Article

Enhancing Entry Level Skills in Quality Assurance: An Industry Perspective

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Abstract

Clearly understanding industry’s quality assurance needs and expectations is critical in preparing industrial technology students to enter the workforce. A skilled quality team is often considered top priority by manufacturing companies facing tough competition and globalization. Implementing product changes quickly to meet accelerating customer demands and expectations can challenge both the quality system and the associated personnel. Companies strive to establish a strong quality management team and effective quality procedures, yet many employers find newly hired technical graduates unprepared to apply quality control concepts learned in the classroom. Skills and experiences beyond basic coursework are often necessary for meaningful and correct application of quality control concepts (Wise & Fair, 2001). Most technical manufacturing programs require some level of quality control training including basic coverage of quality management concepts and statistical data analysis, but offer little insight into implementation issues and the practical problems faced by industry (Balbontin & Taner, 2000). This approach can be quite effective in establishing a basic understanding of quality control theory, but may leave gaps in a student’s ability to successfully apply that understanding in the manufacturing environment.

Keywords: curriculum|manufacturing|quality|quality control|research

How to Cite:

Callahan, R. N., Amos, S. J. & Strong, S. D., (2004) “Enhancing Entry Level Skills in Quality Assurance: An Industry Perspective”, Journal of Industrial Technology 20(4).