Opinion | Quality professionals who adhere to principles: you should learn to say “no””

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The path of quality management requires perseverance； On the path of quality management, there are also traffic lights; quality professionals are the traffic police at these intersections. Many people and many company executives have asked me this question during job interviews at career fairs: “After working in quality management for so many years, what insights do you have, or what is your own understanding of quality management?” What do you think is the most difficult aspect of quality management work? If a customer wants to return an item, how would you handle it? What role do you think quality management personnel play? ” Many years ago, to such questions I would inevitably have replied in what could be described as a stereotypical and fairly standard manner: “Quality management is a highly principled endeavor; the key lies in implementation and training. It begins with education and ends with education... and so on.” ” Having worked as a production supervisor for one year, I have been engaged in professional quality management for nine years (in the fields of machinery, hardware, plastics, electrical appliances, and home appliances). It can be said that in almost all traditional manufacturing plants like these, I have essentially encountered virtually every quality issue that can or does occur. At this point, drawing from my years of practical experience and insights in management, I hold this view—though many may not agree with it: First, quality management isn’t as difficult as one might think; we simply make it seem too complicated for ourselves. Why do we always strive to find new quality management methods, rather than implementing and adhering to those that already exist? After decades of development and refinement, aren’t all the current methods used in quality management good ones? Second: In reality, for most factories, using inspections or even 100% inspection to reduce customer complaints and returns is indeed an effective approach at present. Even though many of us are reluctant to admit it, in practice we’re still following this “Chinese-style quality management” path. The same quality issues recur almost endlessly. In our responses to customer complaints, we often say things like, “Strengthen process control, require operators to conduct self-inspections, implement standardized management, strictly follow standard operating procedures, provide retraining, etc.” Once, twice, five times, ten times... Sometimes, we ourselves become desensitized to it, right? Perhaps we have heard too much of annoying long-winded \"talk\" and \"nonsense,\" but knowledge is indeed the foundation of quality management and is essential ； However, in the quality management efforts of traditional processing and manufacturing plants, knowledge can only serve as a foundation; it is not equivalent to experience. Therefore, I believe that: “Knowledge is not equivalent to experience; awareness should take precedence over knowledge.” To quote the renowned Crosby, often regarded as the “father of zero defects” in modern times: “We quality professionals never design a product, never purchase a product, never sell a product, and never manufacture a product...” “All we deal with are sales issues, marketing issues, design issues, manufacturing issues, installation issues, procurement issues, logistics issues, and service issues...”. If you ask me again, “What do your quality control personnel do?” ” So, I’d give the same answer: “Our quality control personnel are there to help you solve problems!” ” If you ask again, “What role do your quality control personnel play in the factory?” ” So, I would put it to you this way: “We quality managers are essentially traffic police on the road to quality management. However, we don’t create traffic lights, build roads, nor draw zebra crossings on them.” ； Our duty, rather, is to guide and supervise everyone in adhering to traffic rules ； Prevent running red lights, expose any violations of traffic rules, and promptly intervene. When necessary, points may be deducted from your record or penalties imposed for your non-compliant behavior. ” In 2013, a seemingly trivial incident occurred in Ningbo: a young woman ran a red light while on the sidewalk. As a result, the on-duty traffic police fined her 20 yuan (I think it was 20 yuan; I can’t remember for sure). In response, the woman loudly exclaimed, “I wasn’t driving! So what if I ran a red light? I’ll never come to Ningbo again...” What does this indicate? In fact, this should be a very common phenomenon that is both unreasonable and illegal. It’s simply an inevitable consequence of the fact that many of us turn a blind eye to it, or there is no strict and long-term effective regulation in place. This is similar to quality management in our factory. Yet, in reality, we often encounter such situations: If a worker or manager violates rules and regulations just to make their job easier, when you remind them or impose a penalty on them, they might immediately say, “I’ve always done it this way; I intend to keep doing it...” or “Why don’t you do it instead...”. If, as a department manager or quality control officer, you merely give a token reminder or ask a question without taking any further action, then you are essentially lowering the level of management. How can product quality possibly be guaranteed under such circumstances? “Rules are meant to be followed, not to accommodate any particular individual.” Therefore, I disagree with the notion that “large companies operate under the rule of law, while small workshops rely on personal discretion.” Aren’t large companies also started as small ones? At this moment, as traffic police tasked with quality control, have we persevered in upholding the rules? ! At traffic light intersections, there are always those people who try to squeeze across the road whenever there’s a chance, ignoring the red lights. They always come up with some lofty excuse: “I’m in a hurry; it’s fine since I’ve done this tens of thousands of times... Everyone else does the same...”. In the processes of material procurement, production, and packaging and shipping of finished products in factories, there are also people who fail to follow standard operating procedures and quality standards. There might have been a few instances of quality issues that the customer didn’t thoroughly investigate. Yet we always harbored a hopeful attitude, thinking, “Last time the customer didn’t complain; after doing this for so long, we’ve never received any complaints from customers...”. However, as traffic police on the path to quality management, we don’t focus on hundreds of incidents or how many occur over a certain period of time; rather, we aim to prevent that one-in-ten-thousand accident, or that single incident that might happen over a long period of time. There are some people who always act arrogantly on the road. Have they ever considered that if they get into a traffic accident, the consequences won’t affect just themselves? On the path of quality management at our factory, when product quality issues arise due to non-compliance with standard procedures, and some workers or supervisors are too lazy or unwilling to make improvements, we ask them not to utter those words: “Just let me sign it; I’ll take responsibility for any problems that occur.” This is not within your responsibilities, nor is it necessary for you to sign off on it. Even in cases of significant disputes, decisions must be made after comprehensive evaluation by relevant specialists from respective departments. When actual heavy losses occur, aside from the boss, it’s likely that no department manager can bear that responsibility. Perhaps all we get is a penalty, but who will bear the cost of the significant losses incurred by the company? ! (In Cixi City, Ningbo, there is a company that manufactures transformers and LEDs. Due to a mistake made by the production manager, the company was suddenly hit with compensation claims from clients totaling several million yuan. Although the owner decided to penalize the production manager with a fine of 70,000 yuan, the volume of business from what used to be a major client dropped by as much as 70% thereafter. For a company that had only two major clients, this had significant consequences.) Therefore, when people who are not quality managers say they will be responsible for the work of us quality professionals, at that moment we must say “NO”. What we should do is: persevere. When implementing “5S” management, I believe that those who have worked as quality managers or supervisors have had similar experiences: at first, it’s carried out with great enthusiasm, but after three to five months, it becomes a mere “routine task,” with superficial efforts being made time and again—resulting in both costs being incurred and resources being wasted. In fact, the path of “5S” management is also a journey that has a starting point but no end point. What we still need to do is: persevere. At my previous company, the boss invested several million to implement TPS (Toyota Production System/Lean Manufacturing). The consulting firm appointed the boss as the head of the TPS implementation team, while I was made the deputy head. At the beginning of its implementation, during the first few months (or half a year), there were no positive results at all. Instead, it had a negative impact on production: quality issues occurred frequently, and there was a high turnover rate among employees. Almost 90% of the entire workforce became disheartened ； But since such a large investment was made to implement it, we must heed and be cautious of the warnings given by the consulting advisors at the outset: “Many companies fail in their implementation efforts because they lose confidence after some time and find it difficult to persevere...” In the end, the boss persisted, and so did I. Gradually, TPS became well-established. (Although the boss’s perseverance might have been bolstered by the successful implementation of similar programs in two other companies with which he had connections, it was his persistence that ultimately led to victory.) My persistence stems from my belief that lean production might be a trend in the future development of production management in factories. Therefore, I persevere. Is the path to quality management really that difficult? Why don’t we use a skeptical mindset to consider whether our approach to quality management has deviated from its purpose? Core? For individuals at the quality manager level, they can also be considered part of the mid- to upper management of a company. For quality professionals in this group, their competence in quality management should be reflected in their understanding of quality management concepts and their mindset, rather than in their ability to use CAD software or operate certain measuring instruments... Pursuing management trends doesn’t necessarily improve a company’s overall quality management level. In fact, many companies implement SPC, PPAP, and FMEA merely for one purpose: to satisfy their clients. The implementation of TQM, the adoption of JIT, and other elements closely related to quality management—such as “full participation by all staff,” “process approach,” and “continuous improvement” as outlined in the eight fundamental principles of ISO—are gradually becoming numb in the minds and actions of some people, amidst one thunderous slogan after another... In reality, we all know very well just how much these measures have actually improved our management level. At this point, we no longer need any more sophisticated theories; we simply need to earnestly and consistently implement the feasible quality management activities already underway and the systems that have been introduced. On the path to quality management, there is no such thing as a “savior”. A newly hired quality manager isn’t up to the task, nor is a quality director who has been in the role for a long time. In terms of current corporate quality management, it can basically be said that we’ve reached a mature stage in terms of skills and knowledge. Therefore, if one constantly expects newly hired quality managers to bring about numerous innovations or to turn the company’s fortunes around—then most likely, all one will get is disappointment. Perhaps on the current so-called “Chinese-style quality management” path, most factories are still far from achieving total quality control involving all employees ； However, I believe that as the person in charge of quality management within a company, even if 99% of people fail to consistently uphold and maintain quality standards, the quality manager must persevere until the end ； And one must never adopt a conformist mentality, thinking that “everyone does it anyway, so no matter how hard I try, I can’t change anything.” The path of quality management has a starting point, but no end. I firmly believe that quality managers should be traffic police on the path to quality; it is our duty to do everything possible to guide everyone in adhering to the “traffic rules”. Whether this path of quality can be traversed smoothly depends crucially on whether we “uphold our principles to the very end”. ” Source: Internet