Department of Ephemera: January 2009 Archives

    Effective Immediately the Tolerance office will be switching over to the new Standards.  As everyone on the shop floor knows, our ability to control quality has been uneven at best.  In fact, some in the management section have suggested that we have wavered between "half-assed" and "full-assed" since the company's inception.  While we in the Tolerance office take umbrage at these amusing but emotionally hurtful quips, we accept the basic truth that BPL's quality is quite low, compared to industry standards.


    Military and Aerospace specifications for everything from fastener sizes to metallurgical properties have been employed by all companies of our ilk until now.


    To address these quality concerns, Management has decided to issue our own Standards, tailored to our particular techniques and capacities.  Instead of using Military Specifications (MS or Milspec), we will be using BPL Specifications (BS).  This flexible and adaptable code will allow us to gain market share moving forward and at the end of the day will prevent quality complaints, or at least will give us a legal basis for countersuits.  Instead of getting bogged down in the exact size of a hole for a given fastener, we will generally refer to MS or NAS (Aerospace) standards, but if the situation does not allow for this kind of precision, we will switch over to our more robust BS standards.  


    We know it will take some getting used to, and that some, especially those in the Milling Section, will not want to accept the new Standard.  Gradually we expect the level of quality surrounding these stalwart holdouts to reach a level where they can no longer resist the tide of change.

    The new Standard should be thought of not so much as a rule book, but more as an ethos, a way of thinking.  BPL is certain to burrow even farther into the niche it has carved for itself in the Aerospace industry with the implementation of BS.  We expect others to follow our lead, especially in this economy.




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