quality control

American  

noun

1. a system for verifying and maintaining a desired level of quality in an existing product or service by careful planning, use of proper equipment, continued inspection, and corrective action as required.

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quality control British  

noun

1. control of the relative quality of a manufactured product, usually by statistical sampling techniques

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Etymology

Origin of quality control

First recorded in 1930–35

Example Sentences

The organization had preserved these cans over many years for quality control but eventually no longer needed them.

From Science Daily • Apr. 1, 2026

It has said that quality control measures, which usually remove such responses, were not applied due to human error.

From BBC • Mar. 26, 2026

Every once in a while, workers dressed in white with hats and masks inspect the process, alongside artificial-intelligence technology used for quality control.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 24, 2026

After the Alaska Airlines incident, Boeing fortified its quality control and manufacturing operations under close scrutiny by the US Federal Aviation Administration.

From Barron's • Jan. 14, 2026

Moreover, if this trade-off is not acknowledged, there is a tendency to deny or cover up the inevitable defective items, which makes the job of quality control that much more difficult.

From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos