Don’t be afraid to expose your weaknesses

I was the quality control manager for a ceiling grid factory in Maryland. In my first days at the plant, I observed that quality performance was minimally acceptable. There was a lot of room for improvement. I learned from my prior experience as a supervisor in Chicago to involve more people in the process and give them the information they needed to make proper quality decisions.

People weren’t very involved in the quality process at the Maryland plant. I was determined to do something about it. The first thing I did was review all quality specification drawings for our products. They seemed to be designed for engineers, not operators. The drawings were often ignored and out of spec product was found after it had been produced, even though operators had signed off that everything was in spec. I simplified the drawings to make them easier to use and understand.

The next step I took was to train our employees to install and measure grid properly. Once they understood the mechanics of the grid, they knew they couldn’t let out of specification product end up in the hands of our customers.

One day, early in my tenure, I noticed a visitor from Underwriters Labs (UL) at the plant. He met with Dwayne, the engineering manager. They talked in the break room for thirty minutes. Then, they shook hands and the UL rep left, without going into the plant.

Me: “What was the UL rep doing here?”

Dwayne: “He was auditing our quality certification process.”

Me: “What was he doing in the breakroom?”

Dwayne: “Oh, we had a cup of coffee and talked about fishing.”

Me: “Are you telling me that all he does is visit during his visit?”

Dwayne: “Sure. We don’t want him to come out into the plant.”

Me: “Why not? Don’t we pay Underwriters Labs for their certification? Wouldn’t you want to make sure we’re actually doing what we’re supposed to be doing?”

Dwayne: “We could get in trouble if we’re not doing everything correctly.”

Me: “Not if we take steps to correct our errors.”

Dwayne: “It’s probably best if we keep these visits to the breakroom.”

I wasn’t satisfied and decided to do some research into our UL certification process. Once I was sure we were trying to do the right thing, I spoke with Alan, our plant manager.

Me: “I want to get our house in order in a quality control way and I need your support.”

Alan: “What are you thinking of doing and what are the risks?”

Me: “I want to take the UL inspector on a tour and identify anything that we might be doing wrong. The risk is that we may be doing a lot of things wrong and get cited for any issues.”

Alan: “How are you going to minimize our exposure?”

Me: “I’ve already had conversations with Joanne, our corporate UL expert. She explained what’s supposed to happen during a UL audit and the steps that must be taken if a non-conformance is found. As long as we respond in a timely and proper way, our risk is minimal.”

Alan: “Have you identified anything that we’re doing that may be out of compliance?”

Me: “I have and I think everything is correctable.”

Alan: “If that’s the case, I’ll support you and talk with Dwayne to get his alignment.”

Alan, Dwayne, and I spoke and came to an uneasy agreement. Dwayne was skeptical and worried we might be overwhelmed with issues. I knew we were doing the right thing. If we had issues, it was time to deal with and correct them.

I called the UL inspector, introduced myself, and invited him for an off-cycle review of our process. He was surprised to have someone reach out to him, but was appreciative for the interest.

One month later, he and I took a detailed walk through our quality assurance processes. He found many things that needed to be corrected. Fortunately, they were all simple and minor. For example, a label on a box of grid referenced test method 205. It should have said 205L. Most issues were similar and were corrected within 2 weeks.

Now we were confident that we were producing products that met customer requirements and were properly representing their UL certifications. In the following years, our relationship with Underwriters Labs strengthened and we became partners in the growth of our ceiling grid business.