Scary stories - the REAL consequences of poor quality

D

Dave.C

#1
TS16949 requires us to ensure personnel whose work affects quality be informed about the consequences to the customer of shipping parts that are nonconforming to requirements.

Although we have reinforced the issues of complaints, potential loss in business, line stop, recalls or actual failures in the field to our employees, I would like to reinforce this education with real stories of real events and the real consequences.

May I ask Cove members to recount stories of their own personal experiences or incidents they have heard of?

I will start the ball rolling.

We are a Tier 2 supplier manufacturing a safety critical part that ends up on a well known 4x4.

Part of our manufacturing process involves the forming of a connector. Out of the blue our tier 1 customer rings us in a panic saying our parts are "popping off" vehicles as they are driven off the line.

The first thing that happens is our people are rushed to lineside to help sort the problem and avoid a linestop situation. Even our Sales director was sat lineside reworking parts.

Analysis of failed units revealed a dimension out of specification which was causing the part retention failure. Containment of suspect parts is immediate and root cause of the failure is traced to a tooling repair which affected the dimension.

Following the repair the part had been first off checked to all the critical dimensions and significant characteristics, and passed for production. The faulty dim was not one of those checked because our customer also manufacture an identical part themselves and was the design authority for the part. They identified all the critical dimensions and specified SPC on them, but the dimension in question was not covered by any of these checks. Our process FMEA didn't highlight the need for any further checks.

We were able to identify the date of the repair and isolate which batches of parts were affected, but traceability was hindered by our customer not recording any of our batch data supplied prior to using our parts in their assembly. Therefore traceability to which vehicles might be affected became a major cause for concern. Teams were then sent out in the field to dealerships and holding areas to replace parts on many many vehicles. Some valuable but hard lessons were learnt, but had the problem been any greater it would probably have shut us down.

Scary.:mg:

Who's next?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Elsmar Forum Sponsor

Wes Bucey

Quite Involved in Discussions
#2
Was the lesson learned really:
ANY change in production process should trigger a complete FIRST ARTICLE inspection (every dimension) and may also trigger a FUNCTIONAL TEST (including mating parts) before approving full production?

Most of my own tales involve customers who foul their own nests and try to place the blame on the supplier. Almost always the foulups involve internal communication failure where changes are not communicated to all affected parties.

One notable foulup involved a nickel-plated steel part which had a lip "swaged" by customer to hold in components after assembly. They replaced the swaging machine with one of a different manufacture and immediately began experiencing failure of the plating on the swaged lip. Customer blamed everyone from machinist to steel mill to plating company and cost everyone in the supply chain thousands and thousands of dollars in investigation costs before we learned about the swaging machine change. Ten minutes examination showed the problem was a rough tool surface on the swaging machine which was tearing up the plating.:bonk:
Turned out the customer's own Quality department had no notice of change in machinery and "assumed" nothing had changed in customer's process, thus looking externally for the cause of failure.

To answer some queries in advance:
No! Customer did not offer to reimburse supply chain for unnecessary expense.
 
T

tarheels4 - 2007

#3
I was doing a EMS surveillance for a company 3 years ago that was QS-9000 registered. The QMS/EMS management representative had been there two weeks and the previous management representative had vanished without a trace 6 months before (I see letters to the editor in the local newspaper by this person on occasion).

The new guy showed me their calibration system and all there was was an empty binder titled "Calibration System". All the gages had calibration stickers. The new management rep said the guy just purchased stickers, dated them, and stuck them on the gages.

This kind of story makes me wonder how they got registered to QS-9000. And this registrar was not PJs folks.

Fortunately they didn't have any EMS monitoring equipment that required calibration.
 
D

Dave.C

#4
Wes Bucey said:
Was the lesson learned really:
ANY change in production process should trigger a complete FIRST ARTICLE inspection (every dimension) and may also trigger a FUNCTIONAL TEST (including mating parts) before approving full production?
Yep!:bonk:
 
Thread starter Similar threads Forum Replies Date
Marc Scary Bridges around the World Travel - Hotels, Motels, Planes and Trains 11
G The DREADED...."White Out"!!! *insert scary music* Document Control Systems, Procedures, Forms and Templates 25
smryan Shi##y Shipping Stories Coffee Break and Water Cooler Discussions 5
M Changing Notified Body - Anyone have stories to share CE Marking (Conformité Européene) / CB Scheme 3
Marc Customer Service - Three Stories About Improving Customer Service Funny Stuff - Jokes and Humour 3
D Time is Money - Lean Thinking - Stories of Lean Improvements Lean in Manufacturing and Service Industries 13
GStough 5S Implementation Success Stories - Anyone Care to Share? Lean in Manufacturing and Service Industries 18
M Stakeholder Analysis - Practical success stories wanted ISO 9000, ISO 9001, and ISO 9004 Quality Management Systems Standards 5
C Microscope Failure Modes and Horror Stories ISO 9000, ISO 9001, and ISO 9004 Quality Management Systems Standards 8
Anerol C ISO 9001 Awareness - Could you share some funny ideas, stories or cartoons? ISO 9000, ISO 9001, and ISO 9004 Quality Management Systems Standards 3
Jim Wynne How much third-party sorting is unnecessary - War Stories Wanted Misc. Quality Assurance and Business Systems Related Topics 2
C Slow News Week Stories Funny Stuff - Jokes and Humour 10
M Stories relating to Thinking Outside the Box Coffee Break and Water Cooler Discussions 15
C GainSharing / ImproSharing Success Stories? Misc. Quality Assurance and Business Systems Related Topics 3
S Stories for understanding ISO/TS 16949 Clauses IATF 16949 - Automotive Quality Systems Standard 3
J Audit Horror Stories General Auditing Discussions 36
R ASQ Certified Quality Manager - Any horror stories? Has it helped you in your career? ASQ, ANAB, UKAS, IAF, IRCA, Exemplar Global and Related Organizations 15
A The application of the 8D analysis - Seeking success stories to share Nonconformance and Corrective Action 2
Claes Gefvenberg Coworker - Animal stories Coffee Break and Water Cooler Discussions 26
Steve Prevette Two Quality Assurance Stories Registered Visitor Articles Archive 1
Q Seeking an Update on GE's Use of Six Sigma and Success Stories Six Sigma 1
B Seeking: Life success stories of how the APQP process and tools helped your company APQP and PPAP 2
Claes Gefvenberg Any IA success stories? Internal audits that have resulted in great improvements? Internal Auditing 18
L Kid stories Coffee Break and Water Cooler Discussions 17
A Successful 9001:2000 Certification Stories ISO 9000, ISO 9001, and ISO 9004 Quality Management Systems Standards 2
S Lean Manufacturing - Anyone doing it? I would like to hear the horror stories Lean in Manufacturing and Service Industries 3
B Calibration in real life ISO 9000, ISO 9001, and ISO 9004 Quality Management Systems Standards 3
qualprod Best approach to get a real value as average? Statistical Analysis Tools, Techniques and SPC 6
S Stability accelerated vs. real-time Other Medical Device Related Standards 3
S Standards for real time stability for medical devices Other Medical Device Related Standards 2
optomist1 DFMEA - Real Life Drama FMEA and Control Plans 25
R Real Example of a currently marketed Procedure Pack CE Marking (Conformité Européene) / CB Scheme 1
M FDA News FDA Safety communication – Interim Results of Duodenoscope Reprocessing Studies Conducted in Real-World Settings Medical Device and FDA Regulations and Standards News 0
A Accelerated aging and real time study EU Medical Device Regulations 2
M Interesting Discussion Surface Cleanliness Real Time Test Tools General Measurement Device and Calibration Topics 2
Q Real Time Electronic SPC/Control Charting Statistical Analysis Tools, Techniques and SPC 4
M Real-time-aging Validation - ISO / ASTM Standard - Class 111 Orthopedic Implant Other Medical Device and Orthopedic Related Topics 1
shimonv Storage Conditions of 5-40 Celsius - Accelerated and real time aging - Dilemma EU Medical Device Regulations 3
P Is ISO 13485 of November 2016 Real? ISO 13485:2016 - Medical Device Quality Management Systems 4
Ninja What is the most useless {real} documented procedure you've seen? Coffee Break and Water Cooler Discussions 4
I How to sample in a real time release process? AQL - Acceptable Quality Level 4
M Is a Real Time Stability Study required to determine Expiration Date? EU Medical Device Regulations 9
O Medical Devices - Legal Manufacturer and Real Manufacturer EU Medical Device Regulations 5
R Self-Certification Is Not a Real Thing - an IAF article Registrars and Notified Bodies 13
L How to represent the ?real? or ?actual? players in organizational chart? Misc. Quality Assurance and Business Systems Related Topics 3
Marc CBS Taps the Real Stephen Colbert as Letterman's Replacement After Work and Weekend Discussion Topics 1
S Stated Accuracy of Portable CMM Arm and Real World Use Inspection, Prints (Drawings), Testing, Sampling and Related Topics 9
T Classification of Real-Time Thermocycler for CE Marking CE Marking (Conformité Européene) / CB Scheme 3
B Permissible Exclusion for Clause 7.5.2 in a Real Estate Company ISO 9000, ISO 9001, and ISO 9004 Quality Management Systems Standards 5
R Real World Example of Document Control Failure Needed Document Control Systems, Procedures, Forms and Templates 5

Similar threads

Top Bottom