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We spoke with Tim Rodgers, PhD, a senior faculty instructor at the University of Colorado (Boulder) and an expert in supply chain about a wide range of topics. In this excerpt, I ask Tim how to determine whether a company in your supply chain follows TQM practices. His well-informed reply leverages his years of experience in the electronics manufacturing industry.
Nolan Johnson: Tim, how can someone tell that they're working with a TQM company?
Tim Rodgers: Everybody is allegedly working on quality but it's hard to demonstrate that quality commitment. Virtually everybody is ISO 9000 certified, so I ask them to tell me about their quality management system. What are they doing to eliminate defects or to prevent them from occurring, not just testing? Don't show me test results or talk about production yields; show me how you prevent defects from occurring in the first place. What investments have you made? What training have you done? This goes beyond ISO 9000.
We used to say that ISO 9000 is doing what you document and documenting what you do. By itself, that does not guarantee quality. I want to hear more about your quality program and your commitment to quality. What did you do the last time you had a quality problem? What actions did you take? Did you shut down the production line? Did you just continue producing bad boards and sort them with a test at the end of the production line?
Johnson: Is it possible to tell from the outside? How do I know I'm working with a TQM company even before the audit?
Rodgers: I ask them to tell me a story about a quality problem they had recently. How did they respond? Tell me a story about using input from production staff. Tell me about using client input to improve quality and give me some specific examples. What data is being collected? Is that data based only on test results? That's nice, but it's not sufficient. You need to be measuring your processes.
To read this entire conversation, which appeared in the July 2023 issue of PCB007 Magazine, click here.
