A few months ago, I received training on ISO 9001 process auditing. It was very thorough and put on by a very enthusiastic man. I was really enjoying the training, and I planned to take my newfound knowledge and begin to process audit my division.

One of the last things the trainer said to me before we finished for the day was, “Remember, as a quality person, you are only to point out nonconformances and areas for improvement. You are not to personally get involved in fixing them.” That was music to my ears as I was one of the few engineers at my company. I figured this would lessen my workload now that I wouldn’t have to worry about process improvements or any other direct work on production.

As I headed back to my office, I encountered the division manager (my boss) in the supervisor’s office. He asked me how my training was going and then said, “By the way, go take a look at press 3. Its output has been lagging behind. We think it may be a mechanical problem.”

The trainer’s words still fresh in my mind, I boldly replied, “I’m sorry George, I can’t do that anymore. I can only recommend areas of improvement. I can’t be directly involved in production.” I was quite proud of my new direction as strictly a man of quality. Surely my boss could also see the conflict of interest for a quality man to also be a production man.

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