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Leadership 101 – The Law of Timing

Good leadership always makes a difference; unfortunately, so does bad leadership. This leadership truth continues as we will be talking about law 19 of the 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership.

Timing is Everything

How often have we heard this throughout our lives? Too often to count I would suggest.

We don’t have to look around us very far to find examples of both good timing and bad timing. In the context of leadership, there are really only four outcomes for any decision and the first three are a result of poor timing: … Click here to read the entire article http://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1479191-pcb007-sep2022/89?-3478

Contact me to begin your leadership development journey

Steve@tracQMS.com

920-841

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Leadership 101 – The Laws of the Victory & Momentum

Great leaders are committed to victo

ry and make things happen, period. To make this point I would like to borrow a lesson from Genghis Khan in my book Notorious: Business Lessons from History’s Most Ruthless Leaders. Khan was a brilliant military strategist that built the largest land empire in history in the 12thcentury. No matter what you think of him, the man knew how to win. Lesson 7 in the book is “Lead from the Front”.

One of the most enduring mantras in leadership is “Never ask a follower to do something you are not willing to do yourself”. That certainly applies here; people want to follow a leader that is out front with his sword drawn and not back in the tent (or in our case, one that sits in their office all day). Lead by example is a common thread throughout the 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership for a reason; it works.

Read the full article at: http://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1453746-pcb007-feb2022/45?

Contact me to have your Leadership Team trained by a John Maxwell Certified Independent Leadership Trainer/Coach/Speaker, or to book me to speak at your next strategic planning or sales meeting.

Steve@tracQMS.com

920-841-3478

 

 

 

 

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Join Me for Aurora Circuits High Heat/Pedestal Webinar

Register here https://auroracircuits.com/high-heat-pedestal-webinar/ to learn about High Heat thermal solutions like Pedestal technology from the Aurora Circuits’ experts and industry expert guest panelists. See the details below:

When

Wednesday March 2nd, 2022 at 12pm CT

What you will learn

  • How to control PCB thermal dissipation and and runaway effectively
  • Showcasing the unique work Aurora Circuits is doing with copper pedestal technology
  • Guest panel discussing current trends and strategies to deal with high heat applications

Aurora Experts

  • Dr. Chris Kalmus, President, Aurora Circuits
  • Brian Zirlin, Director of Sales and Marketing, Aurora Circuits
  • Thad Bartosz, Director of Business Development, Aurora Circuits
  • John Holmquest, Director of Engineering, Aurora Circuits

Guest Panelists

  • Jeff Brandman, President North America, Aismalibar
  • Steve Williams, President, The Right Approach Consulting
  • Daniel Sarkinen, Electrical Engineer, Entrust

This webinar is in high demand so register early

Steve Williams

Steve@tracQMS.com

920-841-3478

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Ventec’s USA Facility Receives AS9100-D Quality Certification

I am proud to announce that client Ventec has received AS9100 certification at the Fullerton facility. This is right on the heels of their ISO 9001:2015 certification a year ago and follows Chicago’s ISO certification. The entire staff was intimately engaged in the project and worked extremely hard to achieve this QMS upgrade. A special shout-out to Jacob Mestas, the Quality Rep for Fullerton, for his  hard work and dedication.

About Ventec

Press Release:

FULLERTON, CALIFORNIA, USA, January 25, 2022

Ventec International is pleased to announce that its US facility in Fullerton (CA), is now certified to AS9100 Revision D. The success of the audit by certifying body Intertek, attests to the high standards consistent throughout the Ventec organization. The Group’s locations in Asia, the United Kingdom and Germany are all certified to AS9100-D, giving OEMs and PCB fabricators access to a highly accredited global supply chain for high-reliability laminates and prepregs.

Jack Pattie, General Manager of Ventec’s wholly owned subsidiary Ventec USA LLC, commented, “I would like to thank the entire Ventec team in both the USA and around the world, who work relentlessly to consistently ensure that our operations and systems fulfill the strict requirements of AS9100-D. I would also like to thank Steve Williams, President of TRAC, for helping us achieve this important milestone. We are proud to provide the highest assurance of consistently exceptional service for our customers in aviation, space and defense industries. The certification of our USA facility further strengthens our global network and boosts our value proposition for customers in all sectors.”

Mark Goodwin. COO EMEA & America added, “AS9100-D certification positions us with a strong competitive advantage in the USA and allows us to further expand our business development activities in the mil/aero sectors in the region. The certification of our US-facility complements the accreditations at the company’s sites in Asia and Europe and closes the loop to now offer a fully accredited AS9100 manufacturing and distribution/supply chain capability into all regions around the world. Leading OEMs and PCB manufacturers in the aerospace and defense industries can confidently partner with Ventec with full trust in the company’s ability to meet and exceed the increasingly stringent industry requirements for aerospace, defense and military applications globally.”

Ventec International is a world leader in the production of polyimide & high reliability epoxy laminates and prepregs and specialist provider of thermal management and IMS solutions. Further information about Ventec’s solutions and the company’s wide variety of products is available at www.venteclaminates.com and/or by downloading the Ventec APP.

 

Contact me to begin AS9100 certification for your facility!

920-841-3478

Steve@tracQMS.com

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Guerrilla Tactics to Pass any QMS Audit – Tactic 10 Tips To Reverse a Finding

Williams’ Law 10

The more “wins” you can bank with an auditor/customer, the greater the chance they will write-off a negative observation as an “isolated anomaly”.

Conversely…

The more “findings” an auditor/customer identifies, the deeper they will dig in all subsequent areas.

The key to reversing an auditor’s QMS audit finding is on-the-spot corrective action. Responsive, ultra-prompt action is required as well as the aforementioned political savvy of the Management Representative in administering the techniques discussed below.

Guerrilla Tactic 10: Techniques to Reverse a QMS Audit Finding

Page Swap

A Page Swap is a technique that can be employed to correct minor mistakes or omissions in a procedure. This technique is perfectly legal as long as there is a Page Swap clause in the Document Control procedure outlining the rational and rules for its use.
If an error and/or omission is identified by an auditor, utilizing the Page Swap technique to immediately correct the error and present the auditor with a corrected procedure before he/she finishes the audit will generally result in a non-finding.

Situations that allow a Page Swap:

  • Swapping a single page in a QMS procedure
  • Does not require re-approval of the entire procedure
  • Page content integrity remains intact
  • Page numbering does not change
  • Typos
  • Minor wording changes
  • Missing word/phrase
  • Where obvious intent was implied

Instant Procedure Revision

On-the-spot procedure revisions are the reason that key employees and procedure signatories must be present and available for all major audits and customer visits. The ability to rapidly change, approve and distribute a procedure revision in reaction to an auditor’s finding will be the difference between a formal finding and a clean audit.

If you missed any of the prior Guerrilla Tactics you can find them all at https://tracqms.com/blog/.

Contact TRAC

Contract me to start our Guerrilla Training before your next audit.

Steve: 920-841-3478

Steve@tracQMS.com

 

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Guerrilla Tactics to Pass any QMS Audit – Tactic 9 Tips To Avoid Audit “Dings”

Williams’ Law 9

Teach it, preach it, and audit to it! Prepare so that no question should be able to be asked that an operator does not know the answer to.

Guerrilla Tactic 9: QMS Documentation Tips To Avoid Audit “Dings”

Tip 1: KISS

Keep It Simple Steve; the goal is to develop a system that is:

  • Value-adding to the organization
  • Easy to understand
  • Flexible
  • Reducing opportunites for error
  • SIMPLE

Tip 2: Standardization

Develop standardized QMS procedure template

  • Standardize sections e.g.:
    • Scope
    • Responsibilities
    • Terms & Definitions
    • Instructions
    • Reference Documents
    • …etc.

Facilitates:

  • Ease-of-use
  • Training
  • Recall
  • Memorization of “structure”, not procedure
  • Time-to-retrieval

Tip 3: Verbiage

  • “Functional Vagueness”
    • Precise enough for functionality
    • Vague enough for practicality
  • “Shall/Must”
    • Critical
    • Non-compliance would jeopardize operation
  • “Should/May”
    • Non-critical
    • Non-compliance would not jeopardize operation
    • Leaves room for external circumstances

Examples

“Bath pH shall be verified and logged onto form 203-004 every 2 hours.”

“Workplace should be kept clean on a continual basis.”

Designee

  • Try to always use this term
  • Don’t: “The Molding Supervisor shall review & sign-off on the daily SPC results.”
  • Do: “The Molding Supervisor, or his/her designee, shall review & sign-off on the daily SPC results.”

Contact TRAC

Contact me to start your Quality Management System Guerrilla Training before your next audit.

Steve: 920-841-3478

Steve@tracQMS.com

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Guerrilla Tactics to Pass any QMS Audit – Tactic 7 MBWA

Williams’ Law 7

You can’t manage from your office; if you don’t constantly monitor the pulse on the shop floor it is easy to lose control.

 

Guerrilla Tactic 7: MBWA

My good friend Tom Peters, author of the “Excellence” series of books and one of my favorite management consultants, coined the phrase MBWA (Management By Walking Around). This is another of those concepts that seem so obvious, but how many of us actually do this?

This powerful technique applies equally to the leader of a quality management system as it does to a Fortune 500 CEO. This is a rhetorical question, but really, how often do we go out on the shop floor and just observe what is going on? I don’t mean tracking down orders and making sure people are working, but how does the facility look? Do the workers look happy? What are they saying? Are we working smart or overcompensating by working hard? What would I think if I were the customer? You can’t answer these questions sitting in your office!

Contact TRAC

Contact me to start our Guerrilla Training before your next audit.

Steve: 920-841-3478

Steve@tracQMS.com

 

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Guerrilla QMS Tactic 6 to Pass any QMS Audit: Train, Train & Train Some More

Williams’ Law 6

If an auditor waits longer than 15 seconds for a response, they will wander around and invariably find something you don’t want found.

Guerrilla Tactic 6: Train, Train & Train Some More

  • Don’t focus on QMS procedural memorization; key is ability to quickly retrieve information from procedure
  • Certified Operator Program
  • Simple Training Records
  • Utilize proficiency tests
    • Demonstrates understanding and competence
    • Rev change recertification
  • Visible training status
    • Make it easy to verify that auditee is trained and certified to task being performed
  • Badge, color coding, training matrix card, etc.
  • Clearly identify Temps and Trainees
    • Auditors will typically not question these employees

 

Contact TRAC

Contact me to start our Guerrilla Training before your next audit.

Steve: 920-841-3478

Steve@tracQMS.com

 

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Guerrilla Tactics to Pass any QMS Audit – Tactic 5

Williams’ Law 5

Every time you volunteer something not asked for, you will end up sharing something you don’t want shared.

 

Guerrilla Tactic 5: QMS Audit Tactical Strategies

Don’t volunteer anything!

Teach all employees to:

  • Listen to the question
  • Be polite, courteous & helpful

But…

  • Answer the question, and only the question!

 

Teach it, preach it, and audit to it!

 

Develop a QMS Audit Vacation Policy

  • No vacations for “key” positions
    • Procedure approval signatories
    • Department supervisors/leads
  • Mandatory vacation for “suspect” employees

 

Get In & Get Out

  • Job One is to get the auditor out of each department as quickly as possible!
    • Every manager, supervisor and operator must be proficient at this
    • Efficient, informative, polite, professional
    • Employees must be comfortable dealing with auditors
  • Practice Steve’s 15 Second Time-to-Retrieval Rule
    • Within 15 seconds any operator should be able to:
      • Physically secure procedure
      • Find answer in procedure
      • Provide proof of operation (completed form, history, log, etc.)

 

Teach it, preach it, and audit to it!

 

Contact TRAC

Contact me to start our Guerrilla Training before your next audit.

Steve: 920-841-3478

Steve@tracQMS.com

 

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Guerrilla Tactics to Pass any QMS Audit – Tactic 4

Williams’ Law 4

Find your own dirty laundry.

 

Guerrilla Tactic 4: Internal Audit Strategy

While a robust Quality Management System (QMS) internal audit system is a bit of a given in a good quality program, there are some strategies that, if employed, will provide a number of intangible benefits during any quality systems audit.

The key with audits is to find your own dirty laundry; you don’t want your customer/registrar to find things that you should have discovered during internal audits. The other “soft” benefit of audits is that every single one is an opportunity to properly condition the workforce. It is easy for the management representative or department supervisor to have all the right answers, so encouraging auditors & customers to interact with the employees actually doing the job will demonstrate the strength and competency of the workforce, and the quality management system. The internal audit program should be used to help condition employees to be comfortable in this situation.

  • Audit trainer should be formally “lead-assessor” trained
  • No “conflict of interest” auditing
    • Cannot audit your own process
  • Train auditors to “see as the customer sees”
  • Complete system cycle each 6-months
    • Calibrate with 6-month surveillance audits
  • Closed-loop follow-up audit for findings
  • Develop procedure specific audits
  • Integrate common system level questions into every audit
  • Audit employees ability to recite the Quality Policy and Battle Cry
  • Audit line workers, not supervisors
    • Supervisor can assist, but not answer for employees

 

Contact TRAC

Contact me to start our Guerrilla Training before your next audit.

Steve: 920-841-3478

Steve@tracQMS.com

 

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