What Exactly is it You DO Here?

Many have asked, few have gotten a true description.  "What do you do for a living?"

I usually say "I fix things that are wrong."  Or, "I make sure everyone is doing what they said they were going to do".  "I check the checks."  Don't get me wrong, it's all true but there is so much more to being an Internal Auditor than that.

Given the current state of my company and the newness of the particular aircraft program I work on (ahem- prefer not to divulge that info in print), it is hard for me to explain a steady and static job description for myself.  I basically put out fires, think up new ways to do things and project manage the shit out of highly technical and elaborate manufacturing processes.

Our company is working to adopt Lean manufacturing principles (which is why I 'poke' fun at it with the title of this blog) to improve our processes and build in efficiency.

If I've said it once, I've said it a million times:  YOU CANNOT HAVE EFFICIENCY IF YOU DON'T FIRST HAVE EFFECTIVENESS.  If something doesn't work, you can't make it work smoother or quicker.  Aint gonna happen.

My Dad uses the simple phrase "polishing a turd".  And that is exactly what we run into in a new manufacturing company- shiny turds.  From the outside, the process put in place has a great basic concept and by all appearances it should work.  But when it comes down to it, the process is either broken or ineffective. Sounds great on paper, wastes hours of manpower and materials in production.  If you can't move something from position 1 to position 2, there is no way you are going to move it faster.  If it doesn't even get there, it doesn't matter how fast you moved it.

Think about it.  If you're headed to Charlotte from Jacksonville but you're driving South, no matter how fast you drive or how few stops you take, you're never going to get there. 

Shiny turds.

So, I guess the answer I can give after that diatribe is this:  I flush the turds.  I get rid of them.  I point them out to the subject matter experts and help them fix the issues with cross-functional facilitation and reimagining of the current processes.

And in my current capacity, I also handle customer feedback and questions.  If something isn't exactly what our customer thought it would be, I get to help formulate a plan to capture the nonconformance and help determine what corrective action needs to happen to fix whatever is wrong.

Those of you who know me well know that this means I get to use some of my greatest personality traits and skills- diplomacy and mediation.  I've been doing it my whole life...