I know many buying offices here in China that have hired their own inspectors. In some cases it works very well. But, in other cases, defective batches are regularly allowed for shipment and everybody wonders how it happened.
My friend Hubert Delelis Fanien, who runs a training center for inspectors in Shenzhen, just published a very interesting article entitled Quality Inspection In China : Myth and Reality.
Internal inspectors are often finger-pointed but it is, in most cases, the responsibility of the manager. Hubert explains why, and I re-wrote some of his points below.
1. Specifications are not precise, and do not include a tolerance.
Even more common, there is no description of the way to control every point.
If nobody takes the pain to specify requirements in details, and if no perfect sample can be used as reference, how can an inspector do a good job?
2. A long list of specifications are given to the inspector
The ideal is to describe the sampling for each checkpoint: “check this point on only 2 pieces, check this point on all inspection samples, check the shipping marks only on 1 carton…”. Yet it is rarely done.
If all checkpoints look equally important, and if there is not enough time to do the job properly, the job will be done in a rush. Plenty of shortcuts will be taken — out of necessity!
3. No training
Many people seem to believe that doing quality control is simple and requires no training. Just look at the products and you will see if they are green instead of blue, right?
Well, it is not all that obvious. Here are a few competencies that require some training:
- How to calibrate testing instruments
- How to prepare the inspection area for highest efficiency and reliability
- How to pick up a representative sample
- How to follow a checklist, point by point, to ensure nothing is forgotten
- When to call the manager, and when to pick up defective samples
- How to give feedback to the process at the source of defects (in case production is still running)
I can see a few other reasons why problems are not always stopped (see this list). What do you think?
It’s not just buying offices that have this problem. These are exactly the problems I face with my QC staff at our factory. Lack of common sense is also a huge issue. Specs, tolerances and needed information is often not provided or unknown. Defective incoming materials are regularly accepted and cause more than half of our production issues.
Thanks David for checking in. You are right, manufacturers have the same problem with their inspectors… and, very often, with their entire quality assurance system!