Break the Blame Cycle

Quality control (QC) is often thought of as an effort to catch mistakes made by production. However, many times problems and solutions extend beyond just the manufacturing process. 

During the QC educational session at BCMC 2018, three panelists made a great case for the idea that quality control is everyone’s responsibility and that the best way to enforce this idea is through accountability. This isn’t about finger-pointing, finding the source of the error, and punishing them. This is about encouraging ownership of the QC issue and benefitting through a lesson learned and the creation of a new company best practice. In other words, the best way to improve QC is through measuring and managing lessons learned, not penalties paid.

This is illustrated well by what session presenter Jay Persak, general manager of a BFS plant in Wadena, Minnesota, says is what occurs in the cycle of blame (see above). When QC issues are nobody’s fault, they never have a chance to get fixed. By breaking this cycle, component manufacturers (CMs) are able to address the problem in a way that is beneficial and can hopefully prevent similar errors from occurring in the future. 

“A focus on QC in all areas of the business will result in fewer issues and the increased customer confidence required to keep happy customers,” says Jay.

Through testing, third-party inspections, and developing digital imaging software (digital edition page 27) to improve truss inspections, SBCA is putting a stop to the blame cycle. Use of these tools allows for better understanding of issues as they arise and a more focused solution to the problem. 

See digital edition for graphics.