GPI 142 – Photograph all rejects; the customer may not know the details.

Take and keep detailed and descriptive pictures of your product rejects to use for training your employees.  Every time you have rejected parts or failures in the field, make sure to use their example.  Get them either returned or photographed and documented.  Look for traceability as to operator code (person who made the parts in your organization).  You need to know what led up to this failure so do the investigation.

Use your rejects to your advantage and a training tool: 

• Take pictures.  Photograph all errors and bad parts and catalog them for future use and training.  They document what was wrong with rejected parts.  They prove that the company was in error and sometimes, prove the rejection was in error.
• Keep examples of all types of rejects.  Do not throw away rejects; these are expensive mistakes that can teach others bad from good parts.
• Use bad part examples for training.  Use rejected parts for training new operators on how to lose customers.  Show your employees so they can see the difference between good and bad parts.  To ensure they are listening, test them.
• Display bad parts openly.  If possible, hang bad parts on the wall for all to see and recognize as they pass each day.  Post pictures of bad parts so everyone knows and recognizes flaws and which parts not to accept.
• Train all employees to recognize bad parts.  Get everyone trained and test them in order to spot mistakes so they can help get them out of your system.  Make sure to do this on new parts or new customers.
• Who made them?  Trace the bad parts back to the operator and retrain that person until he is flawless at parts production.
• Assign only responsible production personnel.  Make it very clear to the employee if he cannot be trained or shows no interest in improving, he must go and be replaced with someone competent who will not threaten the jobs of other employees. You cannot afford to keep bad employees.
• Test employees between photos of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ parts.  Display them or hang them on the wall along with passing acceptable parts if they both are small.  Display them under a sign asking, “Can you tell which is the good part and which is the bad part?” or whatever you want as instructive labels.
• Reward the best ‘producers’.  Make perfect parts payoff.  Start this as a contest and give awards to those who demonstrate the best ability at spotting problem parts.  Paying your employees is cheaper than paying for rejects and the ultimate loss of a high margin customer.
• Your mission is to stop rejects at the door.  You will have rejects but your primary mission is to keep them from ever getting in front of your customers.
• Do not hide problems; show them to all.  Don’t throw away excellent training examples.  Allow all of your employees the ability to observe and study bad parts.  Use all production rejects or discovered vendor flaws to train your employees.  Do not throw away this display of company waste.  Line them up on the wall or post them up with clear labeling describing the problems on tables in heavy traffic areas of your workers.  These errors pose excellent opportunities for instruction.
• Your goal is to get new business and keep it.  Your first goal is to get new business.  Your next goal is make the products your customers want and not to ruin this opportunity.  Your employees will make mistakes so as quickly as you can, teach them what not to do.  Your most important mission is to keep bad parts from ever getting to a customer so make this the responsibility of everyone who works for your firm.