CHAPTER 10

Quality Is Free

(The Devil Is in the Detail)

Vignette: Defects Too?

The story goes like this: When an American company informed its Japanese product provider to send them all their manufactured goods with a maximum of a 5 percent defect rate, they were surprised to receive two packages: a big one and a much smaller one. The Japanese product provider accompanied its shipment with a letter expressing a misunderstanding of the order. Why would the client want the defects, too? Just to make sure they met the client’s requirement, they sent the defects, too, in a separate package.

Vignette: The Bicycle

Bill came into my office with his U.S. $20,000 custom mountain bike.

As the president of a high-tech seal-manufacturing company, this is exactly what I was looking for. I was curious to see for myself how a U.S. $20,000 bicycle looked like. Its yellow titanium/carbon mix frame made it extra light and strong. I could lift it with my index finger. I would have probably been able to use my baby finger, but I did not try to. Impressive to say the least!

The slim design and custom wheels looked like it was made for racing, which was its primary function. But the most important components for me were the air shock absorbers. This was the weak link. This is why Bill came to see me.

He complained that, when racing through some of the most challenging terrains in the world and in all kinds of weather, mud, water, and dust tended to creep into the air shock absorbers, thus reducing their effectiveness as well as his chances to win the race. He heard about my company’s unique product features and wondered if I could provide a solution to his problem. I obliged.

After a few weeks of R&D, we came up with a solution that met this client’s expectations. We developed a new series of snap-on wipers and seals that met the stringent requirements of the various environmental conditions under which they were to be used. After an on-site inspection of the product by the customer’s engineer, who agreed that the product met their specifications, we landed a substantial order that increased our production level by 25 percent. This justified the start of a third production shift until additional workstations could be built to meet the new production demand.

The deciding elements for the client were not only the product features, which surpassed expectations, but especially the quality control that we were implementing as a standard for all our manufacturing processes: 100 percent quality checks of each unit produced.

Having learned the devastating effect a faulty product can have on a client’s equipment, we had reviewed our quality-control process by introducing a final quality-control step into all our production procedures. All products were subject to a visual and size check for any defaults using a variety of specially developed gauges and check control tools. Only 100 percent defect-free products were shipped to the customer.

At first glance, this seemed like a costly step. Yet our price reflected the quality of our products; our customers appreciated this and were supporting us by continuing to order our products despite the price premium they commanded.

Quality has a premium value.

Vignette: Charged Air Coolers

Richard was referred to me by our corporate lawyer. Our lawyer helped me launch an initial public offering (IPO) because he was impressed by my company’s commitment to quality. He also knew of an Alberta company that had significant quality-control problems with the manufacture of silicon gaskets for charged air coolers in diesel trucks. His gaskets came from the Far East and did not meet the stringent sealing constraints they were supposed to achieve. Could my company take on this challenge?

Our specialty was polyurethane manufacturing. We had no experience working with silicon. The manufacturing processes were similar, with both involving some high-pressure injection molding. Maybe we could explore this as a growth opportunity. The potential could double our revenue base.

We had already implemented a set of reasonable acceptance criteria on the basis of “good practice manufacturing of rubber-based products” that had been applied as quality standards for our manufacturing product line.

I accepted the challenge.

Everything did not run smoothly at first. The high-pressure hydraulic press acquired from a California source leaked. The 4-in steel plates needed to ensure proper molding bent under the pressure of more than 20,000 psi! The temperature control of the curing oven was uneven. The gaskets produced did not meet the dimensional and visual standards expected.

Each of the aforementioned challenges was addressed and resolved successfully. After several months of R&D, we ended up with a gasket that met all the quality criteria our client required.

The client was impressed with our commitment to quality, our perseverance, and the end product. We received our first order, followed by others.

Perseverance pays off.

Lessons Learned: Never Give Up

Zero defects (ZD)i was the brainchild of a gifted and articulate young engineer named Philip Crosby, who conceived it while working as quality-control manager on the U.S. Army’s Pershing missile program at the Glenn L. Martin Company.26 In 1979, Crosby published his first business book, Quality Is Free.27

Crosby also introduced the DRIFT principle (Do It Right the First Time).28

Quality requires time and effort at the onset, which results in meeting client requirements and a proud workforce.

ZD is reachable.ii

iCriticism of “zero defects” frequently centers on allegations of extreme cost in meeting the target standard. Proponents say that it is an entirely reachable ideal and that claims of extreme cost result from misapplication of the principle.

iiZD was a management-led program to eliminate defects in industrial production that enjoyed brief popularity in American industry from 1964 to the early 1970s. Quality expert Philip Crosby later incorporated it into his Absolutes of Quality Management, and it enjoyed a renaissance in the American automobile industry—as a performance goal more than as a program—in the 1990s. Although applicable to any type of enterprise, it has been primarily adopted within supply chains wherever large volumes of components are being purchased (common items such as nuts and bolts are good examples). (Source: Wikipedia.)

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