Submitted by Monte C. Guitar, PMPA Director of Technology.
Don’t wait for an outside auditor to provide the assistance to “make you better.” The best opportunities for improving precision machining operations will not be provided by your outside auditor. Here are our 3 reasons that precision machining companies are the ‘real experts’ on their processes and business:
Reason #1- Process Expertise. Who knows your processes better than you? You’ve been doing this stuff for many years prior to ISO being a condition of business. You bring in the auditor to assess your quality systems, not to consult on your business.
Reason #2- Limited expertise by auditor in your processes. To be truly expert requires depth of experience in both auditing and your processes. Unless the auditor worked specifically in your field, they lack expertise in your process. What they bring is quality systems expertise to evaluate your implementation.
Reason # 3- Standard is basis for the audit, not the auditor’s vision. If the requirement is not in the standard, then implementation becomes a business choice. It is easy for an auditor to describe the wonders of “one place I’ve seen” to a company that is looking for their own version of utopia. It is another thing to implement. Calibrate the good ideas the auditor brings to your firm’s available time and manpower constraints.
Top management should be concerned if they determine in a closing meeting that the best improvement opportunities for the company via the quality area were identified after an eight hour visit from someone who is not even fully educated to your process.
Great auditors recognize their role in helping precision machining companies improve their systems. Great precision machining companies recognize their responsibility to improve their implementation.
Denise Robitaille wrote an interesting piece in Quality Digest that might be of interest to you. Audits are an integral part of your business:
What do you think the auditor’s role should be?
Author: speakingofprecision
The current service center destocking will mean shortages and delays when manufacturing recovers. This makes raw material price increases inevitable. MSCI Report
Steel: US and Canadian first-half steel shipments totaled 14.8 million tons, down 43.9% year-over-year. US steel inventories at the end of the month were reported to be 5.98 million tons; down 44.4% from last year. Canadian steel inventories at the end of June totaled about 1.05 million tons, 33% below last year.
Aluminum: First-half shipments of 524,600 tons of aluminum were down 43.2% year-over-year for US Service Centers. US inventories at the end of June totaled 269,800 tons, a reduction of 44.1% from a year ago.
According to The Metal Service Center Institute-In Canada, first-half aluminum shipments totaled 65,100 tons, a decline of 26.4%. Month-end inventories totaled 31,700 tons, a decline of 15.7% from a year ago.
Sensemaking: Beware the “at current shipping rates, months of shipments fallacy” in the MSCI press release. This is simple arithmetic, not critical thinking. When demand recovers, “today’s current shipping rates ” are not going to be relevant at all.
The fact is these inventories are lowest since the early 1980’s, and when business resumes just a little bit, there will be nothing in the cupboard. And weeks and weeks of lead time to refill the pipeline.
The current service center destocking will mean shortages. Shortages will mean delays and raw material price increases. Delays and raw material price increases will mean higher prices for precision machined parts for finished products. You can bet dollars to donuts that the spotlight will be on you and your shop as you try to recover these increases- You’ll be called “Greedy business men fueling inflation! ”
So much for sensemaking.
Have a nice day!