Between allergies, physical disabilities, low tolerance for tyrannical management and my own inner restlessness I have worked in over a hundred different facilities in America. I changed jobs an average of every six months for most of my twenties and then spent a decade working for various temporary agencies which enabled me to travel a good bit of our country. Here are a few observations from my experiences.
Management generally stresses quantity over quality to line workers. Speed is extolled as more "efficient" than quality assurance because manufacturing one hundred pieces per hour with a ten percent error rate is better than manufacturing eighty pieces per hour with a zero percent error rate. Unfortunately, when you have errors a proportionate number of defective product gets through to the end-user.
Additionally, I have seen companies knowingly ship defective product in order to meet a contract's timeline, then listened as managers keep company face by explaining to irate customers that the source of the problem was bad workers. To maintain this illusion the company then fires or lays-off a few and hires in some new.
Third, the escalating use of temporary workers and the cleaning house tactic of laying off long-term employees, in order to decrease payroll and benefit obligations, also contributes to American Made QC problems. The longer people work at something the better they get. "Practice makes perfect." Experience not only increases the speed and deftness with which a worker can perform their duties, it also provides a knowledge and experience base for insightful oversight. Working on the same machine or at the same point of a process for years at a time allows a worker to pick-up on the idiosyncrasies of a specific machine or process step. This long-term in-depth knowledge, which only familiarity breeds, can not accrue when a labor force is constantly routed. Workers are most often performing at the crippling end of learning curves and rarely passing through to attain experience's most beneficial ends.
Workmanship is not the highest value in our current manufacturing society. Success is. The old adage that success comes from quality has been supplanted by the new adage that success comes by maintaining the lowest bottom-line. Profits dictate operating procedures more than craftsmanship concerns. Today's successful company is defined by its growth and posterity. Compromised quality is just another budgeted line item.
Not all companies are like this. I have had the good fortune to work for several companies where quality was more important than quantity. I submit that they are still the rarities.
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( The above was inspired by the article and comments from the topic of the day posted by the Gather Editorial Team on 12 May 2006 - /viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976751365 )
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Comments: 37
It is the culture that takes the time to change, as people naturally resist it, often subconsciously. It takes a commitment and years of training in many areas. It usually starts being implemented on the production floors, but every group that is to support that function is not in the loop, causing much frustration with workers, that need to buy in to the improvement process.. It's unfortunate that this is the way it is, but CEO's and Directors change often and the budgets that follow do too, creating a zig-zag course often called "Flavor of the Month" that disrupts the culture change. It can only succeed with employee involvement and far too often companies don't give it enough credence. Too often the ability to "say" your doing something, becomes more important than actually creating change. You can get there, but it is a fight. I was black and blue for years!
Thanks for the article.
Louis- I think that may depend more on the product you're producing. Where I worked "material" was by far more costly than employee wages. Because a guy owns a boat and a vacation home does not mean he is overpaid, and the job may not be his only source of income anyway. Wages have nothing to do with quality, and will only come if management is committed to it. The true cost of quality is in not having it. The amount of non-conforming material to be routed through material review boards, repaired, and restocked is huge. The poor quality that gets out the door has no additional cost per se, than the cost of a failed reputation. A true definition of quality is what the buying consumer expects it to be, not just meeting a blue print specification. A poorly designed part can meet all specifications but stink. A part that is designed, but not producible in a cost effective manner is also bunk. This is why it is so important not to just cram some quality program down the production floors throat, and leave out the rest of the company.
John, I agree that although wages are important - they are not the key to quality etc.
I hate to hear this. America needs manufacturing jobs. What will the manually called and gifted do? What other form of basic employment can we provide for the souls who enjoy or need to physically labor? The manufacturing base needs to be improved not removed.
Here's a slippery slope. Cost effectiveness being defined and dictated by bean counters whose job is to increase or maintain profit margins. The life saving value of a respirator or defibrillator should out weigh any cost effectiveness concern.
Anita- cross training of employees can be accomplished in a union shop as well. It is much easier to accomplish without a decrease in quality or production if there are process control tools in place. It's true that sometimes classifications can get in the way, but that happens in non-union as well. Often there are levels of job descriptions that step up pay as additional skills are added if written well. In my experience most people want to learn new things if given a fair chance. That said, if there is no trust in management, employees don't want to show someone else how to do their job (help train) because soon after they feel they might get laid off.
I've run both union and non-union shops, in both if employees don't feel valued, or involved it's bad. Too often managers put frosting (BS) on their relationships with employees, they see right through it fast, and the trust is gone. It's a two way street.
Nathan - Thanks for clarifying. On several points, your article has me drawing parallels to "Atlas Shrugged".
I work with a lot of companies -- many are probably the same companies you are writing about -- and there has been a recognition of three key principles that should be guiding business.
1) Customers are the reason they are there. Having customers is a privilege. They need to earn, and re-earn that every day.
2) Quality is the only way to ensure value. Six Sigma and other quality management protocols are spreading throughout the country, in businesses as diverse as Dell, Bank of America, AT&T and Ford.
3) Engaged Employees are the only way to accomplish items 1 and 2. Management is finally recognizing that an engaged (this is beyond satisfaction) workforce will create value for customers, shareholders and employees.
The companies who don't get this, who pay it lip service or who ignore these principles, are being punished in the marketplace. Do business with companies that provide you value and let companies who don't know why you won't do business with them.
Ultimately, consumers call the shots, buy the stocks and work the floors. Stand up and be counted.
These people who are working for their living hardly deserve to be accused of trying to live off of daddy.
Eric L. - Thanks for the nod to the positive.
If you have it, it would be nice to have a reference or link for the "Six Sigma and other quality management protocols" you mentioned. Inquiring minds, and all that.
Some of the highest quality American Made items come from the Amish.
Good managment is more than just telling people what to do. It's a coordinating of various things, similar to a conductor with an orchestra. Results are poor when all you do is bang on the podium and yell.
Here's a link to GE's website, discussing their prominent Six Sigma programs: http://www.ge.com/sixsigma/glossary.html
There are many, many others as well. A quick Google search for the term "Six Sigma" gets over 27 million hits.
Eric L. - Thanks for the links and the Google info.
The biggest problem I see with letting our manufacturing sectors wither has to do with how that will effect sustainable living opportunities for the less than college educated. When the plants close displaced working parents are not able to send their children to college. Creating more under-educated individuals in a society that increasingly requires higher education for the jobs that pay living wages.
We should be finding and establishing ways for China's growth, funded nad aided significantly by our nation's industries and consumerism, to cycle back and lift us up as well.
Picking up stuff around the house though, it is hard to find made in USA on much anymore.
The efforts to retrain the displaced worker's into other manufacturing technologies and the then growing computer industry eased the transition for many. But a decade later these jobs started being outsourced to overseas markets that provided cheaper labor. What shall we re-train them in now?