So, what have we learned in the past 60 years? Do we want to start over? (Real Quality Control/Inspection began during WW2.)
Just this:
Company owners cannot and will not expend the resources to train their workforce to become “Quality” conscious. That’s why Quality groups were created in the first place. People who have skills in other areas such as Finance, Business Administration, Machining, Electronics, etc., have their hands full doing what they have been trained to do. Company owners would like to “Double up” on their employee’s responsibilities because they think it’s easy and, of course, profitable. It’s a pipe dream to think people will “police” themselves and adhere to policies without real accountability.
Most Company owners, and their bean counters, want a bigger bang for their buck and will not tolerate employees moving cautiously about to insure that policies are being followed. We have seen first hand Management’s wrath when a process or shipment is stopped or slowed because a “Quality” person attempted to exercise diligence to his/her area of expertise. I recently observed a company “owner” rant and rave at his employees because of a third rejection (same parts-gears) from a big customer. He decided he would forego formal Quality Control ($$$) and rely on his talented work force. They, to the man, said that it was because the owner pushed and pushed and did not give them ample time to inspect their own work. Nor did he give a damn about established policies. After all, the cops were gone, along with his headaches. (He thought.)
That’s usually what happens to anybody who attempts to abolish traditional Quality Controls. I have obtained good positions during my career because companies were in trouble with their customers and needed a Quality system to get back in the good graces. They had figured there was no value added and eliminated their QA/QC work force. Why? They can, for a while, that is.
Does anybody out there think that you can just make employees think about Quality Control/Assurance the same way a professional does? Once the training sessions are over, everybody goes back to what they were doing. If it were that easy, everybody would be doing it. What happens when audits reveal policies are not being followed? Do you fire/counsel your Shop Foreman, an excellent worker, or maybe an Engineer? Do you blame everybody, but yourself? What about worker morale? After all, you won’t have a QA Mgr. or an Inspector to vent at. There’s a good value added issue to contend with. Employee Morale. Somehow, that’s not as important as figuring out how you can eliminate a Department that does add to the bottom line, even if you can’t measure it.
You can dream about a world without dedicated Quality Professionals.
You can fantasize about making all your employees Quality conscious.
You can continue to question the dollars spent on Quality Control and the value added issue.
As a company owner, you can imagine all you want. But, the money spent on a good Quality Control Department and the resultant gain in Customer Satisfaction is immeasurable. Until something better comes along, and it won’t be in my lifetime, worry about improving your processes and maintaining a skilled workforce that allows you to rely less on traditional Quality Control. Because like it or not, you’re stuck with it!
