The customer or IATF16949 audit outcome: the problem-solving process is not effective, not according to the customer requirements, or you face re-occurred failures.

I have seen two typical reactions to such a non-conformance:

organize training for the whole team
- HR will get the task, and they will send the team to outside or in-house training.

Job well done. The issue is close, right? (No, not at all as I already wrote about it in this separate article.)

The Quality Manager needs to sign the 8D before closing.

Unfortunately, this usually will not save the world, but we can have the next wildcard if this happens:

the Plant Manager will also review and sign the reports before sending them out to the customer.

Why do we expect it will be an efficient solution to prevent insufficient 8D reports landing at the customer?

What will change from this action?

Let’s assume that the next level managers are really quality professionals and know what they should look for. (I think it is not evident – and not a requirement – that the next level manager will have the professional knowledge to identify the reports’ issues.)

If this is the case, we will still have the timing issue – it is not easy to find free time with a plant manager to review 8D reports. This can have a negative impact on our response time to the customer, which can initiate the next negative evaluation.

Imagine a big organization with many customer issues. How long will the manager have the time and patience to review each case deeply?

What can we solve with the supervisor’s advance review?

In a short time, it can help.

We can detect obvious unlogic issues, no technical solutions.

We can also expect that the engineers will make more precise reports because they do not want to confront their managers. They try to avoid unpleasant moments. This positive effect will last as long as the manager will have the time and passion for closing reviews.

Is it not showing a lack of trust towards our colleague? How long do we plan to micromanage our colleagues?

Should we not understand the real root-cause behind the weak reports?

How about our Quality Management System (QMS)?

We have to understand the systematic root-cause.

What is the exact cause of insufficient reports?

Are we sure that it can only be a competence issue?

If so, which competence should be exactly improved? How exactly can be improved – besides the joker “send them for training!”?

How was the individual competence assessed before, and which actions were defined to improve?

Why did we not detect it?

How is it possible that the customer or the auditor highlights the incomplete 8Ds for us?

There are so many questions we need to ask ourselves.

8D reports signed off by managers can help in a short time, but that is not a sustainable solution.

Do not stop with simple answers without understanding the systematic issues behind.

As always, think in system with Pro Automotive.

If you are interested in reading articles about automotive quality management topics, best practices, case studies, follow Pro Automotive.

by proautomotivequalityservices

Problem solving

How to put your organization into escalation?

13th October 2020

Many years ago, I continued my career as a customer quality engineer at a new company.

I wanted to show my abilities to the team to prove that I am a quality professional.

I did not have to wait too long. We received a new quality claim from the customer on Friday afternoon (as always).

⁃ Yes! I can do that! – that was my first thought.

The issue did not seem too complicated; one small part has not been properly fixed.

Among other containment actions, we immediately implemented some extra operations to make sure the parts are OK.

We discussed as a team; the defined actions were appropriate and safe.

Everyone thought we are finished until the claimed part arrived, and the root cause analysis can be continued.

But I raised the following question:

⁃ Is there a similar part for the customer where such an issue could happen?

⁃ Well, yes. – answered the process engineer. But that produced at a different line, that is another application, but the fixation method is similar.

⁃ Ok, in this case, the similar containment actions should be implemented as well. Let’s not wait until there would be the same type of claim from the customer. Use the lessons learned!

The team was not too happy, especially on Friday afternoon, but they accepted my decision.

Finally, all actions have been implemented for the other part number as well.

At the end of next week, the defected part arrived, root causes have been defined, corrective actions were scheduled, everything seemed to be normal.

Certainly, the containment actions remained in place till the final implementation and validation of the corrective actions.

Everything went smoothly till I have received an angry e-mail from the customer about a claim with the other application, but it affected more parts.

No, it was not the same improper fixation issue. That was a totally different function problem.

Due to that claim, we have received the escalation letter…

This happened in my first month, customer escalation, I had to start organizing my trip to present what happened.

Well, that was not the perfect opportunity for introducing myself, which I imagined before.” Warm” welcome could be expected.

I took that case very seriously. I organized 8D meetings by the line, involved all experts, including the operators, but we could not understand the root cause for occurrence.

Other containments were in place; therefore, the customer was protected from more failed parts, but it was not enough because we still found occasionally NOK parts.

Escape was clear, but how it occurred?

The team performed lots of experiments based on the fishbone analysis, but we did not get closer.

I addressed different operators from different shifts and spent enormous time on the shop floor, but still no success for weeks.

One day I got lucky.

I was on the shop floor again, chatting with the operator, but continuously watching what and how she was doing.

Suddenly, I recognized that one assembly tool got slipped while she was doing the extra operation I asked a long time before due to the different claim about the other part number.

The tool hit a sensitive part, and the set function was lost.

Yes!!!

We did some trials, verified in the lab, and the failure has been successfully reproduced.

Now we could get out of the escalation after the risk has been eliminated by a robust action.

Several months later, I had to explain the whole story to the ISO/TS16949 auditor. We went to the line where he understood everything.

I will never forget what his comment was.

⁃ You did a good job. But I recommend that next time you use the PFMEA better.

What happened?

We introduced an action as a lesson learned to a different product without proper risk assessment.

The other product was smaller. There was less space for the assembly tool, which increased the risk of slipping the tool. The tool hit a sensitive part, and the already verified function got misadjusted.

Do not expect that one proven effective action will have the same efficiency on other products as well, even if they have many similarities. (And make sure the final test is really the final test.)

Lessons Learned?

You can make a mistake if you do not perform proper risk assessment while you implement lessons learned.

How can you even make a bigger mistake?

If you do not apply lessons learned at all.

As always, think in system with Pro Automotive.

If you are interested in reading articles about automotive quality management topics, best practices, case studies, follow Pro Automotive.

by proautomotivequalityservices

Problem solving

Speak the quality language!

29th September 2020

This is bullshit! – shouted the customer and suddenly caught the ashtray from the table and dropped it towards my colleague. The massive object hit the head of the guy. Silence spread over the room.

This story happened a long time ago. I traveled to the Far-East to present our actions to the OEM customer. That time I did not understand what happened, how it could go so wrong.

No question, physical aggression is not acceptable, not even from the customer. However, this memory accompanied me over the years.

Why did not the customer understand us? How could he not see that we were explaining the real cause and the effective corrective action?

Indeed, the English could be an issue as none of us was a native speaker. But that does not explain everything.

The first reaction, which lasted several years: the customer did not have the patience to understand us, probably he had no idea about our manufacturing process.

Now I have a different opinion.

I still believe that the customer was rude and behaved unacceptably.

We can not change such people. However, we can change our communication.

I realized that as a quality expert, I only might speak about facts supported by data.

We have to rule out all emotions from our presentations about quality issues and the solutions.

Our intention should be to prove the direct connection between the root cause and the rejected part.

Saying that the root cause is XXX is not enough – we must have evidence about it, the best if we can reproduce the failure. Same about the corrective actions. Have a study behind the correction, which proves its effectiveness.

Use well-known quality tools, e.g., 5Why analysis (for occurrence, escape, and the system as well), fishbone but with verifications behind, capability analysis, MSA studies, etc.

I had customers from the USA, Mexico, Brazil, China, India, South Korea, and many European countries. They behave differently. They have their communication style, English knowledge, familiarity with the process, and product.

Many of them will shout first over the phone, they will explain how stupid and incompetent you, as a supplier are.

Our target should be to improve the relationships with the customer, therefore we must eliminate all emotions and unnecessary arguments without facts, which are not based on data.

They all speak the quality language. Customers will have their confidence in you and your implemented actions if you use the quality tools properly.

Do not try to change the customer. Change your communication.

As always, think in system with Pro Automotive.

If you are interested in reading articles about automotive quality management topics, best practices, case studies, follow Pro Automotive.

by proautomotivequalityservices

Problem solving

Quality engineer in new position – too busy to learn?

25th August 2020

— Nobody ever did similar thing here before. – I was told by a surprised operator when I showed up in working clothes, ready for working on the production line.

–I just would like to learn from you. – I answered.

I took the opportunity in the first week at the new company when usually there are fewer distractions.

I went to the production line to work on the stations which belonged to my responsibility.

I was trained by the working operators, spent at least 2-3 hours on each station. The next day the same.

How does it usually go when a new quality engineer is hired by a company?

The first week: get familiar with the company, the colleagues, someone will introduce the process by walking and stopping by the stations while operators are producing parts.

From next week: meetings, new problems, meetings, and finally meetings again. In the meantime, he/she updates some work instructions, plan some process modifications, and explain the solutions to the customers.

Unfortunately, the engineer is too busy to review existing procedures, but that is not so important as he/she is an experienced engineer…

How can we do it better?

Is it really the right approach? Who is responsible for such a poor onboarding, the company or the individual?

What I did in my last 15 years: did what the operators had to do to produce the parts.

The benefits of working on the line as an engineer:

get to know some operators personally
understand
- the process steps,
- the connections between workstations,
- the used company phrases
- the applied controls
- the difficulty of the work

I gained so much from such a habit in the past:

the operators felt that we were equals as I did not keep the usual distance with them
- I experienced some anomalies in the process which made the operators’ life difficult – with some quick fix, they sensed that they could count on my support
- they turned to me later when they experienced any special issue, or contradiction in the work instruction, improvement possibilities…
during customer issues, I immediately had an idea where the issue could occur,
I was confident about my process knowledge in front of the customer during audits

Certainly, with such a method, you will not immediately become an expert of the process, but you make an important huge step to better understand it.

What is more, you will establish open communication and trust with the colleagues on the shop floor.

We do not need to blame the onboarding system at the company and therefore miss such a great opportunity, but we can be proactive and do the first step to improve our own onboarding.

When it is done, we can propose an onboarding system improvement – but we should never forget that we are also responsible for our own learnings, not only HR or our managers.

Do not miss such a great opportunity to learn about the process – and about the colleagues on the shop floor. Think in system.

by proautomotivequalityservices

Who should the 8D sign off?

How to put your organization into escalation?

Speak the quality language!

Quality engineer in new position – too busy to learn?

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