Problems are not solved in conference rooms. They are solved at the gemba, where the work happens.

In 38 years of manufacturing and quality work, the answer to a rising defect was rarely in the report. It was on the shop floor: a worn fixture, a gauge nobody had checked, a standard the operator was never shown.

My rule has not changed:
→ Go and see.
→ Ask the people who do the job.
→ Fix the system, not the person.

I have brought my courses, consulting and lessons together in one place: this website.

Over the coming weeks I will share practical lessons from IATF 16949, ISO and Lean implementations. If you work in quality or operations, follow along.

Three signs a plant is not audit-ready, even when the documents look perfect:

1. The control plan says one thing, the operator does another.
Ask any operator to show you the reaction plan for an out-of-spec part. If they have to search for it, the auditor will find it first.

2. Corrective actions close on paper, but the problem comes back.
If the same failure returns within six months, the root cause was never found.

3. Internal audits only ever find “minor” issues.
A strong internal audit should hurt a little. If it never does, it is not looking in the right places.

Audit readiness is not a project you run before the auditor arrives. It is how the plant works every day.

Which of these have you seen most often?

If you are starting in quality, or moving from production into a quality role, start with the basics done properly.

My L1 Awareness courses are free. They cover the foundation of each standard and method, and how it evolved:
• ISO 9001 and IATF 16949
• AS 9100, ISO 14001, ISO 45001
• Core tools: APQP, PPAP, FMEA, MSA, SPC
• Lean Six Sigma

Each one follows the same path I use in plants: Know → Learn → Do → Apply → Teach. L1 is the “Know”.

See the free L1 courses.

From 10,000 PPM to below 1,000. I have seen this happen in more than one plant, and it was never one big fix.

It was the same five steps, done with discipline:
1. Contain first. Protect the customer before you investigate.
2. Find the real root cause. Go to the gemba, not to the spreadsheet.
3. Error-proof where you can. Inspection catches defects; poka-yoke prevents them.
4. Write the new standard and train to it.
5. Check that it holds, with layered audits on the shop floor.

Most plants are good at step 1 and skip steps 4 and 5. That is why the PPM comes back.

What is the hardest step in your plant?

Still ranking FMEA risks by RPN alone? The AIAG & VDA FMEA Handbook moved away from that.

RPN multiplies Severity × Occurrence × Detection. The problem: a failure with severity 9 and low occurrence can score lower than a minor nuisance that happens often.

The AIAG & VDA approach uses Action Priority (High, Medium, Low), which gives severity the weight it deserves. Safety and regulatory failure modes come first, as they should.

Practical tip for your next FMEA review:
→ Sort by Action Priority, not RPN.
→ Every High needs an action with an owner and a date.
→ Re-rate after the action. If nothing changes, the action did not work.

A former colleague recently wrote this about our work together:

“I will always remember him as a leader who built enduring operational systems while upholding the highest standards of ethics.”
Sarathkumar R, Tata Electronics

Thank you, Sarathkumar. Systems that keep working after you leave are the real measure of improvement work.

I now share one practical shop-floor lesson a week by email: quality, Lean and IATF/ISO, from 38 years at the gemba. Free. Sign up here.

Ford Q1, Nissan ASES, MMOG/LE. I have been through all three. Different customers, one common lesson:

Customer audits do not test your documents. They test whether your system works on an ordinary Tuesday.

What the auditors really look at:
• Do operators know the reaction plan, without searching for it?
• Is the data on the line current, or filled in before the audit?
• Do problems escalate in hours, or sit for weeks?
• Does management walk the floor, or only the meeting room?

Prepare for the ordinary Tuesday, and audit day takes care of itself.

Before you trust your SPC chart, trust your gauge.

I have seen teams spend weeks reacting to “out of control” points, only to find the measurement system was the problem.

Quick check from the AIAG MSA guidelines for Gauge R&R (% of total variation):
• Under 10%: acceptable
• 10% to 30%: may be acceptable, depending on the application and cost
• Over 30%: not acceptable. Fix the measurement system first.

Run the Gauge R&R before the control chart, not after the argument.

Join my free webinar on quality and manufacturing excellence.

A practical session for engineers, supervisors and quality professionals: how IATF and ISO requirements turn into daily shop-floor practice, and where most plants slip.

Date to be announced.

Bring your questions. I will answer as many as I can live.

Register free.

5S is not housekeeping. It is a visual system.

The test I use at the gemba: can a person who does not work in this area spot something abnormal in 30 seconds? A missing tool, an overflowing bin, a gauge out of its place, material where it should not be.

If yes, 5S is working. If not, the area is just tidy.

Three questions for your next 5S audit:
→ Is there a defined place for everything, with a visual sign of what is missing?
→ Are the standards on the wall the ones people actually follow?
→ Who sustains it when the audit team leaves?

Sustain is the S most plants lose first.

The best way to learn something is to teach it.

That is why every course I build follows the same five steps:
Know → Learn → Do → Apply → Teach

• Know: understand the why and the history.
• Learn: the tools and methods, with real industry examples.
• Do: practise on case studies.
• Apply: implement in your own plant with ready documents.
• Teach: qualify to train your own team.

The last step matters most. A plant improves fastest when its own people can teach the system to the next person.

Which step does your organisation skip?

If your plant is preparing for IATF 16949, ISO certification or a customer audit, or fighting the same quality problems every month, let’s talk.

I work with companies on:
• IATF 16949 and ISO implementation
• In-house training on core tools, Lean and internal auditing
• Shop-floor transformation: PPM, complaints, OEE

Book a free 20-minute call.

And if we have worked together before, I would value your feedback. It takes one minute: sreenivasankasiviswanathan.com/feedback