The Unholy Trinity - Sales, design and production

[blackbird]

Hi gordon
good points there.
my approach to this typical attitude is to make all interested parties understand what quality really means.
by that i mean, all touch points, how it's sold, how it's delivered, value for money, after service etc .......... you know the score. so i would get all 3 round a table & explain that if we sold the product to the customer poorly [that's poor quality], if it's designed wrong [that's poor quality] if we manufacture it wrong [that's poor quality], believe it or not after a while these guys finally get it, so purchasing understand that if they buy the wrong commodity [that's poor quality] so on & so on. I did a survey as part of my yearly review with the whole workforce & asked them 'WHAT DOES QUALITY MEAN TO YOU?
out of 70 people (from top to bottom) 58 said 'it's about the product' this analysis helped me enforce the quality message . i could see (long jaws) and hear the pennies dropping when i explained it as above...... i'm now trying to get them to understand the 7 wastes in relation to their own processes........... but i'm leaving manufacturing till last.......... hope this helps.

 

[ScottK]

It won't make you friends but does it make many enemies?

Depends on how you present the findings.
If you're a jerk about it and just throw around NC's you certainly won't make any friends...
but if you come across as "hey - let me help you solve this, I'm not just here to throw rocks." it works out much better.

Of course there are insecure people who will resent any interference in their little world. In that case... oh well - let the CAPAs pile up until the noncommittal senior management gets commital.

 

[CarolX]

Depends on how you present the findings.
If you're a jerk about it and just throw around NC's you certainly won't make any friends...
but if you come across as "hey - let me help you solve this, I'm not just here to throw rocks." it works out much better.

Scott - how very true. Presentation can be everything!

 

[ScottK]

Scott - how very true. Presentation can be everything!

"I'm from the government, I'm here to help."

 

[BradM]

Depends on how you present the findings.
If you're a jerk about it and just throw around NC's you certainly won't make any friends...
but if you come across as "hey - let me help you solve this, I'm not just here to throw rocks." it works out much better.

Of course there are insecure people who will resent any interference in their little world. In that case... oh well - let the CAPAs pile up until the noncommittal senior management gets commital.

Well stated, and the reason why this has an element of a circular argument.

If your management believes/understands the value of a good quality program, they will embrace opportunities for improvement.

If they see quality as a.. well... not very valued, they will see observations/findings as a challenge to them and the "system that works".

 

[Gordon Clarke]

Blackbird,
You must have been born with "the gift of the gab" or kissed The Blarney Stone
Anyway, your powers of persuasian must be pretty unique and I hope your employer knows this. Do you have any "trick" or "technique" you use to get them to sit down without pointing the finger at each other - apart from pure conviction and logic?
What I'd give to be a fly on the wall at one of your meetings


Moderator Note: I have removed the last sentence since it was unnecessary and uncalled for.

 

[Gordon Clarke]

This is a general remark but I hope still relevant. The use of abbreviations for titles, jobs, functions etc. in here is proliferous and I hope I'm not the only one that doesn't understand them all. Is it a great inconvience to write what abbreviations stand for before using them - at least first time?
Especially contributors from non-English speaking countries might find a "translation" a help. Many people I know are afraid to ask such a question for fear of "losing face".
If it is only me then I'l learn to live with it

 

[Jim Wynne]

This is a general remark but I hope still relevant. The use of abbreviations for titles, jobs, functions etc. in here is proliferous and I hope I'm not the only one that doesn't understand them all. Is it a great inconvience to write what abbreviations stand for before using them - at least first time?
Especially contributors from non-English speaking countries might find a "translation" a help. Many people I know are afraid to ask such a question for fear of "losing face".
If it is only me then I'l learn to live with it

We do encourage people to spell out abbreviations, at least on first use in each post. If there's something you don't understand, just ask--I do it all the time.

 

[Wes Bucey]

This is a general remark but I hope still relevant. The use of abbreviations for titles, jobs, functions etc. in here is proliferous and I hope I'm not the only one that doesn't understand them all. Is it a great inconvience to write what abbreviations stand for before using them - at least first time?
Especially contributors from non-English speaking countries might find a "translation" a help. Many people I know are afraid to ask such a question for fear of "losing face".
If it is only me then I'l learn to live with it

For those times you "just can't wait," try http://www.acronymfinder.com/

Since there are often multiple meanings, it may take some effort to piece the answer together using the acronym site in conjunction with the context in the post.

 

[RoxaneB]

I work for an organization that - for the most part - follows the rather Spock-like philosopy of "The needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few...or the one." One site or process may end up taking a hit or loss in an area for the overall advancement of the organization. We see this in Procurement, for example, where one site may end up paying more for a particular item, with an overal cost savings at the organizational level.

Why do we do this? Why do we accept not-so-stellar-looking results?

Because we are all working in the same direction. We know our vision, our objectives and have the tools and methodologies to help us get there.

When there is problem, it is human nature to start the finger-pointing. No one wants to be the one blamed for a error that could potentially cost an organization money, let alone its survival.

But this is where our root cause methodologies come into play. There may not be a formal corrective action document at the top management level, but they have all be trained on and apply problem-solving techniques, so that the issue can be resolved and the organization can move forward.

Sometimes Sales has erred, by either not discussing product application or product availability with the customer. Occasionally, the process engineers have been unable to develop a process that will guarantee the product meets specifications. Every now and then, production makes a mistake that impacts the physical quality of the product.

We look beyond the symptoms of the situation and dig down to find out why it happened so that steps can be implemented to prevent recurrence.

Evolving to this level or state did not happen over night. It took time...patience...and, I'm sure, countless sessions of finger-pointing. But this is where we are today.

And before anyone brings in cultural issues...we are owned by a family in South America, with 40-50% of the business controlled by our US and Canadian operations.