CHAPTER 6 QUALITY ASSURANCE As you progress up the ladder of responsibility as an  Electronics  Technician,  you  will  become  more involved in the field of quality assurance (QA). As an ET1  or  ETC,  you  will  be  responsible  for  ensuring  that the   work   performed   by   your   technicians   and   by outside  help  is  completed  with  the  highest  quality possible. Most of the personnel in the ET rating take pride  in  the  performance  of  their  jobs,  and  they normally   strive   for   excellence.   However,   every individual  has  an  occasional  off  day.  For  example, your best technician may have had the midwatch the previous night. When an individual is tired and not 100 percent alert, oversights or mistakes are easy to make. One of your many responsibilities as the work group  or  work  center  supervisor  will  be  to  ensure  that all corrective action performed is done correctly and meets  prescribed  standards.  Improper  performance  of repairs or installations could endanger an expensive piece  of  equipment  or  cause  another  piece  of equipment to fail prematurely. A well-organized QA and inspection program will minimize the impact of a moment  of  carelessness  or  inattention.  In  this  chapter we  will  familiarize  you  with  the  purpose,  basic organization, and mechanics of the quality assurance (QA)  program. You may be assigned as a QA representative or collateral  duty  inspector  from  time  to  time.  As  a  work center  supervisor,  you  will  be  responsible  for  the quality  control  program  in  your  workspaces.  It  is important  that  you  become  quality  conscious.  To make any program successful, you will have to know and  understand  the  QA  program  and  obtain  the cooperation  and  participation  of  all  your  personnel. This requires you to ensure that all tests and repairs conform  to  their  prescribed  standards.  In  addition, you as a supervisor must train all of your personnel in quality control (QC). QUALITY ASSURANCE PROGRAM The   QA   program   was   established   to   provide personnel  with  information  and  guidance  necessary  to administer a uniform policy of maintenance and repair of  ships  and  submarines.  The  QA  program  is  intended to impart discipline into the repair of equipment, safety of  personnel,  and  configuration  control;  thereby enhancing  the  ship’s  readiness. The various QA manuals set forth minimum QA requirements   for   both   the   surface   fleet   and   the submarine force. If more stringent requirements are imposed by higher authority, such requirements take precedence. If conflict exists between the QA manual and previously issued letters and transmittals by the appropriate force commander, the QA manual takes precedence. Such conflicts should be reported to the appropriate  officials. The instructions contained in the QA manual apply to every ship and activity of the force. Although the requirements  apply  primarily  to  the  repair  and maintenance   done   by   the   force   intermediate maintenance  activities  (IMAs),  they  also  apply  to maintenance done aboard ship by the ship’s force. In all cases,  specifications  must  be  met.  If  specifications cannot be met, a departure from specifications request must be completed and reported. This will be discussed later in the chapter. Because  of  the  wide  range  of  ship  types  and equipment  and  the  varied  resources  available  for maintenance and repair, the instructions set forth in the QA manual are necessarily general in nature. Each activity must implement a QA program to meet the intent of the QA manual. The goal should be to have all repairs  conform  to  QA  specifications. PROGRAM COMPONENTS The basic thrust of the QA program is to ensure that you  comply  with  technical  specifications  during  all work  on  ships  of  both  the  surface  force  and  the submarine force. The key elements of the program are as  follows: 1. 2. 6-1 Administration.  This  includes  training  and qualifying   your   personnel,   monitoring   and auditing  programs,  and  completing  the  QA forms and records. Job Execution. This includes preparing work procedures,  meeting  controlled  material requirements,   requisitioning   material, conducting in-process control of fabrication and