If there's one thing quality assurance managers know, it's that trying to inspect in quality is doing it the hard way, and all too often, the ineffective way. That's not to say inspections aren't important; they are. Regular, carefully conducted inspection programs carried out to correct standards are an important part of any QA program.

What doesn't work is trying to start with inspections - and unfortunately, there was a time when many manufacturers across the industrial spectrum tried to do it that way. It's much more effective - and also a lot more cost-effective - to plan and execute a quality program that identifies and avoids quality problems before they get built into the product and the process.

One way we manage this at Deluxe is by acquiring real-world installation feedback. We have a standing arrangement with our site-services affiliate, Deluxe Construction Services (DCS). They gather detailed information at the installation site and transmit it to quality assurance, engineering, and manufacturing managers back at the plant. Careful analysis of this data provides important opportunities for continual process and product improvements.

The more essential quality goal, continuous improvement at every level from the beginning of the design process to the end of installation, involves everyone in the company. Supervisors are quality coaches, group leaders are quality captains, and every employee is responsible for quality performance. Of course, a cadre of dedicated quality assurance inspectors is critically important, too.

Part of our quality work on any project is a regular series of intensive quality-focused meetings. Right from the start of any job, high-intensity planning spotlights what is unique about the project and reveals the quality challenges we're likely to encounter. Many companies are just dusting off a set of standard specs at this point. Not DBS: we produce customized, detailed documentation submittals that show what will happen at every step of the project. Our customers are involved right away, reviewing this work and discussing it with us before we get the production go-ahead. And the results reflect a bottom-up quality strength.

In recent years, we've learned to harness information technology to improve quality on the shop floor. Think about this - our manufacturing line is a quarter-mile-long, and the manufacture of a single building involves thousands upon thousands of individual construction actions. It's easy to see that good information contributes critically to good quality. Today, the line incorporates 18 "cap" stations, where manufacturing employees can track the quality/inspection history of the project and see what's next in terms of quality requirements. Drawings are accessible electronically in real time whenever needed. Our engineers, line workers, and inspectors always have immediate access to the most current version of every drawing. The positive consequences of that reliable information speak for themselves.

We also make sure to exchange information that influences quality at regular weekly meetings. These start at the opening of the project and go on to the end. Everyone involved in the project is involved in the meetings - transportation, purchasing, sales, service, manufacturing, and of course, QA. Many problems are nipped in the bud or prevented altogether.

Of course, there's a lot about systems-built construction that's inherently better from a quality point of view than stick-built. Here's a study in contrast that's worth thinking about. If you choose systems-built construction for a wood-framed job, the framing is out of the weather for the whole construction period. In our factory, it's kept at 20 percent moisture the whole time, and it's under roof as soon as it gets to the site. It's protected.

On the other hand, if it's lying exposed on a job site, it may fall prey to warping, rot, mildew, and insect infestation. This is just one example of many I could cite. All too often, the quality of stick-built projects is measurably degraded even before they're completed.

Customers who go with systems-built construction get the benefit of coordinated work across all phases of the job. Quality performance is enhanced accordingly. The stick-built alternative involves a group of subcontractors who operate to their own timetables and standards, too often at cross purposes. No wonder quality can suffer.

From start to finish, it's clear that building in quality is the preferred method to "inspecting it in" - and our results bear that out. Feedback from our customers proves that costs go down and satisfaction goes up when the work of inspectors is essentially to confirm that quality standards are being met - not to fix problems when they've already gummed up the process.