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SCRLC Panel Discussion. Lessons from Quality Movement*. Quality assurance through final product inspection is the last resort.
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Lessons from Quality Movement* • Quality assurance through final product inspection is the last resort. • Inspection does not improve quality. Screening is expensive, and it is susceptible to two kinds of statistical errors known as Type I (labeling a conforming item as nonconforming) and Type II (missing a nonconforming item). • Assuring that the process is functioning in an in-control state is preferable to final product inspection. • A process that is out-of-control will produce many more nonconforming items. Detecting the out-of-control state, identifying the causes, and restoring the process to an in-control state in a timely fashion will always improve quality. * Source: Hau Lee
Lessons from Quality Movement • Quality assurance requires total organizational focus. • Everyone should be aware of the quality imperative. Quality is not just the responsibility of the quality control department or quality inspectors. • Prevention is always the preferred strategy. • Companies should strive to install processes that ensure nonconforming items cannot be made or, if they are made, that can immediately identify and correct them before they turn into defects. • Quality should be designed in. • Products need to be designed so that they are less likely to be produced with defects. Processes must be designed so that the process variation is at a minimum.
Managing sub-tiers • Managing sub-tiers is critical. Issues: • How to build sub-tier visibility? • How far back in the supply chain do you go? • What actions do you as “OEM” take and what you leave your tiers to manage? • Supplier Relationship Management in a “risky” world • Can you still play by the old rules? • Squeezing suppliers & then expecting them to be resilient • Developing structural flexibility • Supply base flexibility on technology / process rather than product
Organizational Issues • Preoccupation with failure • Treating any lapse as a symptom that something may be wrong with the system • Reluctance to simplify • Necessary but caveats • Sensitivity to Operations • Cannot develop a big picture of operations if symptoms of those operations are withheld; developing situational awareness • Commitment to Resilience • Premium on training, imagine worst-case conditions and practice equivalent fire-drills • Deference to Expertise • vs. deference to authority
Metrics Related • How do we take into account competitive reaction during a disruption? • Do our present metrics capture this effect? • And what if the disruption is in “their” supply chain?