Quality control

To guarantee that products sold meet customer expectations, many companies include quality control in their manufacturing processes.

Quality control, which relates to quality assurance, another aspect of quality management, generally ensures that products comply with several elements:

• customer expectations,
• market requirements,
• standards and legislation, and
• company specifications.

Quality control is performed by members of company staff, who inspect the raw materials used to design the product, as well as ongoing production, and the finished product, before it’s offered for sale.

As a result, the items inspected during the process may be judged as conforming or non-conforming. In this case, the business has two options: either to rework them or to destroy them.

Quality control is standardized by various parameters. Each company is free to establish the following:

• the frequency of inspections;
• whether they’re carried out for each item or randomly;
• whether the entire product is inspected, or only some of its characteristics;
• the inspection method;
• the means and tools used to assist inspection; and
• the company department dedicated to this verification.

Generally speaking, quality control is a way of guarding against possible failures. It’s used to implement corrective measures when recurring anomalies are detected.

Ultimately, it guarantees the development of higher-quality products. It therefore serves to ensure customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Quality control isn’t an obligation. As such, it’s not required for export. However, it can be a real competitive advantage and is almost indispensable when sourcing products from developing countries.

So, if you're working with a foreign country, we recommend that you work with companies that provide a quality control certificate. This also guarantees buyers that they’re dealing with a product that isn’t counterfeit.