The American Society for Quality or ASQ is a professional association dedicated to the development of quality professionals and championing the quality movement. Their motto is “The Global Voice of Quality.”
ASQ is a global organization with sections or chapters all over the world, covering all fields, organizations and industries. They are larger than most global companies with over 85,000 members. As a member you gain access to a myriad of quality development tools, including many individual courses. Of course, they also offer certification in various manufacturing areas, but Quality is their specialty.
ASQ is a well-known and highly respected organization in the quality field and an ASQ quality certification carries some weight. If you have the requisite training or experience, you can choose from several different quality certifications.
Quality Auditor – CQA
Quality Engineer – CQE
Quality Improvement Associate – CQIA
Quality Inspector – CQI
Quality Process Analyst – CQPA
Quality Technician – CQT
The details for each certification can be found here:
http://asq.org/certification/index.html
Each certification indicated above requires you to take an exam. ASQ offers exams twice a year through their association at various locations around the world. You can look on their site for the next exam dates and locations. There is a cost to take the exam, so you need to make sure you know your material. You don’t want to take it more than once.
You can take the exams without becoming an ASQ member, but the cost for non-members is twice as much. If you believe in the importance of an ASQ certification, you probably value the ASQ membership as well.
Obviously, these are just the certification exams. Each exam is based on a body of knowledge learned in the quality field, including intimate knowledge of standards, statistics, auditing either learned on the job or taught in various courses offered by ASQ. You can take the certification exams without taking the courses, but you should ensure you know the course material if you want to pass the exam and get certified.
For example, the CQE (Quality Engineer) requires knowledge learned in the specific course “Black Belt/Quality Engineering Statistics” which is offered at various locations across the US. As well, you can take the certification preparation course, “Certified Quality Engineer Certification Preparation”, either online or at a location near you. All the location-based training courses are one week long, all day sessions, so if you can set aside a week for training, you can do it quickly.
In addition to the certification exam, each certification requires a certain amount of experience. For the Quality Engineer (CQE) certification, you need 8 years experience, with 3 years of this experience in a “decision making” position. If you have a degree or diploma, some of this experience will be waived depending on the education level, from 1 year for a technical diploma to 5 years for a Master’s or Doctorate degree.
ASQ Quality Certifications and work experience required:
Certification (Years Experience Required)
Quality Auditor – CQA (8)
Quality Engineer – CQE (8)
Quality Improvement Associate – CQIA (2)
Qualtiy Inspector – CQI (2)
Quality Process Analyst – CQPA (2)
Quality Technician – CQT (4)
As you can see, for ASQ quality certification, it’s not just a simple exam. You need the work experience to back it up. In most cases your education level will get you a little closer and shave off some of the years required.
If you decide to pursue a quality designation as part of your manufacturing goal, ASQ is definitely one of the most recognized certifications out there.
Return to main topic: How to Get Certified