Rejections on the Floor

An inevitable fact of life in operations is the occurrence of errors or rejections on the shop floor,  Upper management is always striving to "eliminate rejections", "work smarter", or some other catchy slogan to eliminate errors.  But the best you can do is to implement checks and balances in the process to help reduce the error count.  What you do when you have an error on the floor is just as important as trying to avoid it initially.

(Courtesy www.unlimitedchoice.org)

Many medium to large companies have an error reporting system established whereby standard rules are followed when a rejection occurs.  Once an error is reported or written up (usually by Quality Assurance) it is essential that the information is accurate.  Some key things to check:

• Are the correct part numbers listed in the rejection write-up? I have seen many error reports (often called rejection tags) that have the incorrect part numbers and or descriptions in error.  This is a problem if there was ever a need to go back and look at a repair later and the records were in error.
• Is the error write-up clearly written? If there is confusion on what is really in error, then the incorrect analysis and repair methodology will not effectively address the issue.
• Will a repair impact downstream users?  If your repair will effect any downstream users you must coordinated before you provide your repair fix (disposition).  Otherwise bigger problems may occur that will adversely affect schedule.

For those weighing on the repair, be certain they have the necessary skill and experience to effectively analyze the problem.  An inexperienced mechanic or engineer may have good intentions, but a lack of experience in a key juncture of the operation could be a problem further down the process.

Finally it is essential to keep a record of the different rejection scenarios that one encounters on the shop floor.  Some times repairing the error requires a unique fix that should be shared with others to help educate them.  This is most important if it is second shift or a weekend and subject matter experts are unavailable.  A good database will help locate a similar issue to consult for you rejection at hand.

Rejecting discrepant parts is a fact of operations management
(Courtesy www.blg.gov)