Computer-aided quality assurance

CAQ = computer aided quality assurance EDP = electronic data processing GLP = good laboratory practice LIMS = laboratory information management system QM = quality management. 

As there were no commercial LIMSs, they had to be developed. The first LIMSs mainly supported sample management, entry of results, and printing of reports. As they were able to manage quality assurance in laboratories and for production, sometimes such systems were called computer aided quality assurance (CAQ). The development of LIMSs is outlined in Table 1. 

Duhovnik J, Tavcar J, Koporec J (1993) Project management with quality assurance. Comput Aided Des 25(5) 311-320... 

The potential of computer aided surgery appears particularly promising, as has been demonstrated in neurosurgery (Giorgi et al. 1990 Xia et al. 2000 Hayashi et al. 2001). Quality assurance is clearly a key factor in establishing the adjunct to conventional surgery (Vannier 2000). 

Software for documentation systems In the course of quality assurance processes, the documentation gains more and more importance. The computer-aided administration of the documentation enables the structured and effective administration of aU documents required during a project. Access is possible decentralized and by several users at the same time in a matter of seconds. 

Computer based design tools, such as computer aided draft and design (CADD) software, can provide powerful and effective means to develop piping layouts. Much of the commercially available software can improve productivity and may also assist in quality assurance, particularly with interference analyses. Some CADD software has the ability to generate 3-dimensional drawings or 2-dimensional drawings, bills of material, and databases. 

Detailed defect sizing and characterization has become the major objective of much NDE work under way today. To address this challenge, the NDE community has turned to a combination of multiplemode inspections and computer-aided data analyses. Success in this activity has generated quantitative NDE capabilities that can be used both as improved quality assurance tools and as new options for material diagnostics. 

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