QC vs. Production Team: Who is Responsible for the Quality of Raw Materials Before Use?

An electronic component manufacturing company, experienced issues with the quality of their products not meeting established quality standards.

They conducted an investigation to find the root cause of the problem.

The investigation revealed that the issue was with the raw materials they used in production.

It was found that the production team did not inspect the quality of the materials before use.

They skipped this short inspection process.

Isn’t it the responsibility of the production team to conduct inspections before using materials for production?

Or is it the responsibility of the Quality Control team?

Which one is correct?

In reality, there are some challenges in ensuring that the production team always inspects the quality of raw materials before use.

This is what we will discuss in this post.

We will delve deeper into the experience of that company, which you may also have experienced, to ensure that quality inspections of raw materials before production are carried out and how the company overcomes challenges in this process.

But before that, make sure you have joined the scmguide telegram channel to receive notifications of the latest posts from this blog as well as more insights about supply chain management.

Should the production team ensure the quality of raw materials before using them in the production process?

The answer is yes.

It is very important for the production team to ensure the quality of raw materials before using them in the production process.

They are the last line of defense to ensure that the materials they use are of good quality.

Poor quality raw materials can affect the quality of the final product and can also cause production problems, such as machine damage or slow production processes, for example.

In addition, using raw materials that do not meet established quality standards can also result in unsafe products or products that do not meet regulatory requirements, which can lead to legal problems.

Therefore, the production team must ensure that the raw materials they use meet established quality standards before using them in the production process.

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Isn’t it the responsibility of QC to ensure the quality of materials?

That’s right.

QC (Quality Control) is indeed responsible for ensuring that the raw materials used in the production process meet the standards set by the company.

QC performs testing and inspection of raw materials to ensure that they meet quality requirements before being used in the production process.

However, the production team must also participate in ensuring the quality of raw materials just before use.

This is because the production team is directly responsible for processing raw materials into finished products.

So, they must ensure that the raw materials they use meet the quality standards set by the company.

QC and the production team must work together to ensure that the quality of the products produced meets the quality standards set by the company.

How to ensure that the production team checks the quality of materials before using them for production?

That’s the important question.

In many cases, the production team neglects the quality checking function. They rely solely on the QC team to perform quality checks.

So, what can you do?

If you face the same challenge, there are several ways to ensure that the production team checks the quality of raw materials before they are used in the production process.

These include:

1. Providing training to the production team on the importance of checking the quality of raw materials before they are used in the production process, and explaining the negative impacts that can occur if raw materials that do not meet quality standards are used.
2. Establishing clear and structured procedures for inspecting the quality of raw materials. These procedures should include steps that must be followed by the production team in checking the quality of raw materials before they are used.
3. Implementing strict inspection and testing systems for raw materials entering the factory. This can be done by installing special inspection equipment or using third-party services to perform quality testing of raw materials.
4. Conducting regular monitoring and supervision of the production process to ensure that the production team follows the established procedures and checks the quality of raw materials before they are used in production.
5. Providing incentives to the production team that complies with procedures and maintains the quality of raw materials used in the production process.

By taking the above steps, you can ensure that the production team checks the quality of raw materials before they are used in the production process.

This way, you can minimize the risk of defective or low-quality products.

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The party responsible for ensuring the quality inspection of materials before production

There are many parties responsible for ensuring the quality inspection of materials before production.

This will depend on the organizational structure and procedures adopted by the company.

But in general, some of the parties responsible are:

1. Procurement Department: Responsible for selecting and purchasing high-quality raw materials and ensuring that the raw materials meet the established quality standards.
2. QC (Quality Control) or inspection team: Responsible for testing and inspecting the raw materials entering the factory, ensuring that the raw materials meet the established quality standards.
3. Production team: Responsible for ensuring that the raw materials used in the production process meet the established quality standards and conducting quality inspections of the raw materials before use in production.
4. Production management: Responsible for establishing and monitoring procedures for quality inspection of raw materials and ensuring that all departments involved comply with these procedures.

You must ensure that all parties work together to ensure that quality inspection of raw materials is carried out strictly and consistently.

By doing so, you can minimize the risk of defective products or products that do not meet quality standards and ensure customer satisfaction and a good company reputation.

The challenge in ensuring that the production team checks the quality of materials before use

There are several challenges you may face in ensuring that the production team checks the quality of materials before use, including:

1. Lack of sufficient training and understanding of the importance of checking the quality of raw materials before production.
2. Time and resource constraints to conduct quality checks on raw materials before production.
3. Dependence on unreliable third parties or suppliers who do not pay enough attention to the quality of the raw materials produced.
4. Overloading of work or tight production schedules that make the production team less able to pay attention to checking the quality of raw materials before use.
5. Lack of strict supervision and monitoring of the production process and the use of raw materials.
6. Technical challenges in conducting complex or difficult-to-measure quality testing and inspections of raw materials.
7. High costs of obtaining advanced inspection equipment and testing devices to conduct quality checks on raw materials.

To overcome these challenges, you can take various measures, as I have already mentioned in the previous point.

Conclusion

It is important to ensure the quality of raw materials is checked before production. And it is also important to determine who is responsible for doing so.

Several parties involved in the inspection process include the Procurement department, QC or inspection team, production team, and production management.

There may be several challenges in ensuring the production team checks the quality of materials before use, such as a lack of sufficient training and understanding about the importance of quality checks on raw materials before production, and time and resource constraints to perform quality checks on raw materials before production.

To overcome these challenges, you should provide sufficient training to the production team, establish clear and structured procedures, implement a strict quality testing system for raw materials, and strictly monitor the production process and use of raw materials.

This way, you can ensure that the production team checks the quality of materials before use.

As a result, you can produce high-quality products and minimize the risk of defective products.

Hope this is helpful!

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