Some people may take this as a brag, but it is fact, nonetheless:
I walk the talk!
If I ever heard the quote cited, I'd stop everything right there and launch into the lesson I always preach about commitment, cooperation, and understanding.
In the case of one defect in 2,000 or 200 in 2,000, I'd say, "Let's talk about what it takes to improve that. Can we afford it?" I'd certainly talk about prevention versus detection and naturally would follow with root cause investigation, corrective and preventive action.
The difference may simply be that I make it my business to know what I'm talking about. I don't try to defend the indefensible, but I sure am willing to work on improving.
I give a lot of answers and advice here in the Cove, but there isn't a day that goes by that I don't learn some new kernel I add to my own repertoire. I regret I don't always take the time to publicly thank the person, primarily because I don't want to derail a thread. Now that I've written this, I will make an extra effort to make those thank yous.
The point is that even a chewing out can serve as the basis for learning.
For example, we learned the guy who made the comment isn't really aware of the limitations of trying to "inspect in" quality - that once the part is made and has a nonconformance, it's too late to prevent the nonconformance. We need to help that kind of person understand the big picture.
To the hapless inspector (a willing worker in a Deming Red Bead scenario) who gets the chewing out, we need to add the nerve to speak up and say, "How can we improve the process so there are fewer defects to find?"
In order to have that nerve, the inspector (or his boss, the Quality Manager) needs in depth knowledge of best practices and the limitations under which his particular organization must work. I often use the phrase (and have a bunch of lapel buttons with the phrase) "Knowledge is Power!" Deming called it a System of Profound Knowledge. The more people in an organization who have that Profound Knowledge, the more likely they will cooperate in finding more efficient methods to perform their business. If you don't have Profound Knowledge about your organization, you should make an effort to attain it. If you do have Profound Knowledge, you should make an effort to share it.
My thank you for this thread:
Thanks for reminding me there is a long way to go before everyone understands that prevention is more efficient than detection. Thanks for giving me a reason to formulate and put in words something I haven't thought about in years. Thanks for the dose of reality that we have a long way to go to create a Quality profession where all the practitioners have the courage and knowledge to stand up to defend the right thing, and also the humilty to admit when there is room for improvement and the tenacity to work for that improvement.
