Meaning of quality control
The term quality has several meanings and elements attached to it, depending on the context. From the technical perspective terms like product properties, accuracy, customer satisfaction, cost effectiveness and suitability would be elements of quality.
Required properties that are often listed in documents such as product standards.
On top of that there are technical approvals, specifications as well as directives and documents created by associatons and certification bodies.
Internal quality control
In internal quality control the manufacturer controls the quality on a continuous basis by observing the product properties at various stages of the production.
With wood products quality control concentrates among other things on raw material quality, accuracy of measurements, moisture content, strength properties and visual quality.
External quality control
With external quality control an independent third party verifies the quality. For instance, product fonformity assesment of CE marked goods can only be conducted by notified body.
In case the building product is within the national product approval system, then external quality control can be conducted by some other bodies.
A building product can also be within a voluntary quality control system. In these cases usually an accreditation or approval is required. Then a third party assesses company’s own quality control systems, measures them, takes samples and compiles the observations into a report.
Notified bodies
Notified bodies are organisations desingnated by EU countires to assess the conformity of products before being placed on the market. They carry out tasks related to conformity assessment procedures set out in the applicable legistation, when a third party is required. A comptence of notified body is verified through accreditation.
