Which Industry are you in?

I still get surprised, and occasionally disappointed, when I talk to production folk about quality. I still hear comments like, “our quality team deal with that”. or “we should talk to our Quality manager”. when what we are really talking about is making products error free.

I guess we don’t help ourselves by using terms like ‘right first time’ & ’zero defects’ or ’cost of non-conformance’. All guaranteed to terminate any conversation with production guys.

The upcoming SMTA conference in Florida  should be a good opportunity to bring together process & quality issues.

I have just read the conference paper list and they nearly all read as ‘characterisation of process xx for environment yy’. For xx & yy substitute any combination of BGA, lead free, solder, package, under-fill, coating etc. etc.

All technical and necessary steps to implementing & understanding processes.

But I look at the conference list and wonder why few papers are submitted on the impact on product quality of xx or yy. Or am I in a different industry?

Preparing Recommendations

It seems like we adopt new package styles or process steps without seeking to understand the full impact of the change. Could we also learn by comparing the results not just in terms of process parameters but also in terms of product quality & cost between process xx to process yy?

So please do not reach for the quality manager on speed dial, should I use terms like ‘continious process improvement’ or the impact on customer yields when we next speak.

I might actually be talking about the same industry. There is room for both industries to converge.

I will be at the SMTA conference and will be happy to discuss this further. Look out for me at the conference.