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I am the sole quality person at a manufacturing facility that produces product from wood. Our customer is the RV industry.
First of all, I've been here 3 months and I have no previous qualilty experience. My job is to set up the quality systems and procedures for the company. The six sigma black belt who held this job before me was let go for failure to perform. The accepted attitude around here is that since our raw material is an organic and inherently imperfect product, that it's okay to let marginal quality product go to the customer. Then we get rejects back from the customer and I'm being asked how it got out the door.
I've been specifically told that my job is not to be an on-the-floor inspector, but to train the people on the floor to recognize quality product. I've been discouraged from defining our quality standard based on number and size of defect per product. Our products are laminated plywood panels. We have "trimmers" on the machine that use box knives to slit the continuous web of film to fit the individual pieces of plywood as it travels by them. They have approximately 4 seconds to trim and inspect the panel to decide if it's passable or not. That's the extent of the inspection. It's subjective and varies from one person to the next. We do have a person who has the authority to stop a line if too much poor quality product is produced, however we have four lines and she ends up filling in for people when they are absent, so she's not really in a position to be sure that each of our four laminators are accepting to consistent standards. I've suggested that she become a full-time person and that's also been discouraged.
I talked to my supervisor (VP of Manufacturing) this morning about this and his reply was that I was in a "tough spot."
Anyway... I realize I'm venting here... I'm just wondering if anyone else runs into these kinds of walls and how you handle it.
First of all, I've been here 3 months and I have no previous qualilty experience. My job is to set up the quality systems and procedures for the company. The six sigma black belt who held this job before me was let go for failure to perform. The accepted attitude around here is that since our raw material is an organic and inherently imperfect product, that it's okay to let marginal quality product go to the customer. Then we get rejects back from the customer and I'm being asked how it got out the door.
I've been specifically told that my job is not to be an on-the-floor inspector, but to train the people on the floor to recognize quality product. I've been discouraged from defining our quality standard based on number and size of defect per product. Our products are laminated plywood panels. We have "trimmers" on the machine that use box knives to slit the continuous web of film to fit the individual pieces of plywood as it travels by them. They have approximately 4 seconds to trim and inspect the panel to decide if it's passable or not. That's the extent of the inspection. It's subjective and varies from one person to the next. We do have a person who has the authority to stop a line if too much poor quality product is produced, however we have four lines and she ends up filling in for people when they are absent, so she's not really in a position to be sure that each of our four laminators are accepting to consistent standards. I've suggested that she become a full-time person and that's also been discouraged.
I talked to my supervisor (VP of Manufacturing) this morning about this and his reply was that I was in a "tough spot."
Anyway... I realize I'm venting here... I'm just wondering if anyone else runs into these kinds of walls and how you handle it.
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