Assistant project manager for a Minnesota construction firm, Hugh Gaughan tracks the progress of ongoing work. Based in Minnesota, Hugh Gaughan consults on issues of quality control (QC) and quality assurance (QA).Completing a building on time according to specifications presents several challenges, since every project is unique. Delays occur, management turns over, and labor requirements fluctuate. Each subcontractor has a different way of doing business. Quality control and quality assurance aim to maintain adherence to high standards during this fluid process.Quality control begins with establishing and communicating requirements and goals. QC managers determine who is accountable for maintaining quality in each phase of construction. These advance plans can prevent misunderstandings and conflicts between subcontractors. The quality assurance process is meant to ensure the proper execution of quality goals. Persons in the QA role schedule inspections, read reports, and communicate results to relevant parties. If corrections are needed, QA decides the most effective follow-up.Constant attention to QC and QA issues increases teams’ productivity, cuts waste, and boosts profits in the long run.
A respected Minnesota professional, Hugh Gaughan serves as assistant construction project manager with Gaughan Construction. A graduate of the Chesterton Academy in Minnesota, Hugh Gaughan excelled within an intensive Catholic humanities and arts curriculum, which includes an emphasis on the philosophical underpinnings of early Christianity. An example of this is the way humanistic foundations provided by Plato and Aristotle influenced the seminal 13th century work of St. Thomas Aquinas. Born at Roccasecca, a castle on a hill between Naples and Rome, the young Aquinas studied at university in Naples and Cologne, Germany, and joined the emerging Dominican group of preachers.Influenced by Aristotelian philosophy, Aquinas broke with the earlier Augustinian tradition in positing that Aristotle’s universal method of reasoning could be fruitfully applied to theological teachings. At the same time, he held that the believer was one who filters scientific reasoning through the perspective that all principles proceed from a basis of faith. Aquinas’ most well-known achievement was utilizing Aristotle’s philosophical discourse in arriving at Five Ways to Prove the Existence of God. These span motion, causation, goodness, design, and contingency.
