Where Birds Don't Fly

Products that do not generate revenue greater that the cost of the shelf in a supermarket are removed from the shelf. If a product is required to be carried to conform to regulatory requirements, the product may be sitting on the shelf untouched as a dust collector. SMS is in the same boat since it was introduced as a regulatory requirement. As a regulatory requirement the SMS might just sit on the shelf and collect dust since an enterprise keeps it there without a return on investment. That the SMS is put on the shelf does not imply that the SMS processes are ignored, that hazard and incident reports are not processed, that root cause analysis are not conducted or that personnel are not trained in SMS. All this is happening while the SMS is sitting on the shelf. An enterprise that has placed the SMS on the shelf is an organization that is not able to identify and describe what the SMS does for the operator. SMS is intended to be a program for improved safety in aviation. If the implem...

Quality assurance is a vital part of production in the manufacturing industry. There are several data collection points during the processes with the end result that the product is reliable. Whatever the manufacturing is, products are tested over and over again to ensure the quality delivered equals quality promised. These tests could be NDT (Non Destructive Testing) tests, destructive tests, endurance tests, or any other tests that are applicable to establish a confidence level of quality above the bar, or above promised quality. If the quality level is below the bar, there are two available options; 1) lower expectations of the product or promises; 2) improve the quality to a desired and acceptable quality level. The simplest solution is to lower the expectations of the product, which some manufacturer decide to do when coming to a fork in the road. There is some truth to the saying that “you get what you pay for”. Quality assurance is decided at the fork in the road. When a product ...