Over the years and many incidents (accidents, injuries, failures, nonconformances) later, I’ve come to recognize that there are many contributing factors to an incident. The key is the corrective action taken. Does the corrective action prevent the incident from recurring? 

A good day on the shop floor has everything running smoothly. No issues with machines, staff, or suppliers, and products are shipped on time and without defects.

Today it is a vacant plot. Back in the early 1990s, a stamping plant was there, with three main buildings supplying North American automotive final assembly operations. I was an inspector working the second shift, assigned to a stamping line producing outer panels for an automotive door. 

In automotive manufacturing, reducing quality costs can be like trying to bail out a leaking boat. You can empty bucket after bucket over the side, but you can’t get above water until you plug the leaks themselves.

Problem solving is finding the root cause of a problem and preventing it from ever happening again.