Quality and compliance are both crucial components of the manufacturing process; but, it’s important to differentiate the two. Quality is defined as products and services that deliver intended performance, while compliance is defined as meeting regulatory requirements.
The strategic goals of most manufacturing companies include manufacturing competitive products, operating profitably, and growing their business in an environment of increasing globalization and elevated product development costs. In order to accomplish these goals, factories need to distribute quality and compliant products. So, let’s dig a bit deeper into what this means.
When measuring quality, factory managers identify the intended function of the product in order to meet customer specifications. When making sure products are compliant, manufacturers must abide by state and federal regulations. Manufacturing compliance comprises the technical, legal, and corporate requirements, regulations, and practices manufacturers must comply with in order to produce and market products.
Compliance in the manufacturing realm covers:
- Product safety
- Health, safety, and environmental impact
- Data protection
- Export controls
- Anti-corruption
- IT safety and security
- Fair competition
- Employment law
Products must abide by these regulations in order to be considered compliant. It is possible for products to have the same compliance but different quality. This would be the case if two of the same type of item followed regulations but one of the items didn’t function that way it had been intended to.
So, the two terms do not have the same meaning; in fact, they are clearly different, yet both important.
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