Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1503998
JULY 2023 I PCB007 MAGAZINE 13 is what inspires; it sets direction and tone. Part of the message for this issue is to talk about the commitment to transform leadership into a continuous improvement role. I will tell you, managing by TQM can be painfully slow. A lot of education must happen. You need to exhibit a lot of patience in helping people learn. Learning is a core foundation in Deming's 14 points. He would come in and he would talk to the top leadership, and then the top would talk to the next tier, cascading the concepts throughout the organization. But it must start at the top. When you're dealing with a TQM company, it's obvious. e results are phenomenal. Your yields go up, your frustrations go down, your input costs go down. e "red beads" are taken out of your processes, and your upper and lower control limits tend to tighten up, giving you operational competitive advantage. Your output is a predictable, quality product. You don't have to inspect quality in and sort defects out at the tail end. Holden: Back to your earlier question: What's the basis of TQM? e most important skill to learn is maintaining and gaining that cus- tomer satisfaction—whether that's your boss, an external customer, or the next department over. To achieve customer satisfaction, you need data that measures performance. Data measures how you choose to define customer satisfaction, be it price, performance, or profit. You have got to have those measures. Johnson: Happy, I'm going back to our earlier discussion about TQM being treated like a fad and then replaced by the next fad. Would those follow-on methods be considered derivatives of TQM? Is TQM the foundation for this class of management? Holden: In the first chapter of my book, 24 Essential Skills for Engineers, I list more than a dozen quality programs. Elements of TQM can be found in Lean manufacturing, in just- in-time ( JIT), and design for manufacturing (DFM, DFX). ere's a whole list of them, including Six Sigma, which deals more with the statistics part, but also has a more advanced problem-solving methodology than "Plan-Do- Check-Act." In the second chapter, I discuss problem solving because it's the second biggest skill you need. e engineer in printed circuit fabrica- tion or assembly will face problems of all types. I think we can turn good technicians or work- ers into automation experts if they learn some of the skills associated with automating. ey don't necessarily need mechanical engineering degrees as much as they need common sense. It will be hard to hire automation engineers because everybody and their brother wants them in well-paid automation jobs. You have to grow your own if you want to get this job done. Matties: To your point, Happy, even bring- ing in automation is part of a continuous improvement cycle. It's lowering input cost and upskilling the talent you bring in. You start by understanding your core process. Once you have that process fully understood, then Dan Feinberg