Quality control ensures that the goods or services provided reach a standard that meets the customers' needs. If goods are sold that do not meet the expectations of consumers they are unlikely to buy from that company again. This will result in low sales and possible bankruptcy.
Traditional methods of quality control involve producing the product and then passing it on to the quality control department. They will then decide whether or not it is good enough to sell to customers. If it fails to meet standards the product will more than likely have to be thrown away as individual parts may not be recoverable.
Total Quality Management (TQM) has been adopted by many companies in recent years. TQM expects all workers to check for quality at their stage of production. This prevents faulty goods from reaching the end of the production line. If a problem is discovered in the production line TQM states that it should be fixed immediately to prevent further faulty items being produced.