The followings is a list of some of the common misconceptions that should be understood by those claiming to have used quality by design:
1. Quality by design is not simultaneous design and production, it encourages just the opposite nothing is produced until all designs are agreed upon between all the producers required to fabricate the product.
2. Quality by design is not a quick fix or magical formula for success, it is a way of thinking. The people involved in the quality by design group must be specialists before they are incorporated in the group. If this technical expertises not present little will be gained with quality by design principle.
3. Quality by design does not require multiple tests of the product to be conducted until the optimum design is achieved. Quality by design applies a one pass design where the product passes testing the fist time.
4. Quality be design is often conduced with inspection techniques used in TQM. Quality by design is highly dependent upon a TQM environment but the same inspection methods are not required. Quality by design incorporates repeatability into its products either automatically or manually. Quality by design considers and applies what was learned about process capabilities in the TQM setting. Thus products are stringently designed well within process capabilities to facilitate SPC.