Quality Progress - American Society for Quality

certification? The ASQ version may be fine, but what about the other versions?
As far as being in the "correct" forum to discuss this, everyone can see the header, if they
choose not to join in, they don't have to. I agree with both of you completely.
Carl-
17017 Re: Re: Re: Letter: Thoughts on Lack of Training in Latest Quality Systems?
Wesley Bucey
Sep-17-03
From Wes Bucey, Quality Manager
Carl and Jennifer, I have some of those super powerful rare earth magnets left over from
a shopping spree at one of those science warehouse outlets. If you need all the iron
pulled out of your brain cells, these turkeys will do the job! These are the kind of
magnets where the refrigerator moves if you try to take one off the door. I agree in part
that this may not be the proper discussion forum for the way the string has turned, but I
also agree that by no means is it played out. I see two burning issues: 1) Does having a
"quality" certificate of any kind from any source give a candidate a better chance at
landing the job where the company with the opening has NOT specifically required such
a certificate? 2) Do those companies which list certificates among job qualifications
really know what on earth that certificate really measures? In other words:
a) Is the requirement there because some knowledgeable Quality person felt the general
skills implied for a certificate holder are what's necessary to do the job? or
b) Did some idiot at a job recruiter add the requirement because he didn't have a clue
what else to ask for in terms of qualifications? In my experience, CQE, CQM and other
certs from ASQ are usually requested because someone has a good idea of the general
Body of Knowledge required for such certificate. In my further experience, requests for
Black Belts and Green Belts are usually from a company in the throes of entering into a
6S initiative. The request is from a Master Black Belt looking for his own little empire.
Requests for Master Black Belts are almost always generated by some recruiter who has
no real understanding of the 6S methodololgy. His use of the term MBB is like my
grandson with a hammer - everything begins to look like a nail! Given the current
fractured nature of our Discussion Forums, I believe this forum is as good as any to carry
on the thread if folks choose to add comments. Re: ISO - I think the concept of
a Standard like ISO or QS9000 or TS16949 is excellent, if an organization actually
follows the Standard. I do not agree that a buyer should dictate that all his suppliers have
to purchase certificates if those suppliers can adequately demonstrate they are selfdeclared
compliant. My experience is that such buyers are really lazy and hope the
certificate will relieve them of the responsibility of examining and approving a supplier.
Same sort of brain dead notion as asking for a Harvard degree instead of interviewing a
candidate to determine if he can do the job. Check me on this, but I believe there are a lot
of Harvard graduates in many fields who are fired despite the prestigious degree because
they can't do the job. Same thing applies for ISO-registered organizations. They lose
contracts all the time because they can't deliver.
-Wes Bucey