Can someone tell me what are the diffences between those three terms and how they apply in aerospace industry?

Question

Quality Control vs Inspection and Testing vs Quality Assurance in Aerospace Industry

Answer 1

Quality control means that the processes which produce an aerospace product have been shown to produce defect-free (or very low defect), high reliability products. This is because every portion of the process has been shown to be correct:
- the incoming components come from suppliers with a proven track record of reliability
- the tracking of those components is rigorous
- the manufacturing processes are consistent and correct every time a product is made, to make a high reliability product
- every other aspect of handling the product is consistent and correct to maintain high reliability.

If the above 4 items are not done consistently, every time, then inspectors must be placed at several points along the assembly line (incoming parts, soldering, packaging, etc.) to insure that everything is done according to the correct methods. As the processes improve the inspectors will see fewer and fewer defects (returned items for re-work).

On the other hand, if 1000 products have come 'off the line' without any defects (and with minimal inspectors along the way), one may believe that the 1001st product 'off the line' will also be defect-free and very reliable. When the processes are setup and run so you get many many products off the line that are defect-free, then you can get rid of some of your inspectors.

It is the Quality department (managers and engineers) that monitor the processes (how many defects, how many correct products are passing by each step in the whole process).

Once an aerospace product is manufactured, it should be tested. Testing includes putting the product in a test chamber to heat it up to as much as 120 degreesC, cool it down to as low as -55 degrees C, subject it to high humidity and high vibration (g-forces), vacuum (for space products), electromagnetic interference, and other tests.

Where I work, ALL of our products are tested before they are delivered, but if the customer doesn't want to pay the added cost of testing each product, they could opt to not test. Instead they could agree to test the very first few items manufactured on the line (sometimes called "qualification" products) and rely on an assurance that each product after that will be made absolutely identically to the first 'qual' unit.

Again, it is up to the quality engineers and managers to assure that this happens.

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Answer 2

What terms do you mean Aggeliki?