Quality Control

Abstract

Abstract Quality in the chemical industry has come to encompass three areas: quality control, quality assurance, and quality systems. The importance of quality to the chemical industry is in its use as a competitive tool in international trade. Historically, industrial quality issues in the twentieth century were emphasized in Japan to reduce costs and improve product quality. Quality improvement activities can often lead to a large corporate economic gain. Quality control responsibilities involve issues such as sampling plans, calibration, and replicate analyses. Statistical quality control and laboratory information management systems are often employed. Quality assurance, which encompasses quality control, covers such activities as employee training, quality system documentation, preparation and transfer of test methods, and applying the tools of quality, quality audit, and customer complaints. Different systems are compared. The product quality system Good Manufacturing Practices, the quality system ISO 9000 standard, and the quality performance recognition of the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award are discussed.