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  Quality Inspection

Quality Inspection

Optimize Quality Inspection with advanced tools for Precision, Compliance, and Efficiency.

Detect defects Early, Maintain Standards, and Ensure Superior Products.

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quality inspection
quality inspection

What is Quality Inspection?

Quality Inspection is an activity of checking, measuring, or testing one or more product or service characteristics and comparing the results with the specific requirements to confirm compliance. An efficient inspection process standardizes quality, eliminates paper documents, and increases efficiencies on the floor.

One of the fundamental pillars of achieving continuous improvement is the quality inspection process. Depending upon where the product is in the manufacturing lifecycle, criteria-based inspection plans enable meeting specific regulatory requirements and workflows. Online visibility and real-time monitoring of incoming parts, raw materials, and sub-units are important for successful inspections.

An effective quality management solution can streamline inspection-related processes within your organization such as receiving, in-process, shipment, and product returns, and thus deliver a unified view of inspection criteria and results to the company personnel.

Quality Inspection vs. Quality Control

Quality Inspection is concerned with the post-production check of products. It doesn’t have a direct influence on the production process. Quality inspector checks the products so that no poor-quality products leave the factory. As there is no feedback loop in quality inspection, information about failures and their causes is not moved to workers or managers. As a result, this system cannot improve itself.

Quality Control is the process of verification or correction of the product quality where there is a direct link between quality inspectors and workers. Based on the test results, good products can be distinguished from the bad ones along with finding the cause of problems. The results are sent to managers as well as workers to improve the process. Quality control is a feedback loop system so when the information is passed to workers, they try to improve their work without changing the system or product.

quality inspection importance

The Importance of Quality Inspection in Manufacturing

Quality inspection in manufacturing is crucial for ensuring that products meet required standards and specifications before they reach the consumer. This process helps identify defects and non-conformities early, preventing costly recalls and enhancing customer satisfaction.

By implementing stringent quality inspection procedures, manufacturers can maintain consistent quality, comply with regulatory requirements, and uphold their brand's reputation. Effective quality inspection in manufacturing also boosts efficiency by minimizing waste and rework, contributing to overall productivity and profitability.

robust quality control

Robust Quality Control: How Intelligent Automation of Nonconformance, Equipment and Inspection Management Processes will Save Time and Costs

4 Types of Quality Inspection

Quality inspection checks for quality and identifies ways to minimize manufacturing costs, reduce scrap losses and mitigate causes of defective work. When discussing quality inspection in manufacturing, there are typically 4 Types of Quality Inspection:

  • Incoming Quality Control (IQC): Inspection of raw materials and components before they enter the production process.
  • In-Process Quality Control (IPQC): Ongoing inspections during manufacturing to identify defects and non-conformities as they occur.
  • Final Quality Control (FQC): Comprehensive testing of finished products before they are shipped to customers.
  • Outgoing Quality Control (OQC): Final inspection before products leave the factory, ensuring no defective items reach the customer.

These 4 Types of Quality Inspection are essential for maintaining high standards throughout the manufacturing process, ensuring that every product shipped meets both regulatory requirements and customer expectations.

4 types of quality inspection

What is Quality Assurance Inspection?

Quality Assurance Inspection is a systematic process used to verify whether a product meets the specified requirements for quality. This type of inspection is integral to quality management systems and involves various techniques and activities aimed at ensuring the reliability and performance of products. Quality assurance inspection helps in maintaining standards throughout the production cycle, from sourcing raw materials to the final output, ensuring that every product component is defect-free and operates as expected.

leading enterprise manufacturing companies case study

Customer Success

4 Reasons why YKK Group & Huhtamaki chose Compliancequest to automate their Quality & Safety Management System.

  • CQ’s Quality and Safety Solution is designed for easy collaboration among various stakeholders
  • It enables quick, agile data-driven decision-making by quality and safety leaders
  • CQ’s AI and automation features saved time for the quality team, resulting in increased productivity
  • With world-class dashboards and reports, it was easy to track quality KPIs with just a few clicks

If you’d like to learn more about how these companies use CQ, download this Case Study:

leading enterprise manufacturing companies case study
Read Quality & Safety Customer Success Story E-book

Requirements for Quality Assurance Inspection

Implementing an effective Quality Assurance Inspection system requires:

Requirements for Quality Assurance Inspection

  • Detailed Standards and Criteria: Clear, comprehensive criteria based on industry standards or customer expectations must be established.
  • Skilled Inspectors: Personnel performing inspections should be highly trained and knowledgeable about the products and standards.
  • Appropriate Tools and Equipment: The right tools and measuring equipment must be used to accurately assess product quality.
  • Documentation and Records: Detailed records of inspections and their outcomes are essential for traceability and ongoing quality improvement.
  • Regular Audits and Reviews: Continuous evaluation and updating of inspection processes ensure they remain effective and aligned with current standards.
importance of quality control inspection checklist

The Importance of an Inspection Checklist

The inspection checklist includes all the details covering areas like verifying physical requirements, proper packaging and labelling, functional testing, and carton drop tests.

Inspection checklists can be very helpful in the workplace because it can keep people organized and engaged and employees also will feel more confident in machinery and safety procedures knowing that they are inspected regularly. Largely, checklists can prevent indefinite inspections. It provides step-by-step methods for analyzing workspaces, equipment, and tasks. Once the inspection is conducted using your checklist, the inspector will highlight the findings in an inspection report.


Inspections vs. Audits vs. Lab Tests: What’s the Difference?

Inspections are a review of a particular product or service while audits deal with a more thorough examination of the entire process such as the one for building the product or service. Usually, quality inspections identify potential areas of problems or impending accidents while audits address the root causes of these problems. These critical processes will help in streamlining and maximizing value for your organization.

Lab tests are another way to eliminate the risk of non-conforming outcomes. They can control the product quality by checking the raw materials that are going into your product as well as confirming whether they have hazardous chemicals that infringe regulations or create safety risks. It safeguards the reliability, accuracy, and convenience of lab results by ensuring the early detection of results or error measurement to rectify them.

inspection vs. audit vs. lab test

ComplianceQuest enhances your company’s Quality Management

ComplianceQuest will provide your company with the opportunity to reach a new level of Quality Management. Everything from the well thought out and configured out of the box solution, to the system validation scripts, tractability matrix and end user guides, ComplianceQuest sets the standards high! Their customer service is superb, their employees are dedicated to the success of your project and learning about your company to ensure appropriate and effective solutions are provided. All quality leaders at Aphria Inc. have been very pleased and excited to launch all the capabilities ComplianceQuest has to offer to ensure quality remains our highest priority!

Amy McCrindle,
Project Manager

tilray testimonial
tilray testimonial

Why should Quality and Safety Leaders Automate the Process of Inspection Management?

Quality leaders are looking to avoid product recalls, reduce the cost of quality (CoQ) and ensure customer satisfaction. To ensure this happens, there is a critical need to automate the end-to-end process of conducting inspections with a next-generation solution, like the one offered by ComplianceQuest. With the right automation solution and digital transformation of inspection processes, enterprises can realize the following benefits:

quality inspection scheduling

The process of scheduling and conducting inspections is streamlined

findings and recommendations from quality control inspection

All findings and recommendations from the inspection can be added to the relevant EQMS or EHS solution

quality inspection documentation process

Once the right documentation process is followed, a modern EQMS and EHS solution will help the quality or safety leader collaborate with other team members to implement actions items

quality inspection data track

It’s easy to track data, find information, pull up reports, and run analytics on data gathered from inspections

Click here to learn more about inspection management software.

Standardize the quality and eliminate paper documentation with ComplianceQuest efficient Quality Inspection process

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Quality-centric Companies Rely on CQ QMS

  • affinivax mono
  • verily mono
  • 3m logo mono
  • tupperware mono
  • continental logo mono
  • vyaire mono
  • lifescan mono
  • lundbeck mono
  • cdc logo mono
  • qlik mono
  • csa group mono
  • impossible mono
  • fluence mono

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Quality Control Inspectors depend on a number of tools such as hand-held measurement devices like callipers and alignment gauges as well as electronic inspection equipment. Inspectors test electrical devices to test current flow, potential difference, and resistance.

    Quality control inspectors record the results of their inspections and prepare test reports. When they identify defects, inspectors inform supervisors to let them analyze and rectify the production problems. The quality inspection process is absolutely automated in many companies by installing enhanced vision inspection systems at one or various points in the production process. Inspectors in these companies review output, track the equipment, and carry out random product checks.

  • Quality Inspections at several stages of the production process can help you monitor product quality to ensure requirements are being fulfilled and to support timely delivery.

    You can check the product quality to minimize risk, ensure compliance and improve efficiency with regulatory requirements, build a stronger and more resilient business with the potential to grow and surpass your competition and deliver goods that really are as good as customers expect.

    • Cost Reduction: An effective quality inspection system minimizes the cost of production of the product due to decreased wastage of raw-materials, semi-finished and finished goods, large-scale production of standard quality products, and minimum rework cost of the substandard goods.

    • Improvement in the morale of employees: With a quality inspection program, the employees become attentive to quality by understanding the standards of the product well and try to improve them to produce quality goods to the best of their efforts.

    • Utmost Utilization of Resources: By establishing the quality inspection system, the system will also control the misuse of facilities, wastage of all types, and low standard production. Thus, the resource utilization of the organization is maximized.

    • Customer satisfaction: Customers always get quality products of standard specifications to their maximum satisfaction.

    • Decrease variations: The techniques of quality inspection help in the study of the magnitude of variations in product quality and serve as a suitable tool for finding a solution for many manufacturing problems.

  • The objectives of Quality Inspection are as follows:

    • To collect information about product performance with established standards for the use of quality control, product, and purchasing.

    • To correct poor quality of manufactured products and thus to maintain standards.

    • To increase and establish a reputation by delivering only good quality products to customers.

    • Identify the source of failure in the finished products.

  • Did you receive a failed inspection report? If yes, then revise your approach depending on the type of inspection you have performed. Here are some of the most common reasons inspections fail:

    • Quantity Check

    • Inappropriate Labelling

    • Poor Packaging

    • Cosmetic Defects

    • Poor Workmanship

    • Failed Testing

    • Tolerance differences

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