Quality control
Business: Cambridge International GCSE (2027 Exams), topic 4.3.3
Quality control
Quality control is the process of checking products to make sure they meet the required standard. This usually happens at the end of the production process, before the product is sold to customers.
Quality control
- Quality control involves inspecting or testing samples of finished products.
- Quality control helps identify and fix faults before the product reaches customers.
- Quality control is often carried out by specialist inspectors or workers.
Quality control: example
- A chocolate factory might check every 100th chocolate bar to ensure:
- It’s the right size.
- It has no broken pieces.
- The packaging is sealed properly.
Check quality in production process
- Businesses can check the raw materials from the suppliers, take random samples of products that are in the middle of being produced (made) and take random samples of finished products.
- It can be expensive to do this checking, but it means that defects are spotted before they reach customers. It also may stop a business bearing the costs involved in processing returns.
Customer service and complaints
- Customer service is a common way for firms to identify problems that they have with their product.
- Customer service is beneficial because it helps businesses to correct an issue that the company has not yet identified.
- There are monetary costs and reputation costs from having dissatisfied customers.
Quality control: advantages and disadvantages
- Advantages:
- Stops poor quality products from reaching customers.
- Protects the business’s reputation.
- Disadvantages:
- Faults may only be found after the product is made, wasting materials.
- Doesn’t prevent mistakes – it only detects them.
Test yourself on Quality control
Which of the following is not a benefit of quality checking in production?
How does customer service help businesses improve product quality?
What can businesses do to measure and identify quality?