Five Key Challenges for QA / QC in 2023 (and How to Solve Them)
In this blog, we provide a bird’s eye view of the state of QA/QC in 2023, including some of the biggest challenges for manufacturing moving forward, and how quality professionals will play a vital role in adapting.
As we explore below, responding to these challenges successfully will not only help meet the demands of today’s market, but position quality teams to support long-term competitiveness for years to come.
The State of QA/QC in 2023
As manufacturers navigate a pivotal moment in their history, they are facing unprecedented challenges and opportunities to transform their businesses. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the vulnerabilities of global supply chains, forcing companies to reassess their operational models and seek greater resilience. At the same time, the accelerating pace of digitalization and automation is driving a paradigm shift towards Industry 4.0. Amidst these changes, Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QA/QC) has emerged as a critical enabler of success.
With their unique position at the intersection of operations, engineering, and quality management, QA/QC professionals are uniquely positioned to help organizations navigate the manufacturing challenges associated with this transformation. We discuss some of the most critical challenges for QA/QC below—and how to begin solving them.
Challenge One: Keeping Up with the Accelerating Pace of Digitalization in Manufacturing
As manufacturing becomes more automated and digitally integrated, QA/QC systems and processes will face an increasing need to keep up. Important digitalization imperatives may include real-time data monitoring, integrated reporting, and greater incorporation of sensors, connected devices, and IoT technologies as part of the shift to Industry 4.0.
Quality professionals often have unique needs compared to broader manufacturing imperatives, and it can be particularly challenging to deploy systems that can accommodate these requirements while integrating with broader ERP systems, PLM systems, etc. When investing in QA/QC solutions, focus on systems that provide rich real-time data monitoring, ready integrability with analytics and reporting capabilities, and that are backed by vendor support for integrating with your overall manufacturing technology environment.
Challenge Two: Improving Data Traceability and Security
Accelerating digitalization goes hand-in-hand with increased requirements for cybersecurity and data traceability. QA/QC departments often handle sensitive product data, and their systems must be protected wherever possible.
QA/QC leaders should ensure that their departments are fully integrated into a comprehensive organizational cybersecurity strategy, ideally including regular risk assessments, employee trainings, and robust access controls.
In addition to general best practices for cybersecurity in manufacturing, QA/QC departments should implement full data traceability throughout all quality-related systems. Doing so is essential for protecting data integrity, reducing human influence on data, and preventing issues such as materials testing fraud. Traceability is also a regulatory requirement in many industries (for example, medical pharmaceutical industry data must be FDA 21 CFR Part 11 compliant).
Technologies like RFID and barcode scanning, for example, can help streamline data entry work while reducing errors. Materials and component testing systems should also provide for full traceability of test results, giving quality professionals the ability to readily track the history of any specimen, component number, or material lot.
Challenge Three: Adapting to More Dynamic Supply Chain Requirements
The COVID-19 pandemic kicked off one of the most challenging ever episodes for supply chain management. And while many acute shortages have subsided, manufacturing supply chains are still far from “back to normal.”
In this context, manufacturers will place a premium on more adaptable, resilient supply chains, and QA/QC will have a vital role to play. QA/QC teams should have contingency plans for adapting quality control and testing processes to unexpected supply chain disruptions. QA/QC technologies and processes will need to be readily adaptable to a broad variety of materials and testing standards to maintain readiness for rapid pivots to new sourcing strategies. For example, modular testing systems that can be easily reconfigured for different materials can help changeover testing types with minimal delays, expense, and additional training.
Challenge Four: Adapting to Manufacturing Labor Shortages
Manufacturers everywhere are dealing with historic labor shortages, a challenge which is expected to drive a long-term strategic shift toward fewer, more highly skilled employees. For QA/QC departments, processes and training must be designed with this new workforce strategy in mind. As the manufacturing workforce becomes more highly skilled, QA/QC departments must adapt their training and development approach to keep pace with an evolving skillset.
For example, training emphases may shift from manual specimen handling procedures to areas such as advanced data analysis, process automation, and equipment condition monitoring. The right technologies will be critical to minimizing human input for monotonous work, allowing skilled quality professionals to focus on value-added tasks that require human knowledge and input.
In the long run, adopting targeted automation will not only help reduce reliance on large numbers of QA/QC technician hires, but will help promote more reliable, repeatable, and accurate processes. We explore why in the context of materials and component testing in our whitepaper here.
Challenge Five: Supporting Product Safety and Compliance in an Increasingly Complex Regulatory Environment
As global regulations proliferate and testing standards evolve, it can be difficult for manufacturers to stay up-to-date and ensure compliance across their operations. QA/QC faces particularly strict requirements for a variety of different regional and international regulatory schemes, and the consequences of non-compliance may be costly in terms of both financial penalties and brand reputation.
Wherever possible, QA/QC departments will need to leverage technology to streamline compliance processes and reduce the risk of human error. Implementing a centralized quality management system (QMS) that can automate tasks such as document control, change management, and audit tracking can help reduce the risk of non-compliance and enable more efficient quality management.
New concerns such as sustainability will also create new sources of regulatory, reporting, and quality management complexity. The Chartered Quality Institute notes that: “Organizations are free to make their own strategic choices on how they position themselves competitively. However, environmental and social sustainability is moving from being a PR exercise to being at the core of values, value propositions and business sustainability.” In this context, now is the time to begin developing a strong focus on sustainability as it is related to QA/QC processes.
As regulations around sustainability become more common, companies will need to ensure that their products are designed and tested with these requirements in mind. This may involve implementing new testing processes to evaluate the sustainability of materials, or working with suppliers to ensure that sustainable sourcing practices are being followed.
How ZwickRoell’s Automated Materials and Component Testing Solutions Help Address the Biggest Challenges in QA/QC Today
Based on our experience working with hundreds of industry leading QA/QC departments and independent testing labs across the globe, ZwickRoell’s automated materials and component testing systems can deliver exceptional value to quality teams focused on implementing solutions to all of the challenges discussed above. In this blog, we take a deeper look at how automated material testing solutions drive ROI beyond direct boosts to throughput.
- The data generated from our automated testing solutions can be automatically exported to integrated environments such as ERP software, streamlining data transfer and helping quality teams support digitalization initiatives. Learn more about future-proof data management capabilities for testing equipment.
- Our secured testing solutions are integrated with textXpert III software, which provides for robust integrated data traceability and data evaluation.
- Our automated testing solutions employ modular attachments which enable switchover to different testing types in minutes rather than days. The flexibility and scalability of our solutions helps testing processes adapt to whatever the business requires, even on short notice, with little retraining required.
- Automated systems help reduce reliance on a large staff of quality technicians for routine tests and specimen handling, freeing up skilled quality
professionals to focus on continuous process improvement, not administrating tests.
- With hundreds of leading testing standards built-in, automated testing systems can be rapidly adopted to new testing types while assuring compliance. New standards can be updated with reduced employee retraining. Learn more about 100% standard compliant automated testing.
If you are interested in a more detailed discussion of your QA/QC challenges and how our testing systems can help, we encourage you to reach out to our team using the button below.