Quality Control Series : Research

A few years ago, we did some research to determine the makeup of our redos. The results were very revealing. Statistically, approximately 60% of redos were due to production, 20% were due to sales, 10% were due to the customer, and about 10% were due to technology or uncontrollable circumstances.

The first observation is that production was not responsible for all the redos. Often they are blamed for 100% of them, and this can create tension between sales and production. Second, when sales make a mistake, it is usually 5-10 times more expensive. Third, the average redo took four hours to correct. [Disclaimer : We didn't count jobs that were caught before they left the building as a redo.] Fourth, and most important, 99% of all redos could have been prevented in less than one minute.