[TowerTalk] HyGain Antenna Quality control issues: Let's

[Jim Thomson]

Date: Mon, 2 Apr 2018 22:09:38 -0700
From: Charles Farr <cefarr at hughes.net>
To: towertalk at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] HyGain Antenna Quality control issues: Let's
Put MFJ in Perspective

<In all this palaver I haven't seen anything mentioned about ISO9000. 
<This process and quality control system at one time was considered 
<critical for world market companies. I've bee out of the workplace for 
<10 years, so I don't have a current perception, but I recall that we 
<couldn't even market, much less sell our products without the ISO9000 
<certification. Has something changed?

<73

<Chuck, W6AJW

##  ISO  9000  and  ISO  9001  has  NOTHING to  do with quality control period ! 
Both are  strictly  a regulated  process control.   The kicker is....  you get to define
the various.....process  controls.   At the telco I worked at for 34 years, we spent
millions of  $$  to get ISO  certified.   At the time, back in the mid 90s....  ISO-9000/1 
was all the rage..and everybody got sucked into the  scam.   The reason given  was
govt contracts  + military contracts  demanded that all  contractors.... + sub contractors
be ISO certified.... or   dont bother submitting a bid.   Soon everybody and their dog demanded
that anything from janitorial to  a muffler shop be ISO certified.  

##  I looked after the entire  ISO certification for  all the test gear used in my tech dept. 
All test gear had to have calibration stickers on  them with  date clearly marked. All  the 
test gear was only good for one year, and had to be sent back to the calibration lab, before 
the year was up.   

##  Meanwhile, one floor above, they  wrote up their  ISO test gear specs as....  re-calibrate 
when tech feels  like it....  IE:  never.   Some other  depts simply tossed  90% of their  little used 
test gear, so they would not have to deal with it.   

##  Our small dept with just  5-6  guys  got off.. easy.   KPMG  gave us  a.... bargain.  Normally they
would charge  $45,000.00    for the  babe to come out and  get us  certified.   They gave us a deal..
at only   $36,000.00      Then she has to come out every 2 years  so we can maintain our certification. 
For   $36,000.00  every 2 years,  I coulda ordered much needed  test gear  at  a fraction of the ISO amount.
IE:   hey boss,  I require  a HP  DVM.  Sorry, no money left in the budget, we blew it all on the ISO  tab. 

##  In    2000, the telco in  VE7 land  merged  with the Telco in VE6 land.    The Telco in VE6 land was
never certified.   In order  for the new merged company to maintain the  ISO  certification,  all of  VE6
land had to get  ISO  certified..and fast.      Management decided to  dump the entire ISO  program,
BUT  maintain all the good aspects of the process and control..and standardize  ISO like  requirements 
for all depts in any region. 

##  You seldom  hear of  ISO these days.   The only ones that ever benefitted  was outfits like KPMG,
who we essentially gave all our trade secrets to.....  and made millions of $  in the process. 
ISO  is  no  longer required for govt contracts either.   Even the  Govt dumped their own  ISO programs.  

##  Plenty of small  outfits  that employed   6-50  employees that  got onto the  ISO bandwagon, either 
went broke in the process, or  later  dumped the program.    

##  Folks  were under the delusion   that ISO =  quality.   When the purported  quality never happened, and nothing changed,
and it was later explained to em  that  ISO had  NOTHING to do with quality,   the light bulb  finally came on.   

##  ISO  originated in Europe..and later spread to north america, where it was embraced.   Heck even  Behringer who makes
dirt cheap audio products and  rack gear is  still  ISO  certified.  Meanwhile the quality of their products is next to non existent. 
If they fail, they are tossed into the nearest dumpster.   Cost more to fix than to replace with a new unit. 

##  Having said all that  MFJ could still benefit from a simple process control  procedure...without having to be  ISO  certified.

Jim   VE7RF