The company is going through major changes – the quality control department has been abolished. Is this reliable?
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Profit performance has been poor this year, so the company has started laying off employees; originally, a certain percentage of employees were to be laid off in each department. The departmental functions are still intact. But recently things have gotten a bit crazy: the quality inspection department within the quality control section was abolished, and its staff were transferred to the various factories (our company has several factories depending on the products; finance and human resources functions are centralized at the company level). Each factory now sets up its own quality control department for inspections, in addition to a testing center which was originally independent. It has to be canceled now too. Each branch factory has its own test bench for testing. Is this reasonable? Isn’t it as if the athletes are acting as their own referees? Will the branch factory conduct proper tests? They will surely just issue fake reports, because the branch factory manager is responsible for production and delivery, and his income depends on that. It feels like if things stay this chaotic, the company is bound to fail; it’s so frustrating. I’d like to ask everyone what their companies are like – are there any where, like in our company, the quality inspection and testing departments operate as separate units with their own ownership structure?
I overthought it and almost failed to understand it; it’s just a change in the form of management. Simply put, it’s changed from one company with several workshops to one main company along with several subsidiaries, each of which manages itself. Of course, the corresponding assessments must change; it’s not possible to allow quality accidents to occur. In other words, subsidiaries are now not only responsible for production but also for quality; with fewer tasks for the parent company, subsidiaries have more responsibilities
It would be great if that were the case. It’s called a branch factory, but in reality it’s pretty much like a workshop; the branch factory is responsible for the production of its own products, while the warehouses, as well as human resources and finance functions, are shared. The branch factory is in charge of production and delivery times, and its performance is linked to the manager’s salary. However, there are significant issues with product quality. However, our plant managers change very frequently, roughly once a year. The managers of the branch plants, knowing that the product tests were failed and there were quality issues, prepared fake reports in order to meet delivery deadlines. Ship it first; anyway, the customer doesn’t understand. When the customer comes to complain, they’ll blame their own problems. If nothing else works, bringing it back for repair is something that will happen much later. At that time, most cases of the pumps not meeting standards were kept hidden from the boss, that is, the president. Well, I’m not sure how to describe private enterprises. As far as I know, the quality control department and the production department are separate, because there are conflicts between the two.
In the past, there were frequent conflicts between the quality control department and the production plants. For example, when quality control detected that parts did not meet standards or that the procedures were inadequate, penalties would be imposed, which led to a lot of complaints from the production plants. Some operators even threatened to attack the quality control staff. The production plants often asked for fake reports stating that the products were qualified; most of us in the testing department refused to do this and insisted that they improve their quality on their own. However, even if the plant manager or deputy manager signed such requests, we still had to issue fake reports, and substandard products continued to make it out of the factory. If the branch factory conducts its own quality inspections and tests, one can imagine how they would deal with their defective products.
If it’s not up to standard, don’t sign. The plant manager and deputy manager need to keep evidence of any fake reports in order to protect themselves; in today’s society, people are crazy about money – even those in charge of inspection in Fujian were caught. Once you sign, it’s your responsibility.
In our workshop as well, quality inspection is handled by the production department; this approach works fine – it’s just that the management style has changed. There are no problems with meeting deadlines or submitting fake reports, as long as customer complaints are linked to the factory manager’s performance evaluation. I am also a manager, and one of the key KPIs for me each month is the rate of product quality compliance, which I attach great importance to. Besides, quality is the foundation of the manufacturing industry; without quality, there are no customers, and without customers, there is nothing at all. If those responsible for quality oversight don’t take care of it and inspection is needed to enforce standards, then this indicates two things: 1. The boss fails to hire the right people ； 2. The factory manager’s own capabilities and level are too low. A factory like this will collapse sooner or later
Quality inspection departments generally have their value; they usually operate independently. However, since they are considered auxiliary departments, it is not impossible to place them in the workshops as well. As long as reasonable rules and regulations are established and strict management is implemented, there should be no problems. The key lies in how to manage them
What are you in charge of, and is it closely related to your position?
It’s totally normal! False reports are also possible.
No delegation means no fake reports? What does this have to do with any level of management?
Cheating is involved……………………………………………………