BRANCH OF QUALITY ASSURANCE MEMORANDUM 90.02
SUBJECT: REPORTS - USEPA summary of quality assurance literature
Last year, EPA's Quality Assurance Management Staff conducted
a search of the quality management literature and prepared the
attached summary for internal distribution. We were pleased to be
provided with a copy and think it has considerable merit. We
believe it would be useful to circulate the summary within the
WRD and are taking this opportunity to do so.
The summary lists several prominent themes in the literature;
summarizes the views of five leading experts in the industrial
quality movement, as well as areas where they agree and disagree;
and provides a snapshot view of some quality improvement efforts
in private industry. You can see that several major areas of
emphasis parallel BQA's efforts and emphasis in the WRD's QA
program, such as:
- the significance of management commitment and involvement in
the QA process;
- the importance of up-front planning and problem prevention
rather than after-the-fact appraisal and corrections;
- the fact that the approach to quality management must be
comprehensive in nature, involving quality planning, quality
control, and implementation review;
- the importance of focusing on longer term vs. immediate
return on an investment in quality.
We hope you find this summary to be informative and valuable. If
you have any questions or comments, please contact us.