Quality Management: Quality Planning, Assurance, Control Tools and Continuous Improvement Questions

Question 1

Define quality.

Accepted Answer

**Quality** is conformance to requirements and fitness for use.

Question 2

What is QA?

Accepted Answer

**QA** is process-oriented activity to prevent defects.

Question 3

What is QC?

Accepted Answer

**QC** is product-oriented activity to detect defects.

Question 4

Expand PDCA.

Accepted Answer

**Plan–Do–Check–Act**.

Question 5

State Pareto principle.

Accepted Answer

**80/20 rule**: most problems come from a few causes.

Question 6

Name one quality tool.

Accepted Answer

**Fishbone (cause-and-effect) diagram**.

Question 7

Explain quality planning in projects.

Accepted Answer

Quality planning identifies quality standards, defines **metrics**, and prepares a plan/checklists to ensure deliverables meet requirements. It sets acceptance criteria and process approach.

Question 8

Differentiate between QA and QC (brief).

Accepted Answer

**QA** is process-focused and aims at **prevention** through standards and audits. **QC** is product-focused and aims at **detection** using inspection and testing. QA prevents; QC detects.

Question 9

Explain cost of quality (basic) with categories.

Accepted Answer

Cost of quality includes **prevention** costs (training, planning), **appraisal** costs (inspection/testing), and **failure** costs (rework, warranty, complaints). Investing in prevention reduces failure costs.

Question 10

Explain PDCA cycle.

Accepted Answer

PDCA: **Plan** improvement, **Do** implement, **Check** results, **Act** standardize/correct. It supports continuous improvement.

Question 11

Explain Pareto chart and its use.

Accepted Answer

Pareto chart applies **80/20 rule** to prioritize major causes of defects. It helps focus improvement on the few causes creating most problems.

Question 12

Explain fishbone diagram and mention common categories.

Accepted Answer

Fishbone (cause-and-effect) diagram helps root cause analysis by grouping causes under categories like **Man, Machine, Method, Material, Measurement, Environment**.

Question 13

Differentiate quality planning, QA and QC with a table.

Accepted Answer

### **Differentiate Quality Planning, QA and QC with table**

- **Quality planning** defines standards/metrics and how to achieve them.
- **Quality assurance (QA)** ensures processes are followed to **prevent defects**.
- **Quality control (QC)** checks deliverables to **detect defects**.

| Item | Focus | Goal | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quality planning | standards/metrics | define what quality means | quality plan, checklists |
| QA | process | **prevention** | audits, process compliance |
| QC | product/output | **detection** | inspection, testing |

Thus QA prevents and QC detects, while planning sets the quality targets.

Question 14

Explain PDCA cycle for continuous improvement with a flowchart.

Accepted Answer

### **Explain PDCA cycle for continuous improvement (flow)**

**PDCA** is a continuous improvement method:
- **Plan**: identify problem and plan change
- **Do**: implement on small scale
- **Check**: measure results and compare with target
- **Act**: standardize success or take corrective action

```text
Plan → Do → Check → Act → (repeat)
```

Therefore PDCA helps improve processes systematically and reduces defects over time.

Question 15

Explain basic quality tools (Pareto, fishbone, control chart) with table/flow.

Accepted Answer

### **Explain basic quality tools (Pareto + Fishbone + Control chart) with use**

| Tool | Purpose | Use |
|---|---|---|
| **Pareto chart** | prioritization | focus on few causes creating most defects (80/20) |
| **Fishbone diagram** | root cause analysis | identify causes under categories (6M) |
| **Control chart** | process control | monitor variation and detect out-of-control signals |

```text
Collect defect data → Pareto (top causes) → Fishbone (root cause) → Improve process → Control chart (monitor)
```

Thus tools support data-driven quality improvement.

Quality Management: Quality Planning, Assurance, Control Tools and Continuous Improvement

8 more questions to unlock