Quality Assurance Technician

Oftentimes, it’s hard to know if you’ve done something right until after you’ve done it. To find out if you’ve baked a good cookie, for instance, you’ve got to taste it, and to find out if you’ve designed a good car, you’ve got to drive it.

Wouldn’t it be more efficient, though, to prevent products’ problems by inspecting them before production instead of after? Because many companies think so, they hire Quality Assurance Technicians.

“Quality control” is all about controlling quality after a product’s been made. “Quality assurance,” however, is all about ensuring quality before a product is made. As a Quality Assurance Technician, you therefore stop wasteful production processes by finding and preventing manufacturing errors.

Quality Assurance Technicians accomplish their goals by testing and inspecting products’ parts, pieces, and components to make sure they’re compliant with external government regulations and internal company standards. Using measuring tools, magnification lights, and testing equipment, you examine parts to make sure they’re cosmetically correct; that they’re the right size, shape, and weight; and that they work properly. Once the product’s been made, you’ll then test its durability and functionality to make sure it’s safe and successful.

Based on your inspections and tests, Engineers will redesign products — as well as manufacturing processes — in order to avoid errors that impact product quality. As a result, the company makes fewer flawed products, which results in lower production costs, reduced manufacturing waste, and higher customer satisfaction.

Basically, the Quality Assurance Technician is a manufacturing Detective: You examine evidence in order to find production flaws and bring them to justice!