You have just won the $200K/yr job of Director of Quality (D…
You have just won the $200K/yr job of Director of Quality (DoQ) for ABLE Casting & Auto Parts, Inc., of Warren, OH. Here’s what you’re getting into: Your firm/plant is a Tier 2 supplier, registered to IATF-16949 current version. Recently the firm has slipped-up and has shipped sub-standard product, more than once in the past 6 months. A major customer has just advised you that lot ABLE-24-10-02 of widget XYZ123 has failed reliability testing. They have overnighted you 3 one-piece samples of the suspect parts. You have directed your Lab Manager to subject one of those samples to a field-based XRF test. That test revealed that the metallurgical proportions of the product’s recipe ingredients are not to spec. One element of the 5 involved in the recipe should be at 2.6 + .05% of the total composition. The XRF test indicates that material is at 4.5% of the sample evaluated. The customer is exasperated and has advised you that they have notified your IATF Registrar of the problem and requested that the Registrar suspend your 16949 cert, pending resolution of the problem. {This means that your firm cannot ship any of its automotive products, until this matter is resolved. Also, the industry media has been advised of your certification’s suspension.} Daily output of automotive products from your plant/firm have a $2Million sales value. The customer is demanding resolution within 10 calendar days; tomorrow is Christmas Eve. Your staff includes 5 engineers, one of which is a 6-Sigma Blackbelt; an Inspection supervisor; 3 auditors, 7 Quality techs and 1 Lab manager. You have 20 years automotive supply chain experience; you are a degreed mechanical engineer, with an MS in Materials Science & an MBA. What do you do, & why, in what priority order, to resolve the situation, to satisfy your customer & other stake-holders (other customers, employees, your senior management colleagues, investors, the Registrar, news media, etc.) ? Use your imagination, creativity and the couse materials to List at least 10 items / actions !
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