Quality countdown: Inspection Efficiency

An industry veteran examines the top 10 issues for maintaining and enhancing quality control in parts manufacturing.

Editor’s Note: LaRoux K. Gillespie is a noted consultant and writer on manufacturing and quality issues. He retired in 2006 as a second level manager in Honeywell’s Kansas City, Mo., division, responsible for all plant product quality issues and practices. He worked for the company and its predecessors for 40 years. He is currently president of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers.

All businesses strive for quality—their success and reputation depend on it. In precision parts manufacturing, attention to detail is especially important, so continual attention to quality should be of utmost concern. It’s amazing how many shops, no matter the size, skimp on training or just coast when everything seems to be going well.

Throughout the years, I have experienced a variety of quality issues. While many of these are now controlled by ISO 9000 or similar certifications, not every shop lives by these international practices, and those that do still face some “hidden, under the blanket” issues. Here are the 10 quality issues most important to me.

1. Documentation

To achieve consistent quality, manufacturers must rely on documentation of what they want, how they intend to get it (work instructions and other procedures) and what they have to work with. While this seems simple, in many shops it is only partially achieved. Work instructions are not complete enough to assure conformance by every employee on every shift. For example, Joe has his little black book of details that are not in the work instructions, and Tom has his own book—and the details are different.

ISO reviewers never see these undocumented records. Rework is not documented. Inspection results are not fully described or recorded. Beyond that, the procedures for many tests and “quickie” evaluations are not fully recorded because engineers and shop staff generally do not like to write.

Then, finding such results a few months later proves to be difficult because if you don’t have clear rules on documentation, you probably don’t keep good records of notes either. Documentation does not necessarily require lengthy manuscripts—photographs, sketches and other images are often more descriptive and readily produced.

A good documentation system begins by identifying the source of the information (person or organization), the purpose (just archival or expected to be used routinely), and the date of the information. The documentation system should also provide ready identification that the document exists and where to find it. Lastly, the staff must know that documents are routinely stored in the system; they need to be trained on the details of the system and how to use it (see next item).

2. Training

It’s astounding that some shops introduce workers to new positions without any training or with training that is inadequate, late or undocumented. It happens in large, medium and small plants, and in plants with outstanding quality credentials. This problem only gets worse as skilled workers leave the workforce and new, often underprepared, ones replace them.

Every employee enters a company with a different level of training and understanding (some may have received the same training, but that doesn’t mean they fully grasped it at a working level). Companies generally do not have a program that fully assesses a new employee’s technical abilities and comprehension.

The variety of machine controls in each facility means operators need more training on individual machines as well as on general shop practices. Shops need a formal outline of hands-on training topics; otherwise, something will get lost that can be critical to quality.

A number of online training courses are available for shop positions, and engineers are taking advantage of them because they are underprepared for immediate job output. Tooling U (www.toolingu.com), for example, has about 50,000 students taking online training through companies or local high schools and community colleges.

The U.S. government’s push for community colleges to be a major source of workforce training will lead to more reproducible training. The Manufacturing Institute’s Manufacturing Skills Certification System and National Institute for Metalworking Skills (NIMS) certification levels provide the credentials for hands-on skills, and others provide certification of engineering and other technical knowledge.

Companies should still define the training needed and provide it, or work with community colleges and technical universities to get workers on the right track. In many areas, coalitions of companies are working with schools to assure an adequate supply of skilled workers. Companies also need to maintain a list of necessary training for their employees and keep it updated.

3. Adherence to Procedures

Documentation and training do not assure quality unless workers adhere to procedures and expected practices. The ISO 9000 assessment teams that monitor conformance every 6 months almost always find nonconformance when reviewing a shop. Most problems are corrected immediately and an embarrassed shop management reiterates a need to consistently abide by procedures. But adherence is not just a shop issue. Engineers are often guilty of the failure to abide, as are managers, inspectors, HR staffers and others.

Lack of adherence comes in many forms: intentional, lack of training, lack of understanding or plain forgetfulness. Whatever the reason, it occurs frequently and can lead to major quality problems.

Management must continue to focus on adherence by commending employees rather than just admonishing them. Continued adherence is also a measure of how well employees and management work together. Close working relationships breed a desire to adhere whenever management encourages such behavior.

4. Fudging

As the word is used here, saying a worker “fudges” results is a polite way of saying he has poor ethics. Every time we stretch the rules or bias (fudge) the reading to be within allowable limits, we begin the slow and painful drop to lower quality. For example, being 0.000050″ over the limit is not much when the tolerance is 0.005″, but it is still outside the limit. Because many customers sample only a few parts out of a lot to measure conformance and assume the rest are the same, they probably won’t see it. Their measurements might not even be that precise. But the parts are still out of tolerance.

Once handled that way the first time, the event will likely be repeated. As soon as employees notice management allowing this practice, they will follow suit and the practice spreads. It is essential to consistently live within the rules and procedures and to acknowledge successes and failures as they occur. Slight fudging is nonconformance!