Quality Engineering
Working at GSC was like drinking from a fire hose. The flow is strong and it just keeps on coming! It was my responsibility to make sure that our product and processes conform to our own quality system as well as those of major aerospace primes such as Boeing and Lockheed. In addition to that I helped maintain our company's ISO9001 and AS9100 certifications through rigorous internal audits.
Working together with the product engineering staff, I validated all new and existing products. This included purchase order review, verification of the manufacturing plan, disposition of non-conforming material, work order review, final part inspection/qualification, creation of ballooned drawings, and first article inspection reports. I oversaw customer returns, MRB, root cause analysis, corrective actions and preventive actions.
I'm passionate about robust root cause analysis, corrective action, and preventive action. My typical process consists of the following stages:
- Containment - prevent further escapes.
- Root Cause Analysis - what REALLY caused the defect?
- Documentation of a 5-Why analysis
- Deeper investigation as necessary using other tools to identify all the potential root causes
- Corrective Action Plan - what will be done to correct the error?
- Preventive Action Plan - what will be done to ensure the error doesn't happen again in the future?
- Corrective/Preventive Action Verification Plan - what are we going to do to ensure the corrective and preventive actions are robust and effective?
- Corrective/Preventive Action Follow Up - Systematic auditing of the process to ensure continued effectivity.
I really like this plan. It's a combination of the GSC RCCA program and the Boeing RCCA program.
For more in-depth problem solving, I fall back on the traditional DMAIC (Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control) cycle.