1998), entitled ‘Quality assurance by the
commercial producer of arthropod natural
enemies’, was an intense effort led by Penn
and Scriven (two commercial producers) and
assisted by Ridgway and Inscoe (two
employees of the US Department of
Agriculture Agricultural Research Service
(USDA ARS) to incorporate the concepts of
Deming’s total quality management into
documentation on what quality assurance is.
Two major advances for the North American
biological control industry resulted:
1.Following the Deming method of total
quality management, the customer is an inte-
gral part of quality assurance. This is well
summarized in the abstract from ‘Quality
assurance by the commercial producer of
arthropod natural enemies’ (Penn et al., 1998):
The primary goal of the commercial insectary
is to satisfy the customer. However, providing
an abundant and consistent supply of high-
quality natural enemies that can be effectively
used in integrated pest management programs
is not always sufficient to accomplish that goal.
Such an environmentally sensitive product,
composed primarily of living organisms, must
be produced, delivered, and applied with
special care to achieve the desired outcome. Of
utmost importance is the customers’ ability to
recognise the results arising from the
application of these natural enemies and to
compare competitive products. Therefore, a
reliable quality assurance program, consisting
of comprehensive quality control and extensive
customer involvement, is highly desirable.
Specific examples to illustrate various aspects
of a quality assurance program are taken from
experiences with some representative
arthropods: predacious insects, Chrysoperla
spp.; a predacious mite, Phytoseiulus persimilis
Athias-Henriot; and egg parasitoids,
Trichogrammaspp. In the insectary, a quality
control program is normally made up of 3
major components: production control, process
control, and product control. Standards (i.e.
predetermined specifications) are established
to measure variables throughout the system,
such as temperature, humidity, content or
quality of diet, fecundity, rate of growth,
survival, vigour, sex ratio, and numbers.
Methods of storing, packaging, and transport
are included as a part of the transition
between quality control and customer
involvement. Customer involvement is anintegral part of a quality assurance program.
An effective educational program is necessary
to ensure that the customer’s expectations of
quality are compatible with reality and that
they know how to evaluate the product on
arrival and how to use it most effectively.
Customer feedback is important to refine
information flow and guide product
improvement, thereby leading to product
optimization and repeat sales.
2.Accurate, concise definitions for quality-
assurance terms were published by Penn et
al.(1998):Quality: The suitability of a product for its
intended use and its degree of excellence
in comparison with standards.
Standard:A specification for use as a basis for
comparison in evaluating quantity, value
or quality.
Quality management:A system for monitoring
and directing desired outcome.
Total quality management: A programme or
philosophy that includes the customer as
a major component of a dynamic system
in which processes and products are con-
tinuously examined for ways of improve-
ment. A fundamental aspect of total
quality management is identification of
the desired characteristics of a product,
followed by achievement of these charac-
teristics through minimizing variance at
defined critical control points.
Quality assurance: The process by which con-
fidence in the quality of a product is
developed. Quality assurance goes
beyond quality control in that it involves
both the procedures whereby the pro-
ducer makes certain that the quality of the
product is maintained and the processes
through which the customer, the ultimate
user, gains confidence in that product. For
this reason, customer involvement and
customer education are critical compo-
nents of quality assurance.
Quality control: A system for verifying and
maintaining a desired level of quality in a
product or process by careful planning,
continued inspection and corrective
action where required. Three major inter-
related elements of quality control are
production control, process control and
product control.Development of Quality Control in North America 207