Shawn S Coffee

This post and comments to the post vents the frustration of many in the Quality function. I’d like to emphasize that  Quality is everybody’s responsibility—not just a department, but a culture that must be ingrained across the organization. It’s the responsibility of the Quality Head and Top Management to foster and ensure this culture through structured & robust systems, risk-based thinking, and proactive engagement in all processes—direct or indirect—that influence the product or service. While innovation, technology, design, and market strategy drive organizational  growth, it is Quality that ensures its sustainability. Quality is the internal customer—and must act and be treated accordingly.

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In small companies, quality tools only work if they fit how people actually operate. When they don't, workarounds appear, timelines slip, and the QMS becomes something people avoid instead of rely on. The real difference is all about culture fit. Lightweight tools, operator-focused design, and leadership that doesn't just buy-in on paper, but actively uses the systems themselves. I break down why this matters and how “feral systems” form when tools miss the mark in my newest Substack post, check it out: https://lnkd.in/gtGAM2jr

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LANL and partners use particle accelerators for dynamic imaging at pRad, DARHT, and Scorpius to study explosions, weapon materials and the aging stockpile.

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Core4ce, through its Azimuth subsidiary, received a $98.7 million contract modification to an existing Air Force Research Laboratory contract under the Materials Research and Survivability Studies, or MaRSS, II initiative Read more here- https://lnkd.in/g-k8uyQJ __________ #Contract #Core4ce

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Before you spend another $1,000 on a new manufacturing tool or training program, read this...... Most factories have excellent SOPs and maintained tooling. Yet, the same quality spills, safety gaps, and missed deliveries keep returning on a loop. Why? Because you are likely applying a process fix to a pattern problem. A new software won't fix a supervisor’s low "Situational Awareness." A revised safety protocol won’t improve a team’s weak "Ethical Courage." If you don’t diagnose the subconscious behavioral patterns on your shop floor, operational failure is inevitable. Stop throwing budget at symptoms. Start measuring the traits that drive performance. Try this free behavior correction tool in manufacturing: https://lnkd.in/dM5CJ-NB #ManufacturingExcellence #OperationalLeadership #LeanManufacturing #HumanError #Traits4XL

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Building a Quality Mindset in a Factory Without a QC/QA Department In many industrial factories—especially those that started small or grew organically—there was never a dedicated QC or QA department. But quality is not something that comes only with structure or tools. It begins with mindset. If we want to build a culture of quality in an environment where it never formally existed before, we must first shift the way people think. 1. Quality is Everyone’s Responsibility One of the most important mindset shifts is understanding that quality is not the job of one department. It’s a shared responsibility—from production line operators to warehouse staff, from procurement to top management. Quality is built into every step, not inspected in at the end. 2. From “Just Get It Done” to “Get It Right” In factories without a quality system, the focus is often on speed or volume: just finish the task. But true quality mindset means shifting toward doing it right the first time, even if it takes a little longer. Long term, this reduces rework, waste, and customer complaints. 3. Never Accept Repeating Mistakes Without a QA system, the same problems often recur. A quality-driven mindset sees mistakes as opportunities to learn. Instead of covering them up, we ask: Why did this happen? How can we prevent it next time? This leads to continuous improvement. 4. Use Data to Improve, Not Blame “You can’t manage what you don’t measure.” Quality requires measurement—but also a mindset that sees data as a tool for improvement, not punishment. Teams need to feel safe sharing problems so they can solve them together with facts, not assumptions. 5. Leaders Must Set the Example A quality culture starts at the top. If leaders focus only on output and deadlines, so will everyone else. But when leaders consistently talk about quality, show interest in doing things right, and support their teams through change, the mindset will follow. Final Thought Creating a quality culture in a factory that never had a QC/QA department isn’t about adding more rules or inspections. It’s about building a shared mindset where everyone takes pride in doing things right—together.

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Most companies don’t actually have a cost problem. They have a waste visibility problem. As a Quality Engineer, I’ve seen that waste doesn't hide—it lives in plain sight. It’s in the rework pile, the "pending approval" inbox, and the excess inventory gathering dust. Lean tools aren't magic wands that slash budgets. They are spotlights. The "Hidden Factory" Example: Some Companies was obsessed with "labor efficiency." Yet, they weren't tracking the Lead Time from receiving raw material to shipping the finished product. The result? Materials sat in a warehouse for 10 days. They were processed in 2 hours. They sat in "Quality Hold" for another 5 days. The company was "efficient" at the machine level, but hemorrhaging cash in the gaps between the steps. They didn't need faster workers; they needed to see the stagnation. My Lean "Value-Add" Toolkit: VSM: To see the 15 days of waiting you didn't know existed. 5S & Kanban: To stop the chaos and overproduction. Poka-Yoke: To kill defects at the source so you stop inspecting "in" quality. Gemba Walks: Because the truth is on the floor, not the spreadsheet. The Hard Truth: Waste is rarely an inspection issue. It is almost always a process discipline issue. Lean isn't about doing more work; it’s about stopping the work that shouldn’t have existed in the first place. #LeanManufacturing #QualityEngineering #OperationalExcellence #ContinuousImprovement #AS9100D #ISO9001:2015

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When you ask this question: “Why did you choose that supplier?” Most answers sound like this: “They were the best option overall.” Push once more: Compared to who? Based on what criteria? What risks were accepted? That’s where it breaks ⚠️ Not because the decision was wrong, it was never structured. What actually happened: Quotes came in different formats 📄 Key assumptions sat in emails 📧 Comparison done in someone’s head 🧠 Final choice got dropped into Excel 📊 It works. Until you need to: defend it repeat it audit it Then you realise: You didn’t make a decision, you made a judgement call without a record. Procurement teams don’t have a capability problem. They have a decision system problem ⚙️

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