A partnered approach to QA increases efficiency through early problem detection

Abstract

Over the years, organizational leaders have employed a variety of process and product quality assurance (PPQA) programs to reduce costs and improve the quality of their operations. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. A new approach, partnering, combines the best of these strategies to increase organizational effectiveness while enabling flexibility. As one software unit at a defense contractor discovered, the strength of this technique lies in its emphasis on encouraging personnel to detect problems early in a process or product life cycle, when they can be most easily addressed. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.