Interaction between production control and quality control

Abstract

Describes a qualitative study on interaction between systems for production control and quality control within industrial organisations. Production control and quality control interact in a sense. Good performance for one aspect often influences or frustrates the performance of the other. As far as is known, the phenomenon of interaction between production control and quality control has not been described extensively in literature. Therefore we decided to form an inductive theory, based on fieldwork. As a result the study had a particularly qualitative character. It was necessary to sharply delineate the concepts of production control and quality control. The authors regard production control and quality control as two separate, but mutually influencing, control systems in the organisation. On the basis of four case studies, a model was developed that describes and explains the interaction phenomenon between production control and quality control. From this interaction model, points of attention can be deduced for the re‐design of production control systems and quality control systems. The model was tested in two other case studies involving consultants in the area of production control.