What is Quality at the Source?

Quality at the source means that each employee is held responsible for ensuring the quality of products. This means that quality is examined at each step in the production process, so that errors can be detected at once. This differs from the more traditional approach of only reviewing quality at the end of a process, after all possible costs have been incurred in a product’s manufacture. Quality at the source is accomplished with the tools noted below:

Mistake proofing. The intent behind mistake proofing is to identify the causes of poor quality as soon as they occur, and correct the underlying issues so that they do not occur again. This requires extensive training of the people directly involved in the production process.
Self checks. Allow workers to measure the specifications of their work, and call for help if units are out of spec. This means that measurement tools must be readily available. In addition, workers must be allowed sufficient time to conduct self checks.
Standardized work. Use a high level of documentation and training to ensure that each product is manufactured the same way, every time. This calls for a substantial amount of up-front training, as well as frequent oversight during initial production to ensure that products are being manufactured correctly.
Successive checks. Each successive workstation checks the quality of the incoming work. Doing so finds errors in short order, before additional processing work is completed. To succeed, workers must be given sufficient time to conduct the necessary checks.
Visual management. Use a signaling system to pull engineers and managers to the spot where there is a problem, so that it can be corrected at once. Line workers need to have the authority to activate these signals, and know the circumstances under which they should be used. This also means that sufficient engineers and managers are available to provide support to the production process.