Guest Blog from Lynn Reed

Why Do Quality Systems Fail

As part of the industrial engineering master’s degree, the University of Tennessee requires either a thesis or a capstone research project. A capstone project linked to work efforts here at the Center was completed by me during the spring semester. This blog is about the research and highlights the discoveries made. The project focused on a study of why quality systems fail – a subject I have been interested in for several years both intellectually and professionally. If some of the root causes could be uncovered, it might point to some business services that the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) might offer to their customer base.

When you read the paper or watch the news, you see major failures in business and industry, almost daily. A recent example most everyone’s heard about was the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf. The federal investigation that followed revealed a series of failures to execute fundamental duties on the part of BP and its subcontractors responsible for the well and its completion. The failure was a classic example of a project behind schedule, too many unknowns, equipment failures, flawed and misinterpreted data, and poor judgment by decision makers responsible for the work; all spiced with  a bit of “group think”  attitude by senior managers making the decisions. After reading and studying the root and contributory causes of this event, most individuals capable of coherent thought would conclude this catastrophe was easily preventable – it should never have happened; and yet, it did. Most notable was the loss of eleven lives, seventeen serious injuries and a financial bite on BP’s bottom line currently estimated at $42.5 billion. Had management seen it coming, wouldn’t it have made sense to take steps to save the lives and the money? One immediately knows that answer is yes. Consequently, it begs the question of why then wasn’t it prevented?

The methods used in the capstone were not nearly as important as the fundamental truths they revealed, many of which are common sense issues when we pause to consider them. Although the results reported by seventeen customers are not a statistically representative sample of the Center’s industrial customer base, it is important to note all seventeen individuals plus nine of our internal staff each pointed to the same five core causes. Though their order of rank (one through five) was different individually, the collective group agreed on the following five factors as major contributors to quality system failures:

1)      Failure to communicate effectively (two way exchange of information)

2)      Failure of management / leadership (fact based decision making)

3)      Failure to adequately measure performance (voice of the customer and voice of process)

4)      Lack of basic problem solving skill sets (identification, cause, and solution)

5)      Lack of basic manufacturing skill sets (work skills & job competency)

These core causes are seen at some level in most businesses, even those outside manufacturing. Any individual in a managerial or leadership position would do well to remember these basic failure modes and take steps to overcome or avoid them. 

During the project, it became increasingly evident that though these five factors make a great deal of sense and appeal logically to most individuals, there was something deeper – something hidden and perhaps more revealing in terms of cause. What is it? …… to be covered in a second blog on the subject……… till then.