Quality Assurance in Research and Development PDF

PREFACE

This book is intended to provide guidelines for obtaining research and development results of a consistent and known quality. Some traditional quality systems originally developed for hardware production are presented and their modification for use in a research environment discussed. Systems which have been designed for management of the research and development function are also presented as tools for the assurance of R&D quality.

The approaches in this book were developed for an industrial research center engaged in R&D to support operating divisions of the parent corporation. Hence, the discussions on annual R&D plans and the use of technical coordinating committees. This ensures constant communication of the needs of the operating divisions in response to market demands for new products or advanced technology.

The author wishes to express his appreciation to the management of the B&W Research and Development Division. Not only the writing of this book, but also the success of the QA program has hinged upon their support. There are several support groups within the Alliance Research Center who have worked hard preparing art and editing manuscript. To them it may have been all in a day's work, but to me it was invaluable. Technical sections helped by providing examples from typical projects. But much more than that, they took the concepts that we jointly hammered out over the years and made them work on the job. The QA staff has all been very helpful by providing support, illustrations, comments, and understanding while I was locked up in my office "working on the book." This is their story most of all. A special thanks to Nina Thomas of the Lynchburg Research Center for her major contribution to Chapter 10 on Software Quality Assurance. Also to Howard Case for reviewing Chapter 10. I wish to thank the editors of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Magazine, Standardization News, and Dr. Brian Belanger for their permission to use major excerpts from their article, "Traceability - An Evolving Concept, " in Chapter 8.

Finally, I would like to acknowledge the support and patience of Madelyn Dunn who typed the manuscript.

Author: Roberts