Guild QC Manager Pics

[GAD]

There used to be so many QC problems with Newark St. guitars that I was about to write an article about it when the QC manager first posted on Facebook. I believe they also knew about the problem and implemented the change to have them inspected in California instead of shipping directly to the dealers, though I note with interest that I don't recall ever seeing a solid-body in any of this type of pic.

 

[SFIV1967]

though I note with interest that I don't recall ever seeing a solid-body in any of this type of pic.

Good point! Only SPG made guitars visible! So maybe no problems with WMI, Yako and PTS? Or just by chance no such pictures.

Ralf

 

[dreadnut]

I think we discussed this before. Seems to me "inspection" at this point is like closing the barn door after the horse has escaped.

Here's a concept - make them right in the first place. Send the QC Manager to China, Korea, or wherever they are made. Don't ship out junk. I don't want to sort out the good from the bad. This is not a new idea in the manufacturing world.

But, as I said earlier, if this is a planned step for final tweaking, that is different.

 

[SFIV1967]

Send the QC Manager to China, Korea, or wherever they are made.

According to his FB page he is frequently at least in the CMG used factories in China.
Ralf

 

[dreadnut]

Sorry for sounding off like an old judgmental curmudgeon; I'm sure he is visiting the suppliers' factories.

The guitars sure look nice; if final setup is a function of Oxnard, yay for hands-on attention to detail before delivery to dealers and potential customers.

 

[SFIV1967]

...if final setup is a function of Oxnard, yay for hands-on attention to detail before delivery to dealers and potential customers.

Like GAD said above, it was a corrective measure and you are totally correct that it needs to be fixed at the source. I don't think that was a planned "production step".
Ralf

 

[Rebosbro]

I’m guessing that is kinda what Heaven is like (I hope!)

 

[fronobulax]

Not to beat the QA/QC definitions and practices to death, but there are situations where two independent inspections, especially after shipping, are deemed the right thing. If the second inspection turns up something the first inspection missed then you reevaluate what happens at the factory or during the first inspection. Multiple inspections before use were the norm in my limited experience supporting nuclear reactors. Similarly for medical devices and implants although my experience is much less personal. There are clearly health and safety issues involved that guitars do not have, but multiple inspections, in and of themselves, do not indicate a fixable problem in manufacturing.

 

[dreadnut]

I will always maintain that you can't inspect quality into a product or a process. I spent a whole career trying to convince people of this. Then ISO 9001 came along, and I had to start pointing out that you can't legislate quality either.

 

[fronobulax]

I will always maintain that you can't inspect quality into a product or a process. I spent a whole career trying to convince people of this. Then ISO 9001 came along, and I had to start pointing out that you can't legislate quality either.

I agree which is why I noted not rehashing the definitions. My recollection is that we agreed that a different term was needed to distinguish from the case where an inspection was designed to improve the product or process and one where it was designed to keep a substandard product out of the hands of the user. You don't seem to like making that distinction whereas it is important to me.

 

[Coop47]

I agree which is why I noted not rehashing the definitions. My recollection is that we agreed that a different term was needed to distinguish from the case where an inspection was designed to improve the product or process and one where it was designed to keep a substandard product out of the hands of the user. You don't seem to like making that distinction whereas it is important to me.

I was kinda hoping you would rehash the definitions , because I always get QA and QC mixed up.

 

[GAD]

I will always maintain that you can't inspect quality into a product or a process. I spent a whole career trying to convince people of this. Then ISO 9001 came along, and I had to start pointing out that you can't legislate quality either.

While I agree with you in principle (and ISO 9000/9001 is a bureaucratic abomination), I think the *idea* has merit in that that quality issues should be found and traced back to the source so they can be remedied. If there's a guy on the "line" who thinks it's OK to ship a guitar with finish blems then he should be trained, corrected, or removed from the process. In my mind no one should even GET to work on the line unless they have proven themselves beforehand, but sadly I just don't think that's the world we live in anymore.

 

[dreadnut]

"quality issues should be found and traced back to the source so they can be remedied." Bingo.

I used to tell our suppliers "We don't want to have to sort out the stuff you sent us - we will inspect a random statistical sample and if we find any critical failures, the whole lot is going back to you."

 

[dreadnut]

We had a three tiered approach to manufacturing quality regarding line workers: Training, Process, and Supervision. It's like a three-legged stool - remove any one leg and the stool falls down.

 

[GAD]

He added this today:

 

[Westerly Wood]

are the electrics US made?
what is the white thing in upper bout of the electrics?
they are really producing some nice US made classic Guild acoustics.
finally, that is one heck of a clean shop floor. super organized too. you could probably eat off one of those guitars too. like off the back...

 

[Default]

No, electrics are imports. The white objects are styrofoam blocks to protect the pickup selector switch during shipping.

 

[dreadnut]

I would love to have the job of inspecting those! Especially the blue ones on the top rack in the back! And that green one on the bottom rack. And...

 

[chazmo]

You get a feel for the magnitude of the effort to inspect all of these by looking at these pictures. That's close to 100 guitars just there in yesterday's picture. I wonder how many they're doing each day.

 

[SFIV1967]

are the electrics US made?

No, electrics are imports.

Actually all guitars in that picture from today are made in Indonesia at P.T.Samick, so they got a whole shipment from there. They all belong to the so called "Starfire 1 Series". The Korean made Starfire models have Chesterfields, that is the easy way to spot which is which.
Ralf