. In this sense,&nbsp;QA is a proactive activity, and QC is reactive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Quality assurance\u00a0is a\u00a0process management activity\u00a0where the\u00a0management of deliverables is the purpose.\u00a0Quality control is an\u00a0audit activity\u00a0where verification of these deliverables is the purpose.\u00a0Autodesk Fusion Operations\u00a0is a great solution for helping companies easily be ready for any audit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An example of this distinction is easy to appreciate in the software sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The software development life cycle includes&nbsp;quality assurance activities.&nbsp;They are designed to&nbsp;produce defect-free software. The software testing life cycle is a&nbsp;quality control activity to&nbsp;find and eradicate errors&nbsp;after the development phase and before release to the customer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>QA sets the guidelines, whereas QC verifies that you&#8217;ve met guidelines.<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"similarities-between-quality-assurance-and-control\"><strong>Similarities Between Quality Assurance and Control<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n<p>Understanding the distinctions between quality assurance and quality control doesn\u2019t mean that there is no common ground. On the contrary, QA and QC have much in common.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These two ideas are both parts of quality management and share the same goal. They are both about&nbsp;eliminating defects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All stakeholders have an interest in both quality assurance and quality control in achieving this goal.&nbsp;Customers need a product or service that meets expectations. While quality is of equal interest to manufacturers. It delivers customer loyalty, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/the-ultimate-guide-to-the-cost-of-production\/\">control of costs<\/a> and waste, and ultimately is the basis for a profitable business.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Both QA and QC are aspects of quality management&nbsp;and so are managed by the same quality management process. They both affect <a href=\"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/5-steps-to-improve-operational-efficiency\/\">all aspects of operations<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ultimately, they both determine customer happiness.<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"bringing-qa-and-qc-together\"><strong>Bringing QA and QC Together<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n<p>Given that QA and QC are both keys to the achievement of quality, what is the role of quality management?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is a need to set clear QA guidelines. You can achieve meeting these guidelines by implementing intuitive software for QC to use, such as Fusion Operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bringing QA and QC together requires&nbsp;effective communication.&nbsp;Quality management can enable and support this communication between QA and QC&nbsp;teams and between the Quality team and the shop floor teams. Data is key.&nbsp;Tracking data and performance effectively helps to improve QA.&nbsp;It can also be used to inform continuous improvement of the QA guidelines and QC audits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fusion Operations\u00a0delivers the tracking tools manufacturers, and fabricators need to keep up with ever-increasing customer demands. Start putting quality first and get start a free Fusion Operations trial today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/prodsmart\/overview\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"766\" height=\"128\" src=\"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/try-for-free.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-31472\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/try-for-free.png 766w, https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/try-for-free-300x50.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 766px) 100vw, 766px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"nbsp\"> <\/h2>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Before implementing quality assurance and quality control, it\u2019s important to understand\u00a0the differences and similarities\u00a0between the two.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":193,"featured_media":34094,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[235,359,482,165,480,236],"tags":[481,143,405],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-34093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-machining","category-electronics-engineering","category-fusion-operations","category-industrial-design","category-manufacturing","category-mechanical-engineering","tag-fusion-operations","tag-manufacturing","tag-manufacturing-execution-system","dhig-theme--light"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - 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