A follow on to a discussion in the "ASQ Releases New Membership Model - Will it make a difference?" thread.

We do not have a quality assurance or quality control dept. as such. There are lots of positions that are normally considered QA, but they are integrated into operations...except for mine, I am officially part of the Administrations Dept. along with the Management, HR, Finance, Health and Safety.It was decided when the plant was built that quality, safety, etc., was everyone's responsibility and to create a department for quality would send a message to the employees that it wasn't their responsibility to ensure quality at each step of the processes.

I've never really thought of it. I work in the QUEST (Quality, Environmental Six Sigma Team), which is part of Manufacturing Services. Now, considering we are a consulting and training organization, our "product" is my knowledge, skills and abilities. So, therefore, I guess I would be classified as a "tool", or possibly even equipment. No, I think a tool, yes that's it! I'm a perishable tool! :lmao:

We do not have a quality assurance or quality control dept. as such. There are lots of positions that are normally considered QA, but they are integrated into operations...except for mine, I am officially part of the Administrations Dept. along with the Management, HR, Finance, Health and Safety.It was decided when the plant was built that quality, safety, etc., was everyone's responsibility and to create a department for quality would send a message to the employees that it wasn't their responsibility to ensure quality at each step of the processes.

Exactly, even our final inspector is called a final fitter! As QA my primary function is both product and process Audits.

Since the 1960s, I have had the title "Director of Quality;" "Quality Circle Chair;" "Quality Manager" or some similar appellation added to my executive suite titles which ranged from Senior VP to Executive VP to COO to CFO to CEO for the simple reason I have always believed that Quality worked best in an organization when top management was aware and involved in making Quality an integral part of the organization.

Unlike many of you, I did not have to fight for recognition and involvement from top management, but I did have to fight for funding and integrity.

I did not work my way up through the ranks from inspector through manager. I was trained and educated in science and engineering, so many of the Quality basics seemed logical to me.

Some things (especially the prescriptive stuff in ISO1994 and TS16949) seem counterproductive to me and I do not incorporate them into my system, although I can see some value in them for certain types of organizations.

I was relatively happy with ISO9k2k and its stress on customer centric thinking.

In all my organizations since 1985, I have abolished the Quality department as a separate entity within the organization. We no longer have dedicated inspectors who check operators' work. We have Quality people who work with design engineers, machine manufacturers, operators, and customers to design in-process inspection procedures performed by the operators themselves. Operators enter data (normally direct wire from inspection device) into computers to calculate SPC and Control Charts.

First Article Inspections are redundant affairs. Original operator calibrates instruments and performs FAI on tagged piece parts. He turns over tagged piece parts to another operator who performs a redundant inspection after calibrating the instruments himself. If the two inspections tally within normal individual variation, the tagged piece parts are sent on to the customer with a detailed inspection sheet showing the instruments used by each operator to measure the characteristics so the customer can replicate the inspection if desired (normally not - FAI is just accepted and filed.)

Quality guys just train operators to use equipment and stand by for advice if asked.

So, most of folks in my organization performing Quality procedures do NOT have quality titles.

Health, Safety, and Environmental Specialist, which falls under the realm of the Human Resources department.

Quite a transition in the last 10 years, from Production Chemist, to QA Manager / Chemist, to Technology Leader / QA Manager, to Environmental Engineer, to Health, Safety & Environmental.

The one benefit to my past experience is how I can apply my schooling (B.Sc. in Chemistry), as well as my experience in systems (from the QA Manager function), to create a well integrated HSE management system.

Dean

We don't have a QC or QA "department" either. We have an Inspection Room, and we have two inspectors that work for the Plant Manager. I voted "operations" because I spend the majority of my time wearing my Purchasing hat - however, they do call me the QA Manager, which covers all of the other things I am responsible for. My business cards say "Purchasing Agent - Management Representative".

I have nothing to do with inspection of product and the Inspectors do not work for me. I work closely with them at times, for example I review and approve FAI's prior to submitting, and I am in charge of the Calibration Program and one of our Inspectors is the designated Calibration Tech.

I work in the Quality Assurance Department.

In our organisation there is no Quality Control Department as such.

The QC function is the responsibility of what I consider to be the Operations Department or as it is referred to here as Manufacturing/Production. I am trying to get the term "Operations" instilled here as I would like the term to refer to a Process which includes the activities of the prementioned areas.

We are very small in comparison to most organisations and there is a certain amount of multi tasking here.

Laurie

The new owners have a corporate position entitled "Director of Manufacturing Services". I have met the gentleman. He is a 6S Master Black Belt and tasked with QA and Lean.

The new owners have a corporate position entitled "Director of Manufacturing Services". I have met the gentleman. He is a 6S Master Black Belt and tasked with QA and Lean.I'm curious. I wonder if he's been with the company long. Did he have input in selecting/accepting your company for acquisition/merger? Usually, MBB of long standing in an organization busy themselves with much more than planning kaizen events.

Oddly enough, I have several MBB acquaintances. They all put their trousers on one leg at a time, just like "normal people.":rolleyes:

:topic: As I used the hoary line about "trousers on one leg at a time," I wondered how many female MBB are around. I've met lots of female CQM (ASQ certified Quality managers), but never a female MBB. Anyone know of one or more? I have to believe they must be out there. Where are they?

I like to think that I work in administration -- administration of the quality management system. I let other people decide if the products meet the specs or not. I work with those same people when we get a customer return. I administer the corrective action function. The people responsible for the product come up with the actual root cause and corrective action.

I work on projects, set up new processes, etc. It's fun, and keeps me out of trouble. :lmao:

I'm curious. I wonder if he's been with the company long. Did he have input in selecting/accepting your company for acquisition/merger? Usually, MBB of long standing in an organization busy themselves with much more than planning kaizen events.

Oddly enough, I have several MBB acquaintances. They all put their trousers on one leg at a time, just like "normal people.":rolleyes:

:topic: As I used the hoary line about "trousers on one leg at a time," I wondered how many female MBB are around. I've met lots of female CQM (ASQ certified Quality managers), but never a female MBB. Anyone know of one or more? I have to believe they must be out there. Where are they?

Yes he was indeed part of the process for the acquisition. When I first met him he indicated he had been with the company for 4 months.

Yes he was indeed part of the process for the acquisition. When I first met him he indicated he had been with the company for 4 months.When I was in the business of seeking and dealing with "target" companies, our timetable for companies "in play" (meaning they were actively seeking to be targets) was roughly 45 days from notice of in play status to decision if we wanted to bid and would ask for "due diligence" rights. For companies NOT in play, our "courtship" sometimes took up to six months of investigation (not full time) until we asked for our first date [asking for due diligence rights] (due diligence is to look at books, union contracts, pension liabilities, customer contracts, insurance contracts, patents, property and equipment leases, loan agreements, executive contracts, operations, etc.)

I'm certain the timetable is shortened a lot by acquiring companies in the intervening time since I was in the trade, but four months total time with the company barely seems like enough time to get acquainted, let alone work on an acquisition.

Do you know if your company was in play or was this an unsolicited merger/acquisition?

Not too many words: i'm Supplier Quality & Development Manager - Europe and working the central purchasing dept.

Interesting poll. Of those that offered opinions, only one openly admitted to working in a QA/QC dept. Yet 61% of all those responding say they work in a QA/QC dept. I always thought that QA/QC people were very opinionated, but apparently not.

When I was in the business of seeking and dealing with "target" companies, our timetable for companies "in play" (meaning they were actively seeking to be targets) was roughly 45 days from notice of in play status to decision if we wanted to bid and would ask for "due diligence" rights. For companies NOT in play, our "courtship" sometimes took up to six months of investigation (not full time) until we asked for our first date [asking for due diligence rights] (due diligence is to look at books, union contracts, pension liabilities, customer contracts, insurance contracts, patents, property and equipment leases, loan agreements, executive contracts, operations, etc.)

I'm certain the timetable is shortened a lot by acquiring companies in the intervening time since I was in the trade, but four months total time with the company barely seems like enough time to get acquainted, let alone work on an acquisition.

Do you know if your company was in play or was this an unsolicited merger/acquisition?

Unsolicited, management revealed that the owner had received a letter indicating that three companies had expressed an interest in our company and there intent was to purchase. The owner said "I am Listening". There was a few months of "wrangling" to settle on a single company. My understanding is that this was all done between the legal departments of each company.
Because of the time table i do not believe the "Director of Manufacturing Services" was part of the selection process but rather part of the due diligence evaluation team.

I'm surprised there are so many 'None of the above' responses.

I'm surprised there are so many 'None of the above' responses.
It may actually be a good sign. Perhaps companies are becoming less "stove-piped" by function. Or perhaps it reflects self-employed folks.

From reading the replies here it looks like I am one of the few people with a clearly defined title in QA. I work for the government and am given a job title of 1910 Quality Assurance Specialist

My title is also clear - Quality Assurance Engineer. Our QC department is folded into the production process.

The corporate philosophy, as told to me when recruited, was to push quality out to the organization with an emphasis on training so that employees would proactively use the system. Unfortunately, my impression to date is far from the philosophy (I'll have been here 4 years in January 05.) We have middle managers who conciously don't support/follow the decided upon quality management system, and the impression I have is even if noted in an audit upper management won't do a whole lot about it. Just enough to clear the audit finding so it won't cause a problem during our next 3rd party quality system assessment.

Training in how to use the system has so far been minimal - a lot of here it is of the form - this is the new/changed procedure, read it and use it. (Some departments/processes are doing a pretty good job, and we are producing decent product, but things could be much better if we were really following a Deming based system of PDCA.) I just believe we'd be much better with more work at the plan/prevention end.

HI!!!
I work in the North America Quality Department. There are 4 people in my department, including my manager.
We have 7 manufacturing sites across the US, Canada and Mexico. We build Desktops, Workstations and Laptops for one of the major computer manufacturers.
Officially my title is ISO Program Coordinator. In 2004, my main task was to assist our sites in achieving their ISO 9001:2000 registrations. We were successful. :D Now, I am going to try and standardize the Level 2 procedures as much as possible. We have managed to pull everyone under 1 Quality Manual, but I am getting some resistance with the Level 2 documents. :frust:
My new project for 2005 is ISO 14001:2004 and OHSAS 18001:1999 registrations for all of our sites. I just completed Lead Auditor training for 14001. We are also seeking compliance with our Customer's Social and Environmental Responsiblity guidelines.
Its going to be a busy year around here. :mg:

For me, "None of the above" = "Calibration".

In the organization where I am working, the calibration labs are organized as part of a production division. There is a separate QA/QC department but they are a support function and are mostly concerned with regulatory compliance and (external) supplier quality audits.

I have no influence to change anything because I'm a contracted engineer and therefore expendable at any time. (But so far I've managed to hang on for five years -- and the last 3-1/2 have been very rough!)

My opinion (for whatever it's worth) is that calibration IS a quality function and shuold be organized as part of the quality function if there is a separate one. If there is no separate quality function then calibration should still be organized with the other support functions, not production.

Why is calibration a quality function? In any business what produces "stuff" (which can be objects, bulk materials, energy, biologicals -- anything except information or deep thoughts) there are measurements of physical properties being made. Those measurements are data used for decision-making. Many of the decision deal with the quality of the stuff that is produced. In order to have any validity the data must come from measuring equipment that is calibrated.

I had to vote for none of the above. Where does belong, or you would name, project management. In a factory, where you continuously have new projects, as the project lifecycle goes, from 4 years, to one or half a year. You are involved, product creation, and delivery as well, from concept to ramp down.
György

Hi all
I am the Quality Manager in the QA Team, I manage a team of 7, which also includes 3 Quality Line Technicians (one for each shift).

All other operational personnel are quality control, but report to their departmental Manager. My line Techs are there to Implement task level quality control based on QA standards, policies, and procedures, participates in reviews and audits, promptly reports results of audits to the team leader, performs corrective actions or process improvements in response to QA findings, manages and controls defects/errors and corrections, tracks the status of defects/errors until closed, test and inspect products at specified stages in the manufacturing process to be sure that the products are safe, meet customer and food safety requirements, and perform as well as designed and so on............................

I can sympathize with Kevin H...........we unfortunatley have similar cultures!!! We have difficulties in getting people to understand their responsibilities involving QC also........grrrrr This is one of my projects that I am focusing on this year..........training in understanding QA & QC and defining responsibilities.........

JJ

I work in a department all by itself with only auditor that audit the quality system. Unfortunately we report into manufacturing which limits our leverage to close out findings in our audits. QC is a separate department often we find ourselves duplicating efforts. Even as we audit to and the take the process approach, our company is run by the organizational departmental approach very segregated. Its too big for its own good.

I don't work for or in a "department". I am on the totem pole at the top, a straight shot outward of the 2nd in command. I am the QA Manager/ISO Mgmt Rep and I do not have a single soul that reports to me. The "QA Manager" title came from QS-9000. But it really doesn't apply to me IMO.

I voted "not one of the above" because my function (QA/Compliance) is
a) part of the sales group and
b) encompasses both QA and Safety

:bigwave:

I voted "not one of the above" because I will joing next week to the Spanish government as Industry engineer in the Industry department:

Tasks:

1) Authorization of electrical lines and facilities
2) Expropriations

So basically the Automotive world is finished to me, but anyway to be here for me is a hobby or a drug :lmao:

Let me be the first to congratulate you on your new post Javier! :applause:

I hope you will find time to keep posting here - I've always found your opinions and submitted examples to be interesting and useful. :agree1:

Best wishes

Alex

:bigwave:

I voted "not one of the above" because I will joing next week to the Spanish government as Industry engineer in the Industry department:

Tasks:

1) Authorization of electrical lines and facilities
2) Expropriations

So basically the Automotive world is finished to me, but anyway to be here for me is a hobby or a drug :lmao:

Javier, Congratulations on your new job. :applause: I hope you enjoy it and I know you will do well. I'm sure you won't miss the automotive mandates and hassle.
Always look forward to your posts.

None of the above as well, am quality manager for all our European locations.
Used to be in supply chain organization, but I'm now "upgraded" to report directly to top management. It's a one man show, so no departments or anything. I do feel my new position fit the job better though.

Me too. I work on Quality Systems and Regulatory Affairs :cool:

We report into operations, and unfortunately focus most of our internal auditing there where it really is not needed. The admistrative and design processes get away with being unstructured and shoot from the hip and regularly get hammered by external supplier quality audits. We tend to believe that if everyone is responsible for quality then no one is. Previous attemps at the integration of quality into operations led to the elimination of quality related activities such as final inspection, training and documentation whenever the industry had a downturn with no alternative process to fill in. We find that the more hats people wear, the less they wear any one particular hat well (jack of all trades, master of none problem). Thank goodness our tier one customers demand ISO registration as a supplier because our group wouldn't exist if they didn't.

I work in QA Dept. for seven years, responsible for ISO9001,TS16949 and HR training .

I belive I answered Quality, but now adays due to budget cuts and few people doing more work. I get to work in all department now H.R. for the mean time (just to lighten their load). yeah how about QS :bonk: . So, jack of all trades here folks and master of none..
I'm not your qualified guy, BUT I STAYED IN THE HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS! :lol:

Information and Decision Solutions which is another way to show the significance of Information Technology within the overall company success.
Wells

Information and Decision Solutions which is another way to show the significance of Information Technology within the overall company success.
Wells

Your department is called "Information and Decision Solutions"? I liked it better when it was just "Data Processing.":D

Your department is called "Information and Decision Solutions"? I liked it better when it was just "Data Processing.":D

Those were the days of punch cards, tapes and 10 pound printouts......;)

We're giving away our ages....:)

Stijloor.

Tapes? Do you mean paper tape or mag tape? I've worked with both!
Wells

Tapes? Do you mean paper tape or mag tape? I've worked with both!
Wells

As well as duct tape, no doubt. :D

An interesting bias in the departments that one could work in.

What happened to 'Sales' or 'Customer Service' or 'Order Processing'? I guess we're just not that important...............or perhaps being lumped in with 'Other' goes to show how lopsided the poll is going to be. Pity really, having been in Sales in one capacilty or another for over 15 years..........

And after all that time doing 'contract review' and determining 'requirements related to the customer' and 'requirements related to the product', we probably aren't that important after all.........

Maybe it's true what they've been saying about Sales folks all these years.....

An interesting bias in the departments that one could work in.

What happened to 'Sales' or 'Customer Service' or 'Order Processing'? I guess we're just not that important...............or perhaps being lumped in with 'Other' goes to show how lopsided the poll is going to be. Pity really, having been in Sales in one capacilty or another for over 15 years..........

And after all that time doing 'contract review' and determining 'requirements related to the customer' and 'requirements related to the product', we probably aren't that important after all.........

Maybe it's true what they've been saying about Sales folks all these years.....Well . . .
You're doubly cursed, Andy - sales AND "a transplanted Brit!"

An interesting bias in the departments that one could work in.

What happened to 'Sales' or 'Customer Service' or 'Order Processing'? I guess we're just not that important...............or perhaps being lumped in with 'Other' goes to show how lopsided the poll is going to be. Pity really, having been in Sales in one capacilty or another for over 15 years..........

And after all that time doing 'contract review' and determining 'requirements related to the customer' and 'requirements related to the product', we probably aren't that important after all.........

Maybe it's true what they've been saying about Sales folks all these years.....

I have added a poll answer, just for you and anyone else that might be involved in the Sales and Marketing groups.

Sales is always important they are the groups that get the money, quality folks just help keep the customer happy, in my opinion.

I work in the Quality Assurance department, responsible for maintaining the QMS & EMS systems to ISO9001 and ISO14001 standards.

What about Purchasing? :)

I work for Corporate - Management Systems Cell which implements & maintains QMS, EMS, ISMS, OHSAS, CMMI throughtout the organization.

I am working in the quality assurance department. A single person responsibiilty is to maintain quality through audits, CPA, organize management review meetings. etc.
I am ambitious, self motivated. CQA (ASQ) & CQE (ASQ). :cool:

"Not one of the above" = manager of Regulatory Affairs. We also have a Quality Department, with its own focus. We both report to the President.

RA and QA sometimes are focused on the same issue, in which case we can double-team it. At other times we have separate agendas.

We make medical devices, so perhaps we have more total RA/QA issues to be addressed.

I m working in Quality Assurance department responsible for QMS for ts 16949 & also in projects like sixsigma & others. I m involved in New component development, Customer Visits & Audits, Internal audits ( Process / System)

I work in the Corporate QA Department and I am in charge of planning and conducting internal and external audits. Besides that I took on the tasks of heading continual improvements and lately the implementation of an enterprise wide quality software system.:)