Construction Materials Quality Management

Materials quality management is an essential part of construction quality and requires the same degree of planning, prevention, appraisal, and corrective action as design engineering and construction. Materials quality control is usually equated with shop inspection. Nonconformances in fabrication must be identified to allow correction in the fabrication shop, where the proper skills and equipment exist to correct nonconformances. Materials quality management is more comprehensive than shop inspection. It is a continuous process that is part of the total project quality system. The process consists of quality planning, organization, design and specification, supplier evaluation, supplier quality control, shop inspection, field quality verification, and audits. Documentation must be meaningful, and senior managers must commit the organization to the total quality process.