Objectives and functions of quality control
The objectives and functions of quality control in purchase management include:
Ensuring conformance: The primary objective of quality control is to ensure that the purchased goods or services conform to the specified standards, requirements, and expectations of the buyer. This includes checking for defects, verifying dimensions, and testing functionality.
Improving quality: Quality control also aims to improve the quality of the purchased goods or services by identifying and eliminating the root causes of defects, implementing corrective and preventive actions, and continuously monitoring and improving processes.
Minimizing costs: By ensuring that purchased goods or services meet the required quality standards, quality control helps to minimize costs associated with rework, scrap, and warranty claims. This results in cost savings for the organization and higher value for the buyer.
Promoting customer satisfaction: Quality control helps to promote customer satisfaction by ensuring that the purchased goods or services meet or exceed the customer’s expectations in terms of quality, functionality, and reliability.
Enhancing supplier performance: Quality control also aims to enhance supplier performance by establishing clear quality expectations, monitoring supplier performance, and providing feedback to suppliers on areas for improvement.
The functions of quality control include:
Inspection and testing: Quality control involves conducting inspections and tests on purchased goods or services to verify compliance with quality requirements and specifications.
Documentation and record-keeping: Quality control involves maintaining accurate and detailed records of quality inspections and test results for traceability and accountability purposes.
Root cause analysis: Quality control involves identifying the root causes of defects or quality issues and implementing corrective and preventive actions to eliminate or reduce the likelihood of recurrence.
Continuous improvement: Quality control involves continuously monitoring and improving quality management processes to ensure that they remain effective and efficient over time.
By fulfilling these objectives and functions, quality control helps to ensure that the organization receives high-quality goods and services, minimizes costs, and maintains customer satisfaction.
