Quality Assurance and Automatic Test Equipment

Quality is simply defined as conformance to specification. It is not, in the engineering context, a measure of excellence. The simple and inexpensive item which conforms to specification is therefore of ‘higher’ quality than an elaborate and expensive item which does not. The purpose of Quality Assurance is to set up and operate a set of controls whereby the appropriate activities in design, procurement and manufacturing, test, installation and maintenance are carried out to ensure that products meet the specification at MINIMUM cost (see chapter 2). These activities fall into four areas.