Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1259453
22 PCB007 MAGAZINE I JUNE 2020 Feature Interview by Nolan Johnson I-CONNECT007 I spoke with Dana Korf about his experi- ence with total quality management (TQM) throughout his career. Dana recommends not getting stuck on the process of collecting the data and documenting it, but instead to look at the impact. If you haven't made an impact, then you haven't done a good job. Nolan Johnson: Dana, our industry, especial- ly on the fabrication side, seems to be at an inflection point. We're on the verge of what seems to be a changing of the guard and even some changes in how fabs are set up where business is done. First, what is your background, and what is your experience with TQM? Then, we can dis- cuss if the current leadership of these fabrica- tion companies has the emotional wherewithal to effect that change and weather this shift, as well as address how TQM fits in 2020 com- pared to the '40s through the '80s. Dana Korf: I've always been on the process en- gineering side of the business when I worked in board fab shops, implementing all these var- ious quality systems. We were heavily involved within our own department and between de- partments, trying to maximize the benefit while spending the least amount of money. I've been through many programs, and TQM fundamentally is an excellent concept. I firmly believe in it. Way back when, they taught us in ISO, "Document what you do, and do what you document." All of these systems, includ- ing TQM, boil down to that line in my mind. TQM is the process fundamentally where you make sure you have well-defined pro- cesses that are documented. They have qual- ity goals, and you maintain and constantly im- prove those quality goals for whatever level of detail you want to get down to, from a plant level down to an equipment level. It goes ev- erywhere from how you manage the supply chain to how it gets kicked out the back door. Johnson: Do you feel like TQM processes and techniques have gone by the wayside, or have they been incorporated to the point that they seem to be invisible? Korf: If you look at quality management fun- damentally, I started in the '70s. It was all human-based. Humans did everything from Focus on the Impact of Data Dana Korf