Yet you seem to be okay with my checking parts is meaningless, wrong or questionable.
Why spend the time and money to do the checks if you know dam well the results are guesses?
.....Why can't QC be shut down if its results are unknown?
because the temperature isn't kept within a strict range does not mean we are purely "guessing". That's quite an overstatement. Does that mean any in-process done on the shop floor are merely guesses as well? then why do in-process inspection at all?
We have a regular calibration program. Anything the cal service can't do on-site and we send in to their lab. I personally have a ASQ cert. (can't speak for others that work in the lab). Not to mention all the experience that the rest of the employees bring to the table (machinists, engineers, managers, etc) to plan, make and check parts. That all has to mean something. It doesn't all evaporate if the temp is 72F instead of 68F.
many of the certs for our standards that were checked at a cal lab and sent back to us have varying temperatures under which they were verified. They dont all say "68F", even if that is the best case scenario. Some are at 72F. some at 70F. Depends on what lab we used and when.
Not all of of our work is done to tight tolerances. Not all of our jobs are for certified customers or require traceability or inspection reports. Some of our jobs don't even have real drawings. Some of our jobs don't even have drawings.
On intensive days, we may have several jobs on the machines with tight tolerances that make us a little cranky. Some days we have nothing tighter than +/-.010"
I'm trying to abide by what are reasonable practices to maintain consistency and quality. (can't say the same for the guy who keeps messing with the thermostat who is ABOVE me in the food chain). I am not the quality manager, by the way. I'm just a peon.
Shutting down for a day or two...let alone two weeks during the hottest part of the summer? would put us out of business. First articles are brought in every 30 minutes sometimes, sometimes they're brought in 5 at a time (a conspiracy by the machinists some say
Inspections for parts going to outside service or final inpections for parts going to customers fill up the day eaisly. There really is no room for delays. What wiggle room we have for delivery is easily eaten up by machines going down, supply chain issues for material and tooling or finishers that overcook our parts.
Shutting down the the QC lab would be like going on strike. Don't think the owner would be too happy if I said we were shut down because it's 75F in the QC lab instead of 68F. And then our customers dump us because we can't meet deadline.
at the end of the day, what is supposed to drive our quality system are customer requirements. We have no NCRs on file that attribute any non-comformance or rejection due to poor calibration or checking parts under temp conditions that give us bad or false readings.
We are also supposed to make decisions and/or changes to the system based on evidence. Again, no evidence that our weak A/C system is actually hurting us....It certainly doesn't help us, but there is no data to suggest that the fluctuations in lab temperature is putting things so out of whack that we are not meeting our customer requirements.
Is this a perfect situation? no. I don't like it one bit. which is why I asked the original question. I"d rather put a padlock on the thermostat and tell people to wear a sweater if they are cold. But if ISO doesn't say 68F is a hard and fast rule, and if our auditor hasn't busted us on it...and if our customers don't have a problem with it (so far). I can't just tell the owners we're closed. I just have to live with a manager who doesn't understand the relationship between temperature and different materials. And believe me, there's a lot more that this guy doesn't understand.
so thanks for all the advice. But I have to live with the situation as-is if it's not stated explicitly by ISO or by our customers as a requirement. thanks again all.