Pareto is not the ONLY solution!!

As?the?automotive?OEMs?are?rapidly?progressing?towards?zero?tolerance?to?even?a?single? defect?and?follow?"Zero?defect?as?the?new?normal".?It?really?becomes?significantly?important?for?an auto components supply chain?to?keep?a?check?on?their?respective in-house?defects.?There's?a?good?chance?of?defect?generated?in-house?to?get?passed?to?the?customer.

Basics of QC Tools say to follow Pareto analysis and work on top 5 as we cannot work on all the defects simultaneously. And even today, though the Tier 1s has progressed, but Tier 2s is still struggling with their rejection. So as per my experience, Pareto is not the only solution. We can work on a multiple issues together in a planned manner. Below are the hacks, from my experience, of how the same can be done:

• Study the rejection data thoroughly. The data itself tells its story.
• Out of all the defects, list down all of which the solution is known and can be easily implemented easily. Get the respective target dates and work on priority. This could be done by the actual working level team at the plant level.
• Any day you see even a single defect reported due to which function of the part can get affected / warranty can be reported / it requires high skill for the detection. Kill it at the source at the war foot basis.
• The defect generated due to process constraint due to the variation in the process. The simplest way could be just when the variation can occur and have some validation at a process level in a defined frequency i.e. Fortnightly / Monthly / Quarterly.

Once all this is in place & CAPA is taken care of then the various tools could be used for reducing the defects further i.e. Pareto --> Quality Circles --> Six Sigma.

This is not just theory, but a practical experience.