Which statement describes the relationship between Quality Assurance and Quality Control?

• A. QA is process-focused, while QC is product-focused
• B. QA is about final product only, QC is about supplier management
• C. QA is unrelated to production processes
• D. QC takes precedence over QA in all cases

Answer: (A)

Quality management distinguishes how we create a product from the product itself. Quality Assurance focuses on the processes used to manufacture, aiming to prevent defects by defining and improving how work is done—think documented procedures, training, process audits, and preventive controls. Quality Control, on the other hand, concentrates on the product, using inspections and testing to detect defects in the actual output and verify it meets requirements. Because QA is about building quality into the process and QC is about checking the finished product, the statement that QA is process-focused and QC is product-focused is the best description. The other options misstate the roles: QA isn’t only about the final product, it is connected to production processes; QC isn’t solely about supplier management; and QC does not automatically take precedence over QA in all cases since they serve different functions in a quality system.