Quality Assurance plays a very important role for the success of any organization. What started initially in manufacturing industry went on to become an integral part of every industry including the service industry. Nowadays, whether it is a call center or a self storage or a shopping mall everybody use this concept in one way or the other. Quality has become the hygiene factor and customers assume it to be there, but if they feel lack of it in the products or services of a firm, they simply approach another organization. Let us see how quality assurance helps different organizations.

 

Manufacturing

 

In manufacturing industry, it is very important that the customers’ needs are properly understood and the product is designed appropriately. From the concept of development to launch of the product, quality assurance plays a very important role in getting customer inputs, setting the targets, and ensuring that the product that comes out meets those expectations. The quality department assures the customers that they have put appropriate systems in place to make sure that the product will meet the customer requirements consistently. This helps build the confidence level and hence the customer base.

 

Call Center

 

Call centers are the face of the organizations for the customers. For any queries, the customer will approach them. Whether it is a simple inquiry about the product or a complaint against a defective product or service, the customers contact the call center and expect a correct and prompt response. Here, the quality assurance department ensures that the customer’s calls do not have to wait, employees responding to the customers are trained to speak properly and have the technical know-how required to answer the queries and in case they do not have the answer they can divert it to the right person in the organization. This will ensure that the customers do not get frustrated and remain loyal to the organization.

 

Self Storage

 

Self storage industry has grown by leaps and bounds in the past few years. This has become possible since the quality of the services offered by these storehouses have been inline with the expectations of the customers like clean and safe unit, backed-up with a good customer service.

 

Shopping Mall

 

It is very important that the customers coming to a shopping mall get the right product at the right price, but more than this a customer visits a shopping mall again and again due to the service experience he gets there. Hence, it is very important that the quality of the services offered by any shopping mall is checked and improved periodically. This is achieved through the in-house quality assurance department as well as mystery shoppers. While the quality assurance department ensures that the products are of good quality, there are no billing related errors, customers do not have to wait in queue for long, and so on. The mystery shoppers verify whether this has been achieved and how the employees react to customer queries and demands.

 

All in all, the quality assurance department is a customer representative at the firm that acts in the best interest of the customer and hence ensures that the firm remains in business.

Quality assurance involves the process of checking whether the service, facility, or product meets the expectations of the end users. This is a process-driven approach to determine the quality of a service and product. It consists of certain steps that assist in setting and obtaining goals. The process of QA takes into account design, development, production, and service. This also applies in the storing industry where a unit has to be verified for its guarantee of quality.

 

There are many tools and methods to find out the quality of a product or service. However, Shewhart Cycle, designed by Dr. W. Edwards Deming, is the most widely accepted tool for quality assurance. The cycle comprises of 4 steps viz; Plan, Do, Check, and Act. The steps are popularly called PDCA in short. These steps are as follows:

 

*Plan – it involves setting up goals and processes that are needed to get the desired results.

*Do – perform the process.

*Check – evaluate and access the performed process by comparing the results to the set goals.

*Act – in case the results are not up to the mark, act to improve, as required.

 

PDCA evaluates the present conditions as well as techniques used to offer the service, facility, or product to the users. Therefore, it proves to be effective in quality assurance, as the end user is involved here. The objective of PDCA is to make sure that each component of the facility or product oozes superiority. The process of QA also helps to know whether the steps involved in developing the service, facility, or product are suited to the time and condition. Besides this, repeating PDCA cycles at regular intervals throughout the life of the facility, service, or product helps to spot any loopholes on time and improve the efficiency of the overall business.

 

It requires paying attention in detail for quality assurance. Only then can every step be carried out effectively. For example, the step of planning requires inspection of the raw materials or foundation of a service or manufacturing process, along with the production process. The step of checking requires feedback of customers, surveys, market research, and likewise. They help to determine the needs and changing preferences of customers and whether their expectations are fulfilled. The step of acting requires a complete revision right from the first step. Only then can you catch a flaw or error. Also, you could act to improve and increase the efficiency of a business.

 

There is stiff competition to provide excellent services, storage facilities, or products to customers. This has led to many breakthroughs and long-term changes. With quality assurance, you can be sure that any service or product, whether novel or evolved, contains the best components and meets the highest standards. QA provides a goal to every service provider, facility owner, or product manufacturer to strive to exceed customer expectations. With QA implemented properly and regularly, there is no question of going below the expectation level.

You can maintain your blog by logging in to your Bravenet account. Once you are logged in you can customize the layout, colors, and features. In addition, you can add your own links, edit your profile, add your friends, and change many other options to personalize your blog.

Once you begin using your blog, you can view statistics in your members area to see how many people are reading your blog as well as where they come from.

We hope you enjoy your Blog. Be sure to tell all your friends about this great new service from Bravenet!