Quality is more important than quantity. One home run is much better than two doubles.

- Steve Jobs, CEO, Apple Inc.

Quality assurance (QA) is any systematic process of determining whether a product or service meets specified requirements.

QA establishes and maintains set requirements for developing or manufacturing reliable products. A quality assurance system is meant to increase customer confidence and a company’s credibility, while also improving work processes and efficiency, and it enables a company to better compete with others.

What happened when Quality Assurance was not taken seriously?

1986 Challenger Space Shuttle explosion

• On January 28, 1986, the NASA Shuttle Challenger exploded minutes after take-off, resulting in the tragic death of all seven astronauts on board.

• The Reason for this was the hardware failure occurred due to lack of quality assurance checks.

The Ford Pinto revs, and quite possibly blows, up

• In response to competition from Japanese imports, Ford released the Pinto in 1971 – a populist automotive icon that looked to capture consumer hearts with its $2,000 price-tag.

• The Pinto’s aesthetic quality was always in question. In 1977, however, lawsuits emerged on the back of allegations of a structural design fault. The fuel tank was understood to be in close proximity to the rear bumper and rear axle, meaning that rear-end collisions would elevate the risk of fires.

• Ford’s decision to recall 1.4 million units in 1978 saved no face, as investigate journalist Mark Dowie revealed that Ford had been aware of the design flaw during production. He published a cost-benefit analysis document that saw Ford compare the cost of $11 per-vehicle repairs with the cost of settlements for deaths, injuries and burnouts.

• The subcompact car was decommissioned in 1980, but the vehicle has been the source of historical discourse. Revisionists point to the success of selling 3 million units, and claim that fresh examinations of incident data rank the Pinto as safe, or safer than, cars in the same class. Regardless, Ford’s callous cost-benefit analysis left a legacy of crooked corporate culture.

and many more examples…

What quality assurance does?

• Quality assurance helps a company create products and services that meet the needs, expectations and requirements of customers.

• It yields high-quality product offerings that build trust and loyalty with customers.

• The standards and procedures defined by a quality assurance program help prevent product defects before they arise.