Control Plan Gaps: What Most Quality Professionals Overlook Control Plans are among the foundational quality tools within Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP) and are required by IATF 16949. They help organizations define process controls, monitor product characteristics, and establish reaction plans when performance deviates from expectations. This blog post is prompted by a LinkedIn post […]
PPAP Risk Management: Why Most PPAP Approvals Still Fail at Production Launch I recently reviewed a visual guide titled “How to Create PPAP – Complete Practical Master Guide.“ Like many PPAP references circulating online, it does an excellent job explaining the documentation requirements, submission levels, and elements of the Production Part Approval Process. What it […]
The reflex response after a defect escape is often predictable: add more inspectors. More containment. More gate reviews. More signoffs. More checklists. The organization feels pressure to “do something,” and inspection fallout becomes the preferred reaction because it is visible, immediate, and politically safer than confronting systemic process weakness. The problem is that inspection fallout […]
Why Test Failures Occur in Software Testing In software development and system engineering, test failures are often interpreted as evidence that the product contains defects. However, experienced engineers know that test failures can originate from multiple sources across the development lifecycle, not just the code itself. This post originated from a read of a LinkedIn […]
Introduction Every organization faces unexpected issues—but how you respond defines your success. When deviations from standard procedures are mismanaged or ignored, the result can be catastrophic: product recalls, regulatory fines, and irreparable brand damage. A deviation in manufacturing refers to a temporary or unplanned departure from approved procedures, specifications, or standards during the production process. […]
My thoughts on this LinkedIn post Judging a process by its outcomes in organizations, teams, and even personal projects is common. When things go awry, the immediate instinct is often to blame the process itself. However, this overlooks a crucial distinction: a well-designed process can still yield poor results if executed improperly. Consider a […]
Why formalize root cause analysis? There are many approaches to determining the root of our problems. In the automotive world, there are two typical approaches, the 8D or the 8 Discipline, or the A3 (named for the paper size). We will not go into the details of either of these approaches but you can find […]
Qualitative Testing Qualitative tests look for a change in a quality; for example, a color might change. Qualitative tests always involve the use of attributes rather than variables values (e.g., temperature). Consider the Kastle-Meyer test for the presence of blood–an archetype for qualitative forensic testing. The test is impressively quick and functions as a decision […]