Quality vs. manufacturing personnel requirements

[quest]

I have been told that in general, a manufacturing facility should have 1 qc employee for every 8 manufacturing employees. Has anyone else heard this?

[Jim Wynne]

In Reply to Parent Post by quest

I have been told that in general, a manufacturing facility should have 1 qc employee for every 8 manufacturing employees. Has anyone else heard this?

Not for a long, long time . Over the years I've heard several versions of that ratio, but they've been out of style for quite some time. Every company should have as many "qc" people as they feel they need.

[BadgerMan]

Sounds a little too generalized for my tastes.

What industry? What type of operation?

How do you define “QC employee”? Does that include QA type resources………those who’s tasks are preventive in nature? Or does that just imply “inspectors”.

What is a “manufacturing employee”? Is it just those individuals who are adding value to the product?

I know that second party auditors and regulatory types still like to look a this “metric” but it is so open to interpretation that it seems to border on useless information given today’s decentralized organizational structures.

JMHO. By the way, if it is an accepted ratio, we need to hire several QC employees!

[Wes Bucey]

I've been in the Quality field for forty years. I never heard that from any credible source.

[quest]

I agree there are many factors to consider when determining how many qc people you need. The question stems from the fact that many supplier audits ask # of manf employees vs # of QA/QC employees. If the goal is to have as many (or as few) as is necessary why ask. I think companies have an acceptable ratio that they feel is appropriate and looking to verify that you are close!

[Jim Wynne]

In Reply to Parent Post by quest

I agree there are many factors to consider when determining how many qc people you need. The question stems from the fact that many supplier audits ask # of manf employees vs # of QA/QC employees. If the goal is to have as many (or as few) as is necessary why ask. I think companies have an acceptable ratio that they feel is appropriate and looking to verify that you are close!

I don't think they're asking using the "vs." preposition; they're probably not looking for a ratio, as such. I think they're just looking for information. You should never guess or speculate when it comes to customer requirements. If you think that one of your customers might have a specific expectation in this regard, you should ask the customer about it.