Quality Control

What is Quality Control?

Quality Control (QC) is how organizations verify that a product or service actually meets the standards they've set before shipping it out to customers. While quality assurance focuses on designing processes that prevent problems in the first place, quality control catches defects after they've already happened through inspection, product testing, and careful analysis.

In practice, QC means examining physical products, reviewing service outcomes, and checking documentation against specifications. Inspectors work from lists of known defect types, things like cracks, surface imperfections, or functional failures, and methodically compare outputs to these criteria. If something doesn't pass, it gets fixed, reworked, or scrapped. Organizations often document these inspection criteria in a quality manual that defines the overall quality management system.

When done well, quality control has a real financial impact. Companies with solid QC processes tend to catch material issues before they become expensive, waste less through smarter resource use, and keep customers happier by delivering products without defects. That last point matters more than people often realize: satisfied customers come back, leave positive reviews, and strengthen your position in the market.

Key Characteristics of Quality Control

• Reactive by nature: Quality inspection happens after production wraps up. The goal is defect detection through visual checks, testing, and measurement, not prevention.
• Product-focused: QC zeroes in on actual outputs and deliverables. Every product or batch gets evaluated against specs to determine if it makes the cut.
• Statistical tools: A lot of QC work relies on control charts, sampling techniques, and statistical analysis to track manufacturing outputs, spot variations, and figure out what's causing them.
• Corrective measures: Finding a defect triggers action. Maybe you rework the item, adjust the process, or reject the batch entirely. The point is maintaining standards.
• Clear acceptance criteria: Good quality control depends on well-defined specifications and tolerance levels. Everyone needs to know exactly what separates acceptable from unacceptable. These criteria are typically captured in standard operating procedures and process documentation.

Quality Control Examples

Example 1: Manufacturing Inspection

Picture a shoe factory that tests every 10th pair coming off the production line. Inspectors look for the usual suspects: stitching problems, material defects, sizing issues. Anything that fails gets pulled from the batch. If they start seeing patterns, like the same stitching error showing up repeatedly, they'll adjust the production line to fix it.

Example 2: Software Testing

A software team runs both automated and manual tests on each build before releasing it. QC testers work through test cases, document bugs, verify that fixes actually work, and confirm the software does what it's supposed to do. Only builds that clear every quality gate get pushed to production.

Quality Control vs Quality Assurance

Both play important roles in quality management, but they kick in at different stages and aim for different things.

Here's the simple way to think about it: QA builds the framework for quality, QC confirms that framework did its job. You really need both. Together, they form a complete system that prevents most defects while catching the ones that slip through anyway.

How Glitter AI Helps with Quality Control

Glitter AI makes it easier to create quality control documentation, checklists, and inspection procedures. When you record your screen while performing a QC workflow, Glitter automatically generates step-by-step visual guides showing inspectors exactly what to check and how to document what they find.

The practical benefit? Your QC processes get documented the way they're actually performed, not the way someone remembers them. Teams spend less time hunting for the right procedure, and you get consistency across shifts and locations. Plus, with everything centralized, you maintain audit trails for compliance, standardize your inspection criteria, and get new quality inspectors up to speed faster.