Ask the Manufacturing Specialist: Quality Control Plans

Mike S., Acuity’s own in-house manufacturing specialist, answers the question, “What is a Quality Control Plan?”

A Quality Control Plan (QCP) is a critical and important document for any manufacturing business. A QCP provides a documented, high-level description of methods used to minimize process and product variation and also outlines what a company does to monitor, correct, and improve on quality issues. A QCP sets the direction on what a company is doing to ensure products meet customer specifications and to monitor quality, as well as addressing deviations and failures. Many customers, as well as ISO certification requirements, call for manufacturing companies to have documented QCPs for all their processes in place.

QCPs are living documents that should be updated and maintained on a regular basis. Implementing a regular review and revision process helps assure that the manufacturing processes are running as smoothly as possible.

A QCP is the source for documenting important processes and product requirements. Requirements are expressed in measurable specifications and link directly to the manufacturer’s Standard Operation Procedures (SOP), Standard Operation Guidelines (SOG), and/or Work Instructions (WI). A good QCP should also include a company’s audit reviews.

The benefits of a QCP are in documenting:

• The people involved and what roles and responsibilities they have.
• How often items will be reviewed, who is responsible for checking, and what needs to be done when a check is outside the specification limits.
• What data is important to track and how it will be collected, stored, analyzed, and monitored.
• A summary of the quality control process.
• Process requirements and expectations of all involved.
• Steps to be taken if a process is out of control.
• Corrective actions, problem solving, and process-improvement tools and steps.

A company should have quality plans for each operation, all the way from material management to painting. This will help all external and internal people know the details of their processes as well as assist in making corrections and documenting changes.

Michael S. is Manufacturing Business Segment Specialist. If you have any questions that you want him to answer, please email Mike at simply.acuity@acuity.com.

This article is provided for informational purposes only, is general in nature, and is not intended to and should not be relied upon or construed as technical, legal, or other professional advice. If legal or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought. The information presented in this article is based on the most current information available at the time of publication.