BETTER COMPANIES
HAVE DOCUMENTED ENGINEERING AND PRODUCTION SYSTEMS |
"Good Deal Companies" become "Better Companies" or go out of businessFirst Scenario: DROP DEAD |  |
"Good Deal Companies" fool themselves and think they ARE "Better Companies." Sometimes "Key Customers" fools themselves and think "Good Deal Companies" ARE "Better Companies. They think, "Wouldn't it be great if we could get this low price on all our components?" |
ONE DAY "Good Deal Company" gets NEW BUSINESS that requires engineering...from their "Key Customer" or from the outside...and the sparks begin to fly. In this case let's say new business comes from the original "Key Customer." |
"Good Deal Companies" are almost always MICROMANAGED. Everybody knows how to make the key product...that's all they've done...that's all they know to do. They believe they don't need a controlled documented system. |  |
| A micromanager in this case is analogous to a fighter that has beaten four men every time for years and years. He knows he can do it and so does everyone else. Now he must fight five and he can’t win. He thinks he can do it and so does everyone else…but he can’t. Now things are bigger than what one person or group can do. |
They begin manufacturing the new product model using the same production line used on the old. Engineering designs and applications must be made, but they are trivialized to mere process adjustments. |
EVERYBODY makes their own adjustment at several points in production. Few products work. The ones that do are all different reflecting the chaos that produced them. |  |
New people are hired from the outside to handle the larger workload. But they are not members of the capable group. Although they may be skilled experts, they are born from another system and do the same things differently. They make their own adjustments too. |
Old employees must take time to train new employees. Their time taken away from production also results in defective products. Everyone is doing things their own way, including training. |
Failure causes discord amongst core management (the capable group). Finger pointing causes tempers to flare and blowup and the once cohesive capable group now doesn't communicate. |
At this point, the key products that started "Good Deal Company" can no longer be manufactured without defects. | |
"Good Deal Company" hires a Quality Manager to save them. He meets with "Key Company" Quality Control Management in response to multiple incidents and to each he promises to implement preventive actions...to end key product failure. |
Production and Engineering systems are not properly documented at "Good Deal Company." Therefore there are almost no production instructions (specifications) to record the required preventative actions into. The fixes are implemented for a few weeks but then someone goes on vacation and their replacement knows nothing of the changed process. |
Defective product is again delivered to the "Key Company," not only defective but with exactly the same defects preventative actions promised to resolve only a few weeks earlier. | |
Suddenly there are no phone calls from the "Key Company." "Key Company" managers give excuses to "Good Deal Company" sales people when they're asked for appointments. The production line starts emptying and top "Good Deal Company" management is rebuffed in their attempts to communicate with the former "Key Company." |
"Good Deal Company" has just dropped dead. |
