ralphsulser said:
For 40 years I have been hearing manufacturing say:
"When in doubt, ship it out"
and quality retorts:
"When in doubt, scrap it out"
We all know these are not true, but is it a coincidence that wherever you work, and no matter the product you make or the market you sell to, people have an uncanny way of saying the same things.
Are these like "Urban Legends" for manufacturing facilities?
I don't know about urban legends, but I earned a large part of my college money working part-time at a steel (and non-ferrous) service center. That company didn't have the jargon of 5S, but we kept that place so clean, you could literally eat off the various work tables of saws, shears, torches, slitters. Despite all the protective oils on sheet and bar stock, the floors were maintained clean and dry. Folk from the office came out into the warehouse and work areas in suits, ties, heels & skirts, and never got them dirty.
Customer service was absolutely our job #1. Our rule always was "measure twice, cut once, then measure again" and no employee EVER considered sloughing off on the job.
I recently went back to visit after an absence of 35 years on a whim.
Of course, no individuals I had known were still with the company, but the ethic seems to have remained. The warehouse and work area were spotless. Many more automated machines were in evidence - therefore the number of people was less, but it still seemed to be a highly efficient workplace, dedicated to getting the customer what he wanted. For the heck of it, as I was being escorted on a tour of the facility, I stopped and asked some "audit-type" questions of the various workers. I would have been proud to have them in any shop I was in charge of. The guy running coil slitters knew the three major mills they bought steel coils from as well as the two major aluminum mills and similar info for copper and brass suppliers. He could name his biggest customers for aluminum and some of their special needs.
The guy running a cutting torch cutting shapes out of steel plate talked knowledgeably about his equipment and how he knew when it needed "tuning." When I asked about ISO - no one knew what I was talking about - they were not ISO certified and made no attempt to be compliant - they had their own Standard - the best!