Table Of ContentTo my daughter Samantha
Quality and Standards
in Electronics
Raymond L. Tricker
Newnes
An imprint of Butterworth-Heinemann
Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX28DP
A division of Reed Educational and Professional Publishing Ltd
-&
A memberof the ReedElsevier pic group
OXFORD BOSTON JOHANNESBURG
MELBOURNE NEW DELHI SINGAPORE
First published 1997
Transferredtodigitalprinting 2004
© Raymond L.Tricker 1997
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A Catalogue record for this book isavailablefrom the British Library.
ISBN0 7506 2531 7
Library ofCongress Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book isavailablefrom the Library of Congress.
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Foreword
Wherever you go nowadays, it seems that you are always hearing the
word 'quality', especially in relation tothe requirements of 'ISO 9000', but
even though these have become everyday words, they are often misused,
misquoted and misunderstood. Why is this?
Well,normally youwillfindthatwhenmostpeopletalk aboutthequality
of an object, they are talking about.its excellence, perfection and/or value.
In reality, of course, they should be talking about how much it meets its
designed purpose and comes up to the manufacturer's or supplier's orig
inal specifications. Referring to the quality of a single article is, of course,
fairly simple;problems occur,however, whenonehastotalkaboutcomplex
systems.Thenitcanbecomeverydifficultindeedtoassessalevelofquality.
Consumers (i.e. purchasers) have always had difficulty in choosing
between products of the same type and, in this age of technological
complexity, it has become almost impossible to do so without some form
of professional assistance. For this reason purchasers have tended to form
organizations (suchasconsumers associations),tocritically examine similar
objects and to grade them according to the level of quality that a particular
manufacturer or supplier has achieved.
Butconsumers arenotjust interested inthelevelofquality 'intended' by
themanufacturerorsupplier.Theyarefarmoreinterestedinthemaintenance
of the manufacturer's or supplier's quality level and want an assurance that
the article they arebuying truly meets the quality standardthat wasinitially
offered or recommended.
This consumer requirement has, quite naturally, had a sort of knock-on
effect which has meant that manufacturers and suppliers (especially in the
larger companies) have now had to pay far more attention to the quality of
their product than was previously necessary. Manufacturers and suppliers
have had to set up proper quality-management systems in order to control
and monitor all stages of the production process and they have had to
xvi Foreword
provide proof to the potential customer that the article they are selling is a
guaranteed, and in some cases certifiable, assurance that they have achieved
the level of quality required by the customer. In other words, the manufac
turer or supplier has had to work within aquality system in order to provide
some degree of quality assurance for their product.
Unfortunately, with the current trend towards microminiaturization, most
modem-dayproducts havebecomeextremely complex assemblies ofcompo
nents compared with those which were available a few years ago. This
has meant that many more people are now involved in the manufacture or
supply of a relatively simple object, and this has increased the likelihood
of a production fault occurring. Similarly, the responsibility for the quality
of a product has been spread over an increasing amount of people which
has meant that the manufacturer's (or supplier's) guarantee of quality has,
unfortunately, become less precise.
Theseproblems arenotjustrelated tothelargermanufacturing companies
and suppliers, they also affect the smaller companies, even those employing
onlytwo orthree people. Infact, nomatter how large orsmall thecompany,
there has to be an increasing reliance on quality and the recommendations
of ISO 9000 in order to meet customers' requirements.
So where do these companies obtain details of these quality require
ments? Almost every country within Europe has its own National Standards
Organization (NSO) which can provide this information. The UK is no
exception, for the British Standards Institution (BSI) has been in existence
since 1901. It has produced numerous regulations and standards covering
almost all manufacturing and supply functions and has been at the forefront
in the production of ISO 9000 series of Standards for Quality Assurance.
Within the European Union (EU), there is a potential marketplace of
some 350-400 million people and selling to these people is an extremely
competitive business. With the amalgamation of these nations into a single
market there has been anincreasing reliance on aninternationally agreed set
ofquality procedures, andBritish manufacturers andsuppliers willhave had
to conform to the ISO 9000 recommendations in order to gain a foothold
in the European market. In fact, for anyone wanting to sell their product in
the multinational European Single Market, the ISO 9000 publications are
essential reading. Together they provide a comprehensive set of rules and
regulations, specifications and recommendations that enable amanufacturer
(orsupplier), largeorsmall,tosetup workable quality-assuranceprocedures
and operate within their constraints.
As time goes on, more and more organizations are obviously becoming
aware of these conditions but, although the ISO 9000 publications are
very comprehensive, there is still a need for the person who is trying to
achieve these quality standards to have a broad background knowledge of
the subject, its terms, conditions, justifications and requirements. This book
seeks to provide the reader (especially those from smaller companies) with
this background knowledge.
Foreword xvii
Althoughthisbookismoreintheformofareferencemanual,itisnotjust
meanttoserveasaguidetothevariousstandardsandorganizationsinvolved
in quality assurance. It is also meant to assist the small company in under
standingthe implications andrequirements ofaquality system and,through
examples,casestudiesandrecommended auditprocedures,toenablesmaller
companies to set up their own quality management system (QMS).
A quick note with regard to the various acronyms that are used in this
book. Despite having spent most of my working life in the Army, I still
haven't got used to the proliferation of acronyms that the Government, and
especially the Military, insist on using. It is not so much just the fault of
these bodies, it is more the fault of trying to please everyone by simpli
fying someofthe more lengthy titles into something moremanageable (e.g.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization Communications and Information
Systems Agency, NACISA).
Personally, I have always hated this as I could never remember what all
thosewretched acronymsreally meant,andIconstantlyhadtorefertoacrib
sheet. Withthis in mind, and in order that these various Parts, Annexes and
Attachments can be read separately (ifrequired), as soon as anew acronym
appears in a chapter it is also given in its full expanded form. To assist
readers a Dictionary of Abbreviations has been included at the end of the
book.
One finalnote: certain technical terms and usages in this book, although
reflectingonlythemasculine genderare,infact,theparlanceofthefieldand
should be interpreted to apply to both sexes. In a similar manner the use of
theword 'manufacturer' canbe assumedtoapplyequallytoamanufacturer,
supplierand/orserviceindustry,unless otherwise stated.Theuseoftheterm
'ISO 9000' instead of its full title 'BS EN ISO 9000' has been used in this
book owing to the international recognition of this standard.
Preface
A recent study into the electronic industry post-20l0, anticipates that many
companies will do away with their own in-house manufacturing facilities
and rely on third-party contract manufacturers to meet their requirements.
The report anticipates that in 15years time there will possibly be as few as
fivemajor companies in the world completing electronic product assembly.
The study considers it highly unlikely that any of these five companies
willactuallyproduceallthecomponents,subassembliesandindividualitems
required for these electronic product assemblies; instead subcontractors will
manufacture and supply these items to them. This almost total reliance
on others, however, requires a high degree of confidence in the subcon
tractors producing the right item, on time, to the correct design and within
budget.This confidenceisavailablethrough theimplementation ofaquality
management system, as described in the ISO 9000 series of standards.
Acknowledgements
Writingareference bookcannot beachieved without the assistance ofmany
people. Toname all of them would be an impossible task., but I would like
to take this opportunity of particularly mentioning Julian Rowse and the
ILl team, Sebastian St John-Clarke and all atTechnical Indexes Ltd and, of
course, Pamela Danvers and all the library staff at BSI Chiswick. Without
their help I could not have managed to write this book.
Part 1
The Importance of
Quality Control and
Quality Assurance
In Part 1 the reader is introduced to the requirements of quality
control and quality assurance. The significance and the types
of specifications are explained; manufacturer's and purchaser's
responsibilities are defined; and a thorough review of quality
during a product's lifecycle enables the reader to appreciate the
costs and benefits of quality.
2 Quality and Standards in Electronics
The international definition of 'Quality' as defined in ISO 8402 is 'the
totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that
bear on its ability to satisfy a given need' or, more simply, 'fitness for
intended use'. Althoughtheterms 'quality assurance' and 'quality control'
are both aimed at ensuring the quality of the end product, they are in fact
two completely separate procedures.
1.1 Quality control
Quality control (QC) is the 'operational techniques and activities that
are used to fulfil requirements for quality' (Ref. 24 - ISO 8402). It is
the amount of supervision that a product is subjected to in order to ensure
that the workmanship associated with that product meets the quality level
required by the design. In other words, it is the control exercised by the
manufacturer to certify that all aspects of their activities during the design,
production, installation and in-service stages meet the desired standards.
Qualitycontrol isexercised at alllevels and, as allpersonnel arerespon
sible for the particular task they are doing, they are all quality controllers
to some degree or other. Departmental heads and section chiefs, because
of their positions and responsibilities, have more control over their own
particular process and therefore have more control over the finalquality. It
is true, therefore, to say that all personnel are quality controllers and that
departmental heads are the principal quality controllers, within their own
particular section.
1.2 Quality assurance
Quality Assurance (QA) is 'all those planned and systematic actions
necessary to provide adequate confidence that a product or service
will satisfy given requirements for quality' (Ref. 24 - ISO 8402).
Quality is fitnessfor intended use.
Assurance is a declaration given to inspire confidencein an
organization's capability.
Quality assurance in a product (or service), by consistently achieving
stated objectives is, therefore, a declaration given to
inspire confidence that a particular organization is
capable of consistently satisfying need, as well as
being a managerial process designed to increase
confidence
Quality assurance is therefore a declaration given to inspire confidencethat
aproducthas achievedthehigheststandardsandthatitsmanufacture,modi
ficationor repair has been completed in an efficientand timely manner.
