Determining quality specifications. The first step in
setting up a quality assurance program is to determine
the company’s criteria for quality for the product. What
do your customers want? Are they more concerned with
price and availability than quality? Is ripeness and
flavor important or is appearance most important?
There may be different quality factors for different
types of customers. Once the critical quality factors are
determined, develop objective means to measure those
quality factors. Keeping records of quality-related
factors can allow evaluation of company performance
and assist in management decisions regarding quality
assurance.