What it is about QC

Quality assurance only as good as it helps to timely identify the problems and to imrove the manufacturing process. If its sole purpose is to find defective product out of the whole lot leaving production - it is just a waste of resources.
And I do believe that majority of workers want to do a good job. Unless they are demotivated or some kind of substance abusers. So they need just help and support, not kind of another guy checking whatever they have done.
 
Not only is the 100% inspection a very expensive process, it also makes it easy for the people producing the knives to do sloppy work because if they do produce a lemon, the inspectors will catch it.
 
I've built products...(no, I'll not say what sort, I'm a bit paranoid). Making a quality anything takes time and effort, ie money. Yes, yes...I know, the old "it takes money to make money." At a certain point in "my" industry, management decided it became more important to make money in the easiest way possible, rather than to make money by first making a quality product. Once that happened, the skids were greased, and quality went to hell. If you want to see where the problem starts, look higher up the corporate pyramid; the vast majority of workers will care about their product if they're allowed to and rewarded for doing so. I haven't met too many people who are proud of making turds for a living.
 
I've been very involved with QC and it really takes everyone to be involved to be successful . Automatic systems can inspect every part but someone has to care and someone has to stop production to fix things and that can cause a BIG reaction !!
 
I agree with most of the comments. I started out in a textile mill many years ago and ended up my career as a department manager. There is no such thing as quality control, they cannot control quality, however quality assurance is another matter, than can help that the quality produced is excellent and consistant and help the production staff do a better job, this is what Chris Reeve does.
 
Wayne Whitney said:
I agree with most of the comments. I started out in a textile mill many years ago and ended up my career as a department manager. There is no such thing as quality control, they cannot control quality, however quality assurance is another matter, than can help that the quality produced is excellent and consistant and help the production staff do a better job, this is what Chris Reeve does.
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+1 Wayne.
 
Did a search for this story and I see it's now passed off as another so called urban legend.

http://www.pcuf.fi/~pjt/pink/tqm.html

I don't know if it was ever in The Wall Street Journal or not, but it was around a long time before 1994. I had a copy clipped out of a Quality trade periodical (TUV Rheinland) and taped to the wall over my desk.
 
aznpos531 said:
I find that workers that respect and take pride in their profession are a thing of the past. You just don't find that kind of professionalism and dedication to one's job anymore. A shame, really.
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You can, but for every one, there are a dozen others who don't... and while a dozen can make up for one, one cannot make up for a dozen. :(
 
Here's a couple of other fun things from a Murphy's Law collection:

Robertson's Law: Quality Assurance doesn't.

Wrights's First Law of Quality: Quality is inversely proportional to the time left for completion of the project.

Brien's First Law: At some time in the life cycle of virtually every organization, it's ability to succeed in spite of itself runs out.

Rogers' Observation: In a bureaucratic hierarchy, the higher up the organization the less people appreciate Murphy's Law.

Grelb's Addition: If it was bad, it'll be back.

Cochrane's Aphorism: Before ordering a test decide what you will do if it is: 1) positive, or 2) negative. If both answers are the same, don't do the test.
 
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The basics in Corp America for QC are as follows:

If it costs more money it's not going to happen.

If it costs less money it will happen.

Quotas are more important than Quality.

The bottom line is more important than Quality.

If the customers really think that the companies care about them they are dead wrong, the guy sweeping the floor cares more about the customer than the Corp Management does.

Every corner will be cut and then they will start cutting payroll and working the people even harder, then once they get the chance they will more the whole operation overseas so they can cut even more.

The workers likely care more about the products than the Corp Management because all they care about is their pockets and most have Golden Parachutes so if the Company goes under they will still get their Millions.

When the Expenses start cutting into those huge Corp Bonuses expect layoffs and lower standards.

We see this in just about all things we buy, even food, the packages just keep getting smaller as the prices keep going up.
 
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I think a lot of workers in modern production plants are pretty detached from the actual product these days. People tend to be more machine operators than craftsmen, per se. Watching a control panel, it can be tough to spot a 'bad batch' if all the operator signals are 'in the green.' I don't think a bad or defective product is necessarily attributed to employee laziness or lack of pride/diligence.
 
I admit I don't know much about manufacturing, but I do know I am getting VERY tired of the QC(cutting corners for profit, or whatever the problem may be) coming from a few american made knife companies lately. I have had to send three back in past two months, and they didn't come back in much better shape. The time, trouble, and paying the postage to return is getting old.

I have had terrable luck in the past 6 to 12 months with several knife models. I have the same models(diff steel) from a few years back and none of them had a problem. Its got to the point that I am going to quit buying many American made factory knives, and will go custom or stick to CRK.

What seems really strange to me is that I have held several models made by the same companies, but made in other countries, and all of those where flawless.

Sorry to rant/whine, but I have talked to others that are having the exact same problems, so its not just a run of bad luck on my part.
 
Ken44 said:
I admit I don't know much about manufacturing, but I do know I am getting VERY tired of the QC(cutting corners for profit, or whatever the problem may be) coming from a few american made knife companies lately. I have had to send three back in past two months, and they didn't come back in much better shape. The time, trouble, and paying the postage to return is getting old.

I have had terrable luck in the past 6 to 12 months with several knife models. I have the same models(diff steel) from a few years back and none of them had a problem. Its got to the point that I am going to quit buying many American made factory knives, and will go custom or stick to CRK.

What seems really strange to me is that I have held several models made by the same companies, but made in other countries, and all of those where flawless.

Sorry to rant/whine, but I have talked to others that are having the exact same problems, so its not just a run of bad luck on my part.
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Once one gets used to things like CRK and or customs nothing else will really measure up to those standards.

I take production knives to be what they are and I am realistic in what I expect.
 
Ankerson said:
I take production knives to be what they are and I am realistic in what I expect.
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Me to Jim, but my expectations are having to be lowered far to much.
I've been buying many factory knives for 40 years, and haven't seen an over abundance of problems untill the past few years, and it seems to be getting worse. Again, some of them are the exact same model from just a few years ago.
 
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