A relatively minor change in organizational structure can have a profound impact on an organization, and the change may not be nearly as great as it seems. For example, just as production workers can be taught to perform inspection, inspectors can be taught to make parts. After a year or so, you can merge the inspectors into the production activities and end up with a team of people who both make and inspect their own parts. Attrition sometimes makes it possible to complete this transition without any involuntary job loss. William Conway once told a story about a live-fire exercise from his experience in the U.S. Navy.
Inspectors are more a safety net than they are a quality tool.
If you expect things to go wrong, if you design your quality system to detect errors rather than prevent them, you're not going to make very much money. But if you take a proactive approach, you'll be so well-heeled you can buy one of those advertisements during the Super Bowl. SPC is intended to be used at the source of production, by production workers. With a little training and a little creative insight into organizational structure, everybody can grab a handful of free money. About the author Gregory P. Ferguson is quality manager of Parker Hannifin's Tucson, Arizona, facility.