The following is the first of a series of articles written by a Quality Engineer of a $400 million automotive component supplier who successfully took his PRR's from 515 to 14 in a few years, resulting in over $10 million in cost avoidance savings from Controlled Shipping Costs.
A bit of history - my company was in a world of hurt in quality. We had just launched 3 new car line products and our PRR's were out of control. We were paying out hundreds of thousands of dollars in quality sorts and there didn't seem to be an end to it. Then I got together with my people and we devised a system utilizing Customer Quality Representative (CQRs) loacted at our customer.
Customer Quality Reps.
Who are they? - The CQR is my company's ambassador. The CQR regularly visits my customer and is my company's "face" with my customer. What do they do? - The CQR sees my customer on a regular basis, minimum of weekly. They do not wait for the customer to call them with a problem. They are proactive, not re-active.
How do they do it? - First of all they live near my customer. Often they cover several plants in their area. They are usually retirees from the customer they are servicing, so they have a number of relationships in the plant and knowledge of the inner workings of the plant.
They interface with my customer on Quality issues and any other issues they may have with my products (engineering, scheduling, transportation, etc.). We have found that without our own rep on site, the problem may be a customer issue and yet we end up paying the price for their mistakes!
When there is a problem the customer calls the CQR, who responds in person, handles the situation and thus you avoid a PRR or customer complaint.
See examples of this here.
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Great Inventions of the 20th Century
1911- Automobile Electrical Ignition System
The first electrical ignition system or electric starter motor for cars was invented by GM engineers Clyde Coleman and Charles Kettering. The self starting ignition was first installed in a Cadillac on February 17, 1911. The invention of the electric starter motor by Charles Kettering eliminated the need for hand cranking. United States Patent #1,150,523, was issued to Charles Kettering of Dayton, Ohio in 1915.
Charles Kettering became the founder of Delco (Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company). He also went on to invent: other automotive lighting and ignition systems, lacquer finishes for cars, antilock fuels, leaded gasoline, and an electric cash register.
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