CQT study guide
CQT · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The Certified Quality Technician (CQT) is a professional certification offered by ASQ for people who support quality assurance and control processes by performing inspections, collecting data, and analyzing results. ASQ describes the CQT as a critical role in ensuring compliance with quality standards and improving product reliability, which makes the credential a natural fit for inspectors, lab and test technicians, and others doing hands-on quality work who want a formal, recognized demonstration of their competence. The CQT study guide has 5 sections and about 1,569 words.
01Quality Concepts and Tools
Quality is defined both as conformance to requirements (Crosby) and fitness for use (Juran); scenario questions often hinge on which definition applies. The cost of quality model splits spending into prevention (training, supplier qualification, design review, quality planning), appraisal (inspection, test, audit), internal failure (scrap, rework, downtime caught before shipment) and external failure (returns, warranty, recalls, liability).
299 words, about 1 min02Statistical Techniques
Statistical thinking separates common-cause variation (inherent and stable) from special-cause variation (assignable and sporadic). Control charts are built on that distinction: control limits are computed from the process - typically ±3σ of the plotted statistic - and never from the specification.
321 words, about 2 min03Inspection and Testing
Inspection is appraisal - comparing product to a stated requirement by gauge, visual check, or measurement - while testing typically applies a stimulus and measures the response (functional, environmental, destructive). Know the standard inspection points: receiving/incoming, first-article (FAI), in-process, final, and source inspection at the supplier, plus dock audits on already-shipped lots.
319 words, about 2 min04Metrology and Calibration
Metrology underpins every number a quality system reports. Accuracy is closeness to the true value (a systematic property, quantified as bias); precision is closeness of repeated readings (a random property, quantified as repeatability).
322 words, about 2 min05Quality Systems
A quality management system is the documented structure of processes, responsibilities, and records that gives an organization confidence requirements will be met consistently. ISO 9001:2015 is organized around context of the organization, leadership, planning, support, operation, performance evaluation, and improvement, and rests on seven principles: customer focus, leadership, engagement of people, process approach, improvement, evidence-based decision making, and relationship management.
308 words, about 2 min