Quality Control Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Quality Control - Essay Example The above example also shows the fact that there are certain parameters which can be used to measure or identify the quality level of a certain product. These are called as ‘Quality Characteristics’ by Mitra (6). These characteristics may include the aesthetics of the product, its durability, cost, utilization factor etc. 1.1. History of Quality: The sense of maintaining the quality of products and services has been existent since times immemorial. The early Egyptians, Greeks and Romans maintained quality standards in their buildings, structures, artifacts, utensils etc. The term ‘quality’ itself is however relatively newer. During the early days of industrial revolution, the need of maintaining quality in the production industry recognized but not emphasized. As a result no special workforce was designated to check the quality control. Instead, the foreman or the supervisor was the person responsible for the quality of product being made. Hence it was entir ely on his discretion what efforts he puts in order to maintain the quality standards. As the industries grew in size and the strength of personnel reporting to a particular supervisor increased in size, it became impossible for the supervisor to check the quality of each unit produced at the industry. The task of maintaining the quality was then assigned to quality inspectors. ... This moved the engineers and mathematicians to develop statistical methods of quality control. Walter Shewhart, in 1924, proposed his quality control charts which aimed at controlling the features of a product through statistical methods (Mitra 3). In 1929 he formed ‘Joint Committee for the Development of Statistical Applications in Engineering and Manufacturing’ with the support of American Society of Testing Materials (ASTM), American Society of Mechanical Engineering (ASME), American Statistical Association (ASA) and Institute of Mathematical Statistics (IMS). The committee made efforts to promote the principles of statistical quality control in the industries. The use of statistical methods in the quality control procedures gained wide acceptance in the days of World War II. Good quality machinery was vital for the armies to win battles hence quality control was essential. But large amount of weapons and machinery supplies has to be produced and every single unit cou ld not be checked for quality assurance. Hence powerful statistical methods were required for ensuring quality in industries. The rules of Sampling gained were widely accepted and implemented. The American Society of Quality Control was established in 1946 to standardize the quality control procedures 1.2. Quality Control and Six Sigma: Six Sigma is a technique used to measure the degree to which a process conforms to the consumer needs. It is based on the number of units produced that comply with the quality standards set by the organization or demanded by the customers. The method was developed by Motorola Corporation in 1986. Six Sigma basically focuses

Philadelphia Primate Head Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Philadelphia Primate Head Study - Essay Example Some decades ago, the federal government had to suspend the funding of the University’s Head Injury Clinical Research Laboratory. The reigning president back then, Sheldon Hackney, further issued a directive to stop the institution’s use of animal experiments aimed at discovering the best treatment for victims of trauma-related brain damage. The directive served as a timely response to a preliminary report by the National Institute of Health (NIH) aimed at halting a particular baboon research project (Meyer 1). In my honest opinion, the use of primates in studies should be abolished because it is disrespectful to anatomy, unjust and goes against the ethics of beneficence and non-maleficence. In May 1984, Animal Liberation Front (ALF) activists intruded the deserted Philadelphia campus of The University of Pennsylvania and took several videos of animals suffering during various head tests (Orlans 71). The videos captured more than 60 hours of enforced baboon-suffering through bombarding of the primates’ heads using pistons in order to induce brain injuries. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) made claims that the videotapes showed actions of repeated violations of federal policies that govern the humane use of animals in research laboratories (Orlans 71). In the experiments, scientists disregarded the use of surgical asepsis and employed a very insignificant amount of anesthesia to the primates’ bodies. Beneficence refers to an action done for the benefit of others through prevention/removal of harm ("Beneficence vs. Nonmaleficence" par.1). The principle demands that all physicians should refrain from harming their patients. The researchers i n Philadelphia, therefore, through causing the baboons tremendous levels of pain, disregarded the need to observe the principle of beneficence. The painful act also illustrates a significant deal of injustice to the animal. I am of the opinion that, even if an animal has to die,