rose24m03 said:
Dealing with MFG folks who for whatever reasons don't follow procedures is easy. (1) Management needs to follow SOPs and set as an example. (2) Explaining why it is necessary to follow SOPs. No, it's not "You have to do it or else...". It's not "You have to do it or else we are out of compliance." Using position power doesn't help them understand why. If you explain the logics, they would be more willing to do the right thing. For example, taking a pH reading right after adding a 50kg of acidic buffer is not good, because it needs time to be mixed evenly or else you would end up either with more acidic/basic than you wanted it. Those errors can be corrected sometimes but not always. Throwing those hardwork (i.e. rejects) doesn't help you, doesn't help the department, doesn't help the company, and definitely doesn't help the customers.... Most of the time MFG technicians do want to know the WHYs. Unfortunately, many management and other departments usually look at the technicians as someone who have no college degrees and thus not worth their time to explain WHYs because those "I am so holy" labelled technicians as someone who are dumb. But seriously, isn't it better to do things right the first time? Fixing mistakes over and over again is quite costly.
The real challenge, I believe, is how to make design/R&D engineers follow procedures.
It's like :mg:
The real challenge, I believe, is how to make design/R&D engineers follow procedures.
Caste systems are dangerous because theory doesn't always match reality. The technican must be consulted because he or she may have a critical piece of input that stymies those degreed professionals. They are often intimately familiar with their machines, materials and processes.
Both of these goups can get overly comfortable and allow slop to enter that could compromise quality. For that we have system checks.
Management has the prerogative to insist that procedures are followed for product and service integrity. The entire system is responsible to ensure that happens efficiently and effectively; preferably with the aim of requiring fewer formalities as we go because things ar ebecoming so bullet-proof.