Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1339822
94 PCB007 MAGAZINE I FEBRUARY 2021 I hope everyone is getting through this pan- demic as best as possible. Keep hanging in there. ings will improve. Speaking of im- provement, how are your processes and work instructions holding up? I'm sure current times have caused modifications in how we do things now. Have you audited them lately? at's what I figured. Don't feel bad. It's extremely com- mon to write a process or work instruction and let it loose in the wild to thrive. e problem is, if there is a problem or a glitch it may never get noticed. Why, you ask? It's simple. Humans have an extraordinary ability to adapt. A perfect scenario is a process that was writ- ten to operate the Acme 1000 widget maker in 1983. Millions of widgets have been made since 1983. However, in 2007 the Acme 1000 was re- placed by the Acme 5000. e new machine quadrupled output, everyone was extreme- ly happy, and all was well with the world. at was until John abruptly le the company. He had operated that machine and process since 1983. e company adjusted, of course, and Susan took over. ere was a work instruction for the process, so everything should've been fine, right? Unfortunately, output dropped, and the widgets were being rejected at quali- ty control at a much higher rate than what was acceptable. What was Susan doing wrong? Was the machine broken? Neither. Remember we replaced the machine back in 2007? What happened? Well, we didn't review the process when we updated the machine and John adapt- ed. He adapted to the new environment—in this case the updated machine—and life went on. e pitfall was that, like an embezzler, the problems will not surface until the criminal is removed from the environment. By no means Owning Your Processes Testing Todd Feature Column by Todd Kolmodin, GARDIEN SERVICES USA