ABSTRACT

This chapter explains the concepts of total quality assurance. It examines the history of quality assurance and quality control practices that have evolved into total quality management. The ways of measuring quality expenses are improving. As a result of knowing better the actual cost that errors and rework represent, management’s attention is becoming more focused on prevention of quality problems, rather than fixing the problems after they have occurred. The chapter presents Deming’s approach to total quality management because it is simple, concise, and is one of the better known total quality approaches. It is important to note that the laboratory industry is not the only one in which total quality management has been difficult to implement. Many large, contractual quality assurance programs are also plagued with similar problems. Baseline capability inspections, that is, laboratory accreditation programs can be used to further implement the total quality management strategy if properly used by purchasers.