Please read the post below and comment on it and give your opinion about it using 100 words or more.

Prior to joining the Navy, I worked at a Brass Mill in the foundry melting and casting the brass that was used throughout the mill for developing different alloys of brass rod to be sold around the world. As quality assurance started at the creation of the brass and the chemical composition that we created, we worked closely with the lab to ensure quality assurance for our product which would be distributed throughout the plant for developing into a final product. A unique trait of a metal mill is that at any time product can be reutilized back into raw material as its remelted and cast again. The mill operated on 24-hour schedules utilizing four 12 hour shifts to maximize output.

Quality Assurance is stressed to be of the upmost importance to ensure correct material that meets the standards of the consumers is manufactured and shipped. Extra material is usually requested in the event that material is damaged before final production to ensure the schedule doesnt become interrupted to reforge a small batch. The excess at the end of the process is converted back to raw material through the melting process and utilized elsewhere.

To promote and improve a positive quality culture, I recommend:

1. Outlining set schedules to dedicate to tearing down and rebuilding the furnaces as management relies on a reactionary approach and the furnaces are not rebuilt until they have failed which results in unplanned downtime and potential damage to equipment as the furnaces fall apart and release molten brass which must be cut and craned away. This allows a method to stagger the upkeep across the various furnaces so as to maintain constant production and reduce the amount of downtime when the furnaces fail.

2. Analyze the amount of excess brass that is cast for specific orders to reduce the amount of time spare material is being worked just to end up back in the furnace and recast into brass again. I understand the intent is to eliminate the need for storing hefty brass rod but the movement of waste requires operating heavy machinery and more hours on the furnaces. Determining a smaller threshold to still allow spare material but not in the excess of 10k pounds can save depreciation on the cranes and loaders that are required to move such large amounts of product that were already determined to be scrapped when the order was made.

3. Determining a more accurate approach when comparing production to efficiency. The intent of each shift is to produce the maximum amount of tonnage but when upwards of 30% of final product is being scrapped and recast, it puts undue stress on the equipment and furnaces. By determining a more accurate production rate, it lowers operational rates and extends the life of equipment.

4. Increasing the frequency that the brass metal is tested to ensure constant certification of standards. The brass is tested at the beginning of the production cycle shortly after it is melted and not again until it is produced in a final product. By increasing the frequency that it is tested, at least during the melting process, ensures that the correct chemical composition is met before a product is pushed through the mill over a 12 hour period until it is tested at the end stage and rejected.