That's Some Bad Workmanship

I spent almost a half an hour tonight back in the "Site-To-Store" area of my local WalMart, in an attempt to pick up a DVD recorder/VCR that I ordered. For the record, let me interject that my recorder was not sent to the store that I had indicated on my order; instead it was sent to a store across town. After much, ahem, discussion, they assured me that the item would be at my local Walmart tomorrow morning, and if I wanted to pick it up on my way to work, it would be there. But I digress.

While I was waiting thirty minutes for someone to come back to the Site-To-Store area to wait on me, I had plent of time to read all of the recal notices that were posted on a wall. There weren't just a few; I counted and there were 38 recall notices. Yep, 38. They ranged from everything to mini-blinds to a log splitter to a plastic cake for a doll house. As I stood there, I couldn't help but wonder if this was only 38 items at this point in time, how many other items would be posted on that wall in the next day or two?

I work for a manufacturer, and I know firsthand how we're at the mercy of our vendors -- our products are only as good as the parts we receive and the people that we hire to build the items. I thought for a second how embarassed I would be if I were reading a recall notice about one of our products. And then I wondered if the people that made those products would feel bad if they read one of the recall notices, or heard about the recall on the nightly news.

I know for a fact that the people out in our factory that make our products would feel horrible if they were staring at a recall notice. I've talked to them and stood by them while they work and I know without a doubt that they care about the products that they make and they take it very seriously. If only everyone working in a factory - from the line workers on up to the testers and auditors on to the vendors and suppliers of the parts - felt the same; maybe Toyota wouldn't be in this bind right now.