Quality Procedures for Hardware and Software

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-ix

   PDF

2. Introduction

   1. Introduction

      • David J. Smith, John S. Edge

      Pages 1-2

3. The What and Why of Quality Systems

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 3-3

      PDF

   2. Why Quality Systems?

      • David J. Smith, John S. Edge

      Pages 5-10

   3. Comparison of Current Standards

      • David J. Smith, John S. Edge

      Pages 11-21

   4. What Type of System?

      • David J. Smith, John S. Edge

      Pages 22-30

4. A Structure of Manuals and Procedures

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 31-31

      PDF

   2. Designing One’s Own Quality System

      • David J. Smith, John S. Edge

      Pages 33-44

   3. Other Working Documents

      • David J. Smith, John S. Edge

      Pages 45-54

5. Other Essential Guidance

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 55-55

      PDF

   2. The Overview of Quality

      • David J. Smith, John S. Edge

      Pages 57-63

   3. Auditing the System

      • David J. Smith, John S. Edge

      Pages 64-68

   4. Collecting Quality Costs

      • David J. Smith, John S. Edge

      Pages 69-76

   5. Obtaining Quality System Standards Approvals

      • David J. Smith, John S. Edge

      Pages 77-81

6. Sample Quality Manuals

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 83-83

      PDF

   2. Quality Manual

      • David J. Smith, John S. Edge

      Pages 85-124

7. Sample Procedures

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 125-125

      PDF

   2. Quality Procedure QPA 002

      • David J. Smith, John S. Edge

      Pages 126-449

8. Back Matter

   Pages 451-463

   PDF

How to Use This Book The primary purpose of this book is to assist small companies, involved in both hardware and software, to devise and evolve their own quality systems. There are a number of national and now international standards which outline the activities for which procedures and records need to be specified. They are described and compared in Chapter 2, and the subsequent guidance in the book is intended to assist in meeting them. Although, at first sight, the operations of a hardware equipment developer may seem very different from those of a software house, the basic requirements of a quality system, such as the BS 5750 and ISO 1987 series of documents, are the same. For this reason the same standard can be called for in both areas and it will be seen, in Part 2, that suitable procedures can be derived to meet both types of operation. Quality standards (BS 5750, AQAP, ISO 9000 series) distinguish between companies carrying out, on the one hand, both design and manufacturing fixed functions and, on the other hand, those who only manufacture to specifications. In practice, the lesser requirements (those applying to manufacture to fixed specifications) are common to both levels of standard and the additional controls pertaining to design are added to obtain the higher standard. Chapter 2 explains the differences in detail.

• Scala
• design
• management
• quality
• software
• standards
• template
• testing

• Kent, UK

  David J. Smith

• Surrey, UK

  John S. Edge

David J. Smith, past Chairman of the Safety and Reliability Society is the author of six successful works on reliability, quality, software and statistics. He has been directly associated with this branch of engineering, in the process and telecommunications industries, for over 20 years and is well known for his courses and workshops on these subjects. He currently runs his own consultancy.

Policies and ethics