HARMONISING PRODUCTION CONTROL AND SPECIFICATION PROCEDURES

ABSTRACT Much has been written concerning the variable and often badly designed nature of compliance clauses in concrete specifications and there have been fervent attempts by those involved in the production of concrete to obtain scientifically designed and standardised compliance tests. This paper considers the proposition that even well designed and uniformly applied test clauses are only a partial solution to the vexed problem of executing specification procedures in practice. After reviewing the statistical basis of compliance tests and the limitations on the information they furnish, the paper proceeds to examine their interaction with the process of production control. This interaction is rarely explicitly defined and the author argues that by sound design of both compliance tests and production control disciplines the two concepts could be harmonised to the benefit of both consumer and producer.