Quality Assurance

SIG is a good company (quite unlike Remington’s leadership, in my opinion).  But this latest recall is disturbing:  

https://www.ammoland.com/2017/09/sig-sauer-safety-warning-recall-notice-limited-number-rifles/ 

This follows the SIG MCX™ recall, the so-called “voluntary upgrade" of the SIG P320, and is accompanied by the Ruger Mark IV™ safety recall.  Sturm-Ruger is also a good company.  

I do Quality & Reliability as a profession, though few notice these days.  

I witnessed how you take the North American Rockwell B-1B from LRIP (Low Rate Initial Production) of 4 shipsets in 6 months to 4 per month in under a year.  And improve quality.  

I witnessed how the Northrop production of the Internal Guidance Module (IMU) for the “Peacekeeper” (MX) ICBM was assumed by Rockwell international for systemic quality issues, because the USAF trusted the Anaheim Operations to get it right.  The MX IMU was so precise it was reportedly able to detect magma movement in the earth.  In the 1980’s.  Boeing purchased the defense business in 1996 following breakout of peace following the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and subsequent painful consolidation (remember the "peace dividend?").   

I witnessed how automation of a manual processes, absent consideration of design, always fails.  To be successful, automation drives improvement into the design, results in improved quality, and better controls in the supply chain through "quality deployment."   

I witnessed how you take the Systron Donner Gyrochip™ (Automotive Quartz Rate Sensor or AQRS) from 300 per month (for Cadillac Luxury Car Division) to 12,500 to 25,000 per month (for VW, BMW, Ford of Europe, Daimler Benz, et al) in 12 months - while maintaining a better than 50 ppm failure rate (we were at 24 ppm in year one after launch - 50 ppm triggered a $1,000,000 penalty clause in our contract).  

As an (so-called) industry professional, I used to get Aviation Week, free of charge, and would always first read the very last section that published the findings of NTSB airline crash investigations.  I have an appreciation of scientific forensic failure analysis (or F/A).  The NTSB is exacting.  This should be required reading for serious manufacturing people.  

I have taught failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA) to design and manufacturing engineers.  

To the point, I witnessed the ramp Toyota Motors underwent when the Great Recession hit, and General Motors and Chrysler went bankrupt, shed market share, and Toyota (the world leader in automotive quality and lean manufacturing) gobbled up market share, and expanded production to address it.  I saw the multiple recalls, which horrified senior Toyota leadership who previously did not have experience with such.  The "stuck accelerator” issue was blamed on floor mats that allowed the accelerator pedal to latch into full-throttle, resulting in the deaths in 2009 of an off duty state trooper and his wife in California (who incidentally the wife was the HR Manager of Systron Donner).  

Toyota Leadership failed to understand the emerging reports and make corrective action, and instead decided (upon the advice of their US legal counsel) to fight claims in court.  Leadership failure.  

A business ramps production, the methods and procedures currently in place to assure quality are taxed.  Because more often than not, they [control methods] are put in place over time with no foresight as to the ongoing maintenance penalty, and prospective scalability of the control methods.  This includes employee learning curves, training and role classification, and demonstration of skill competencies and proficiencies.  

Simply put, Quality Control for steady-state is not scalable, and Leadership often assumes the manner by which quality is assured currently can be used at higher rates of production; this is not so.  Management's emphasis is on compliance (especially in the FDA related space), however outside of the Semiconductor industry (SEMI) there are seldom active reviews and implementation plans to modify, simplify, and invest in changes to control methods to allow quick ramping, and a smaller Quality Assurance footprint.  

And (in my humble opinion) this is what happened to Toyota, and is happening to the firearms manufacturers who spooled up to offer new products and greater volume during the Great Gun Control fears during the Barak Obama years.