Why are quality people busy putting out fires? A wind-control mindset is imperative?

People who work in quality management in organizations are usually busy. Busy doing what? Busy putting out fires, busy doing the aftermath of mistakes made by others, busy cleaning up messes for others.

Busy putting out fires is very common. Why is this so? Let's not rush to answer that question.

One of the quality management tools commonly used in today's enterprises is 8D, and the basic idea of 8D is that when a defect occurs, we should immediately take measures against the defect, find out why the defect occurs, and formulate countermeasures to prevent recurrence.

I think 8D thinking is outdated. The result is usually that we are too busy putting out fires and dealing with inventory, work in progress, and raw materials. The next response is usually to change the cross-departmental process that has been running for a long time. Since everyone is familiar with the process, there is usually resistance to change the process, and implementation is incomplete. The hustle to put out the fire comes with it.

So, we should slowly phase out tools like 8D and use tools for risk control, such as FMEA.

Do you remember the differences between the 2015 and historical versions of ISO 9001? There are many. One of them is the emphasis on risk-based thinking. Emphasis on risk identification and response. Risk-based thinking, to put it bluntly, emphasizes risk control and prevention. When risk control is done well, you don't have to be busy putting out fires.

Updates to each version of an international standard like ISO9001 are definitely not haphazard. Then why to the 2015 version of the emphasis on risk identification, risk control? My personal analysis is this:

After years of operation, the International Organization for Standardization has also seen the current state of quality management of enterprises, and the phenomenon of quality people busy putting out fires.

There is also the fact that with the rise of Internet companies and the advent of the big data era, risk control is even more important. What is closely related to us is that many Internet companies are recruiting for positions such as risk control supervisors. International standards like ISO9001 should of course keep up with the times.

With the development of artificial intelligence and the popularization of robots, a lot of manual work in traditional manufacturing will be replaced by robots. The change brought about is that the quality problems caused by human negligence that have plagued the enterprise for many years will basically cease to exist.

At present, in order to prevent the outflow of quality problems caused by human negligence, the usual practice of enterprises is to establish a large number of QC positions. This means that with the development of artificial intelligence and the popularization of robots, these QC positions will be eliminated. At the same time, the hidden danger brought about is that once a quality problem occurs, usually in bulk, it will bring about heavy losses. Therefore, risk control is especially important. We are engaged in quality management partners of the value of the embodiment is also here, in the risk control.