Examining the Elements of Quality Control In Building Fasteners
Quality control is an essential part of every manufacturing and assembly process. Building fasteners need to be put to the test, ensuring their strength and reliability meets and exceeds industry standards. These small but vital elements of machines and structures should be dependable even in extreme conditions. And quality control helps to ensure that each unit is manufactured to the same level of dependability.
Quality Control Defined
In simple terms, quality control is the processes and systems that are maintained in order to effectively meet the needs of those using and depending on the product. Quality control applies to building fasteners during the manufacturing stage. But these products are also a part of quality control during the assembly stage of other products (such as machinery and buildings).
What is the Difference Between Quality Assurance and Quality Control?
The processes and steps involved in quality control programs bring about quality assurance. This term refers to the goal and fasteners reach this stage by going through the systems of quality control.
Fasteners, and the products that contain them, can only be certified and found to be compliant once they have attained quality assurance. Fastener distributors and the independent agencies that award certification often use quality assurance as a benchmark.
What Are Random Samples?
A process that is commonly seen in quality control programs, random sampling is used to capture a fair representation of the quality in a batch or run. Random samples are the building fasteners chosen and tested within the quality control program.
The number of random samples and tests performed is often predetermined by the program and may differ from industry to industry. Those fasteners used in alternative energy may be subject to more rigorous testing than those used in other industries.
Sampling plans will reveal a number of statistics, including the LTPD (also known as the Lot Tolerance Percent Defective). This figure is calculated in order to determine how many units in a batch would be found defective by the sampling plan. Those units falling within the LTPD would fail or be rejected 90 percent of the time. The figure is also helpful in determining those units that would garner acceptance through the sampling plan most of the time.
Quality control is an important process when dealing with building fasteners. Each brand or manufacturer should be able to present the steps of quality control is order to attain quality assurance, allowing the market to rely on their products.
