Monday, December 3, 2001		Article

How about being a quality controller?
Sumesh Raizada

IN today’s competitive world, quality is a key word in every industry, whether pharmaceutical, automobile, electronics or heavy engineering. Globalisation of economy has further led to fierce competition among the suppliers, as there is a free movement of foreign goods in domestic market and wide export prospect for domestic products. Only those companies that have remained competitive in terms of price and quality are able to survive. Indian products over the years have improved drastically in terms of quality of design and performance, mainly due to the stringent testing and quality checks during the manufacturing stage itself. This has led to a noticeable increase in export market for automobiles, drugs, electrical and heavy engineering goods, readymade garments and software.

The quality checks and testing during, as well as after, manufacturing are extremely important as it saves enormous costs on account of repair and reworking done on the defective finished product. This not only increases the productivity of the plant but also reduces the manufacturing costs. Moreover, it saves a company from losing its goodwill among customers — an extremely vital point in case of export market or where customers are extremely quality conscious. Quality Assurance have a critical impact in defence sector, radar and communication, weather detection, transport, etc. where a slight slip in testing can lead to magnanimous disasters. The task of all those professionals who have to ensure the quality and are responsible for testing at various stages is therefore highly significant in an organisation.

There has been a continuous improvisation in the testing methods and tools depending upon the product and industry. Moreover with the penetration of computers, new techniques have now been developed for testing and quality control of product at various stages. This has created a completely different career opportunity for IT-enabled professionals, in quality control and testing of equipment or software in various industries.

In manufacturing industry, there are different stages for testing the performance as per the specified quality controls. Initial test starts with those on raw material and various components that are checked for any discrepancy. After that quality and performance tests are carried out on a semi-finished product say that of a transformer or machinery during work in progress. Finally, the manufactured product is subjected to operational and efficiency tests. Engineering equipment like motor is subjected to numerous tests before it is despatched to the customer. These tests may include power output, performance efficiency and paint finishing.

In most of the companies, the quality control and testing professionals are those having experience in relevant industry. In electronics or manufacturing industry, sometimes persons from production department are assigned additional responsibility of quality control. These professionals are required to be aware of all testing procedures, methods and industry’s relevant quality standards. They must also be capable to handle and operate the testing tools and equipment. Besides, they should also be able to understand and explain the test results. In case of any anomaly or variation, the testing executive has to suggest corrective actions to the department concerned. Whenever there are certain amendments in the government or industry quality norms, these professionals have to incorporate the same in their procedures.

The responsibilities and duties of quality and test professionals may vary for different industries and products. They have to, however, ensure that the product does conform to the customer requirement and meets the relevant quality standards say ISO, IS or Agmark certification. In engineering industry, say switchgear or transformer manufacturing, complete testing is done through computer-aided testing unit, which controls and monitors the high voltage supply to the equipment and carries out various tests. The computer professionals play a key role in developing user specific testing software and its maintenance. They review functional and design specifications, develop testing plans, set up test environments and develop and execute various performance and efficiency tests, regression test, etc. Besides, they are required to report and resolve variance with the production department.

The quality and testing professionals are mostly employed in the industry itself. However, vacancies also exist in leading testing and inspection laboratories like Central Power Research Institute or Bureau of Indian Standards. In case of organisations like Central Drugs and Research Institute, software professional are involved in computerised testing of the drugs and study their effect in laboratory conditions.

QA professionals review functional and design specifications and also set up test environments for a product. The responsibilities include process definition and improvement, auditing, implementing, quality assurance and certification. They need to have a thorough understanding of business and technology processes and methodologies, international quality standards and their implementation, understanding of software development process and method.

Though there are no separate courses for quality assurance, it is part of curriculum in some of the engineering and computer science courses. However in the USA, two organisations are offering QA certification. These are the Quality Assurance Institute that offers CQA or Certified Quality Analyst and the American Society for Quality. Professionals with certification from either of these are in huge demand among employers as they are trained on development and design, human resource principles and common standards. They are also exposed to disaster recovery and vendor control.

In IT industry, professionals having few years of industry experience in software field are usually absorbed as quality assurance analyst. Since software is the most vital component of any computer-related product, the job of QA analyst is highly critical, as they have to develop software testing and quality procedures at economical costs and within reasonable time. They participate in preparation and execution of verification and validation test plans as well as procedures so as to ensure the best quality of products. Their duties also include reviewing of test designs and software tools and coordinating with developers for improvement in processes.

However, for succeeding in this profession, a person needs to have more experience in the entire testing process than in particular technology. Also, software testing these days is also done through Web-based enterprise and Internet connectivity software packages. A QA professional should be aware of the same for implementation. In some companies QA positions also requires testing and writing of user-specific program. Hence a professional needs to be a programmer too.

Those going in for above career in software industry must possess strong problem solving and communication skills. They should either be engineering graduates in computer sciences or an MCA, with a minimum of one year of experience in software testing. They are required to have strong exposure to C++, Java, SQL7.0, Oracle8.0 and should also have sufficient experience of software testing using QA tools like WinRunner, LoadRunner and Silk Test. Knowledge of ERP tools like SAP is preferable wherever applicable. Besides they should be proficient in working in Windows or Unix environment.

The QA executives in Internet-based company are involved in testing, analysis and release of new content pages for Websites. They develop an automated testing tool to monitor viruses for the products or applications that are sold online. These professionals also work with programmers and database personnel to protect confidential data from the hackers and outside viruses. QA professionals working with an ISP or in companies having Web-based operation, knowledge of CGI and Internet protocols is must. They are also required to be aware of standards like ISO 9000, SPICE, bootstrap or other major industry specific standards.