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Small Business staff wearing many hats

Discussion in 'AS 91XX - Aerospace Quality Standards' started by Vic B, Apr 7, 2017.

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  1. Vic B

    Vic B Member

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    Working with a small business client towards AS9100D certification.

    Seeking some feedback please on staff wearing many hats, for what is typically separate roles found in organizations.

    There is no single Quality role in the organization, but is shared among the production leads, GM (who is the MR), and engineering. The standard states an appointed "member" of the org. management to be the MR.

    Q: Can the Quality role be shared among other staff (even the production lead)?

    The standard does state that production and quality must be separate; although in the industry the objective and independent nature between the roles is the standard why. Thoughts?

    Thank you for your time and help.
     
    Vic B, Apr 7, 2017
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  2. Andy Nichols

    Andy Nichols Moderator Staff Member

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    Hello Vic and welcome!

    Shared responsibility is unlikely to work. It's rare, in my experience, for even 1 person to fully grasp the role of the owner of the QMS, so to distribute that isn't going to work - less so in a small org. when everyone's already got a lot on their plate.

    I'm currently working on AS9100D but can't find this requirement. Can you give me the clause reference?
     
    Andy Nichols, Apr 7, 2017
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  3. hogheavenfarm

    hogheavenfarm Well-Known Member

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    I have run into this, but it was a Bombardier requirement, not in the standard itself. It is the reason I was hired back in 2008, prior to that the Quality functions were shared by the production manager and the CEO.
     
    hogheavenfarm, Apr 7, 2017
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  4. Vic B

    Vic B Member

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    Thanks Andy, correction on my statement - the standard does NOT state production and quality must be separate. My bad. FYI the cl. i'm looking at is: 5.3, para. 2.

    In regards to the MR, I think some customers expect it to be one person and require the MR person to be defined as part of the customer approval. Has this been the case for you two?

    Do any of you know if the quality inspector duties can be shared with production leaders? My thoughts are that they can (not recommended), as long as there is independence from that particular process. Kind of like being objective when auditing. Thoughts?

    Thanks again for your insight.
     
    Vic B, Apr 8, 2017
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  5. Andy Nichols

    Andy Nichols Moderator Staff Member

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    Production is responsible for the quality of the things they produce. There's no need for "independence". If they do inspections of the product and record the data, they can show they made it right or not (or they falsify the results, in which case, you have bigger fish to fry). Independent inspection is an out of date concept. Sure, go ahead and do product audits, process audits and so on to see what's going on, but to create a role - particularly in a small business - for inspection of what others SHOULD already be doing and getting right is a waste, IMHO.

    As for sharing MR roles? I have no clue about anyone "expecting" or approving the role. But it's not that big a deal, frankly, that one person can't handle by themselves. It's not as if it's a full-time job...
     
    Andy Nichols, Apr 8, 2017
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  6. Vic B

    Vic B Member

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    thanks again Andy. Much appreciated!
     
    Vic B, Apr 9, 2017
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