Implementing a New Quality System in a Paint Shop

[Mark Cost]

Great points!
As far as this being the beginning, I assure you it's not. We have a ways to go before we get into this system - if at all. I do, however need to know if it is viable in order to plan my course. I don't mind stepping out of the box as long as our needs and the customer's needs are met.
There are two purposes the "grading system" would serve (IMHO):
1). Ensure each employee understands the description of the job they are assigned to do (a 5 can do anything; a 1 can only do what 1's do);
2). Goal-setting

I can imagine a system that tests based on time (level 1 being a new hire doing non-production tasks until the probation period is over) and skill (level 5 being a painter who has spent "x" time under a level 5 AND has met the knowledge and testing requirements - still undetermined).

As for in-house resources and skill, I believe we can glean from our customer's the requirements (e.g. blast profiles, DFT mils - what do our customer's require and how often does "John" meet or exceed those expectations during testing?).

The idea is to build a workforce of individuals who are working to be great rather than a workforce that is working to get out.

Thanks for everything!

 

[Mark Cost]

Good stuff. I will be here often.

 

[harry]

Mark, thanks for coming back to keep us updated. Regarding your previous post, had you seen the skill matrix from our post attachments list?

 

[Mark Cost]

Absolutely brilliant! If we do decide to go this way, I will definitely look at implementing one of the two. I like the AVX, especially. The descriptive will help, as well.

 

[SvanRaay]

if you are going to go the route of having a level 1 thru 5 or something similar you should start with some sort of training outline. you define what makes a 1 thru 5 and what they are allowed to do as far as work (suprevised/unsupervised), equipment they can use, and frequency of retrain. also include they training required and having training course outlines with written evaluations wont hurt.

I have worked for a number of painting houses in my time, so if you would like you can contact me at my personal e-mail to give you my two cents on any subject ([email protected])

 

[Tuzzie]

Congratulations on your company decision to become ISO-compliant for your customer sake. I had the responsibility to do the same for a Company that coated armor for military trucks as well as commercial jobs like valves and furniture.
I suggest that you learn what you can about the ISO9001 Standard, have top management make a list of key objective goals that are crucial for business success (part defect rate, on time delivery rate, etc.), and standardize your core business processes first. Then decide what customer processes are important for standardization (part cleaning, priming, topcoating, paintline uploading/downloading, process auditing, part inspection, packaging, etc.) and train/qualify your personnel to be competent to perform these tasks. The next three phases are to document these activities, audit the practices and obtain corrective action on the gaps. After that, you are ISO-compliant and 80% of the way to ISO-registration. It is important to have a plan and management support to be successful. Good Luck! Ron