NYU View: Let's Blame China!

Let's Blame China!
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The Quality Curmudgeon on 21 August, 2006 07:02:00
 
Here's two interesting headlines on the homepage of American Society for
Quality's Web site today:
Dell’s Recall Sparks Worry About Foreign Manufacturing Quality
U.S. Automakers Closing Quality Gap; Dell Bounces Back After Service Slide
Just when Dell seemed to be "bouncing back," disaster strikes!
I think it's interesting that the first article puts the blame on "China" and
not Dell or Sony, which had the batteries manufactured for it in China and then
sold to Dell. Isn't it Dell's and Sony's responsibility to ensure that their
suppliers are manufacturing according to specifications? Aren't they auditing
their suppliers? Inspecting product? Testing product?
Another point in the first article that caught my eye: "An industry group is
meeting in September to, among other things, examine ways to create
industry-wide standards dealing with quality control." Hmm. I thought we had
international groups that developed standards for quality. Haven't they heard of
the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) or the International
Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)?