Future of Quality Assurance Function in Manufacturing/Automotive sector

Hi All, I don't pretend to be an expert in Quality Assurance but here are some facts from ground zero. I'm sure you will find some time from your busy schedules to read as we are travelling in the same boat. This is for existing & future QA managers.

Are we worried about future of 'QA function' in manufacturing sector ? If not; we should be. This is not a threat but a glimpse of it. The people who are working in this function over maybe more than 15 years will definitely agree to this. We experienced a big revolution from QC to QA. The word 'CONTROL' replaced by 'ASSURANCE' and the entire concept took over. Yes, yes...I agree this is not yet 100% transferred from expectation to reality but we are on the path of it. 

Why QA ? The industry expected change in the approach from reactive to pro-active throughout the operations. Means...planning...more controls in place in advance...frequent reviews...elimination of non-value added activities...manufacturing quality. Terminology like '%' is dis-appeared with respect to rejection and 'PPM' came in picture. Nothing but the magic of numbers and it worked out. Bigger picture gets immediate attention. Those who did not update themselves or hesitating to update according to this new era of QA are unfortunately out of the flow; especially in automotive sector. IATF published ISO/TS 16949 technical specification in late 90s and rest is the history. It overshadowed all other automotive standards. Being unique, specific and reliable; this specification got worldwide acceptance. This boosted QA's role as both go hand in hand. Non-automotive sector also jumped into it.

How QA differs from QC ? Apart from theoretical definitions; More focus on supplier evaluations & development, trusting suppliers therefore sampling inspections at incoming, first off/last off inspection and SPC to avoid 100% in-process inspection during manufacturing, analysis of stage-wise rejections, 8D methodology and horizontal deployment for customer and supplier complaints handling, managing core tools i.e. APQP, FMEA, PPAP etc., imparting trainings, managing the quality management system and improvements etc. and so on.. Too much but not so or least interesting from management perspective. Why because none of these can be measured in terms of money being preventive tools. Cost of failures can't be assumed. Whereas KRAs of other key departments are directly proportional to money e.g. sales, sourcing or projects dept. COPQ is there but it consists lot of factors and contribution from other depts too. Do we think will we survive doing all above things consistently in our career for rest of the years ahead. Yes; we may survive if lucky enough but definitely will not grow. 

You might be thinking, what's the threat if everything is going well or going to be well.

Friends, Let's see some situations here & check whether you ever faced these in your career till date?

CASE 1 - You approved and released a supplier during new product development. Actually you tried to highlight the in-capabilities of supplier but everybody blackmailed you under the scope of 'team work'. Because of the time and cost pressures. To bridge the gap between customer expectations and feasibility about time and cost. Hushhhh. Your project got delayed and failed badly due to this supplier later. You try to justify, clarify but you ended up being at the gun point !!

CASE 2 - You set a smart sampling plan at incoming inspection, found the defectives, rejected the lot/material before getting issued to line and therefore avoided further process and possible keos. Great job done. But line stops due to the non-availability of material. Feedback from your Top mgt., why did we receive defective raw material?

CASE 3 - You raised a concern during production. Probably you caught a mistake of operator or in engg specification etc. Other people hate you which is obvious. You think you are on top as you found it and have the solution to improve too. & the Top mgt asks why now, why didn't you assure it earlier? Why did it occur ? You kept on thinking what exactly was your fault. 

CASE 4 - You show detailed analysis, 8Ds soas decreasing trend of customer complaints month by month, year by year. Expecting appreciation from customer and top management for your efforts. & unexpected feedback from the top guns, why not zero? 

You felt clueless, helpless, depressed, demoralized, cornered after all the fantastic efforts. Like nothing will happen good to you hereon-wards and that's the end of this world.

What went wrong? If we re look into the cases again, you will find yourself doing the best what you could at the respective situations. This is what is expected from QA. Does this mean your management or customer is in the wrong frame . NO. NEVER. This is the impact of changed scenario and market in this competitive world. Expecting excellence. & this is what i was talking about a glimpse of threat.

If we go case by case for the expectations;

CASE 1 - Team work doesn't mean compromising in your roles and responsibilities.

CASE 2 - We are paying suppliers to receive good parts.

CASE 3 - The purpose of FMEA and Control Plan being preventive core tools. It has to be developed in team with sincere efforts.

CASE 4 - Effective output of risk analysis, contingencies and all core tools.

Guys, management is smart & that's why they are at TOP. Haha !! It's not that they don't understand our efforts. Practically, it is understood that few of the things can't be eliminated completely due to process,product, business limitations and bound to happen. But the way of defending or presenting our efforts can be changed. Similar like IATF 16949. Goals of both TS 16949 & IATF 16949 are the same. But the methods of achieving are changed. When we receive any customer complaint; we are the culprit. If we avoid complaints; it's our job. We are hired for this. Friends,,cruel world..haha!! 

On the other side, it always keeps us motivated to do things better, improve gradually and continually !!

How can we utilize our quality time to overcome this ? What should we do foreseeing the need ? First of all, these situations are likely to come frequently in our daily business. Means we've to tackle smartly. Lets think about the Quality Excellence. 

• Assist your top management in assigning, defining the roles, responsibilities and authorities for all the designations. This will avoid 'yeh mera kam nahi hai' approach. This will eliminate lot of issues and don't forget you were MR as per ISO/TS 16949..haha !!
• Invest your time in planning especially during new product development. 
• Put a clear picture in front of management about your concerns and expectations during the development phase.
• Explore the adverse effects of not implementing the recommended solutions during serial production.
• Always spend more time on lessons learned. Collect more and more data, information. Analyze till you convince yourself.
• Implement FMEA wherever possible (not only for products & processes). Always think about probable failures in every aspect of work. Believe me, this is the best tool and will minimize you efforts required for rejection and every reactive analysis later.
• If you are not authorized for any of the tasks above; at-least raise right questions, at right time, to the right people. 

Thanks for your patient reading. I'll like to share more and more experience in upcoming days for all the QA community. If manufacturing is the heart, always remember 'we are the brain of organization'. See you next time until then...

keep reading, keep working, keep excelling !!!