Al Dyer said:
Amen,
A couple I have worked with were "seasoned" and knew their jobs and how to interract with the suppliers.
On too many occasions there have been "greenhorns" that graduated from Tim Buck U and feel they know how business is supposed to run and feel that they are one of the choosen few to save the world because they know how to fill out an X-R chart.
Although they don't know how to interpret data or work with the tools at hand.
Couldn't agree more
It would seem that the days of recruiting from the supplier base are long gone. Now the OEM's groom their own. It's been a while since I recieved assistance from STA. The role nowadays seems to be that of a paperwork chaser. In most cases these days I'm being told how to do my job by someone who couldn't do my job. I've dealt with some excellent STA engineers in my time but the new breed seem to be in the main about doing things by the book without understanding business needs, either for the supplier or even the OEM. Common sense just does not get a look in anymore!
I will point out that the above is only a general statement, I'm sure that some excellent STA engineers are out there.
tarheel said:
The reason they feel like everyone is fudging is that many times, they don't allow the supplier enough time to do the job right. Over 20 years many times the STA (SQA,SQE) would be pushing to get his paperwork long before the process was ready so he or she could make their charts all green. The supplier is in a no-win situation. If they hold up the paperwork, the STA gets upset and makes your life miserable, if you make up the numbers, you risk long-term problems. This is the core of the problem with the auto industry. My Japanese quality counterparts had no problem extending deadlines if required to make something right. Its no coincidence Japan still leads the world in quality.
One of my biggest gripes is PSW dates, as a supplier you give the date that is realistic in line with programme timing (often dictated by customer design release) you explain that until CAD etc becomes available timing may slip on PSW, (I've had issues where CAD has been late and tool maker manufacturing slots have been delayed and pushed into holidays, customer question why has leadtime for tooling gone from 12 to 14 weeks). The pressure is then applied, but not only from the customer, but in a lot of cases internally (financial reasons, 100% payment on PPAP another customer incentive to pull timing forward) to agree PSW dates.
The dates are moved and missed then the STA gets nasty escalates the slippage internally and gives the Engineer on the programme who gave original good dates a hard time. In a lot of cases it's a no win situation for the supplier, but half the problem is that the customer does not listen to and understand the suppliers reasons for the timing, they only look at dates they have to meet!
You're bang on with the Japanese, they understand what Quality is and how to engineer it into a product!

That's my moan for the day out of the way.
P.S. On the Acronym front, this file may make interesting reading. Don't know if it's been posted before but should cover most things automotive.