Duties of the Quality Assurance Section ❶ Responding to inquiries on product troubleshooting ❷ Duties associated with being a designated manufacturing business operator ❸ Duties associated with being a JCSS accredited calibration laboratory ❹ Managing in-house measuring instruments ❺ Duties associated with product compliance with laws and regulations ❻ Duties associated with final inspections of products and packaging ❼ Duties associated with documentation related to product quality, The Quality Assurance Section is tasked with doing everything to protect the high quality of the Rion products, including particle counters and sound and vibration measuring instruments. Since their duties involve the reliability of the Rion brand directly, those who work at the section are in positions of great responsibility, one that doesn’t allow for even a single mistake. In this section, everyone keeps a close eye on quality control day after day.“One notable feature of the Quality Assurance Section is that no newly hired employees are assigned here,” explains Section Chief Junichi Kawamura, who coordinates the diverse duties of the sec-tion. “When a problem comes up, we need to have a general idea what product and what manufacturing process may be related to the problem, which is a prereq-uisite for appropriate action. The other duties also require basic knowledge of our products. That’s why most of us have some experience with manufacturing, development, or design before being assigned to this section.”The priority task for the Quality Assurance Section is to confirm whether a product complies with laws and regula-tions and other applicable rules and whether the product will continue to per-form adequately for a certain period of time. The Quality Assurance Section is also tasked with many other duties.“For example, we’re involved whenev-er a new product is about to be intro-duced to the market. The Quality Assur-ance Section participates from the development stage. We study standards and other regulations the completed product has to meet and give suggestions concerning compliance. If any changes occur in the product’s performance or specifications during the development process, we have to reexamine the com-pliance requirements. If the product will be sold overseas, we carry out the same process for every single country.”During the manufacturing process, the section checks for compliance with standards and regulations and under-takes product inspections to verify per-formance. Their work doesn’t end even when the production process ends. If an application needs to be submitted to a public agency before shipping or selling the product, this section shoulders the associated responsibilities. If any of the relevant laws and regulations change after the release of the product, this is the section that responds. The tasks and responsibilities handled by the section require a concern for detail and patience.Sometimes, the Quality Assurance Section plays the role of facilitator. When an issue emerges with a product, the Quality Assurance Section acts as a flag bearer in coordinating the efforts of mul-tiple departments to investigate the cause. Any conflicts between the depart-ments involved can hinder the resolution of the problem.“Any investigation of causes that doesn’t proceed smoothly can cause problems in future efforts. That’s why we try to guide everyone toward the com-mon goal of making the product better. Even if we are very familiar with the product, we don’t get directly involved. It’s better to take a step back when seek-ing a solution.”To maintain a distance even when they have firsthand knowledge—that’s the strategic neutrality the Quality Assurance Section tries to keep to main-tain accord among those striving for sometimes conflicting targets within the organizationThe efforts of the Quality Assurance Section stand behind every product release. The section is never in the lime-light, like the developers of popular prod-ucts or star salespeople, but the solid work of the Quality Assurance Section sets the foundations for product quality.On the next page, we’ll introduce the advantages of the two systems under which the Quality Assurance Section is certified: the JCSS accredited calibration laboratory system and the designated manufacturing business operator sys-tem. We’ll explain in greater detail the efforts of the Quality Assurance Section in enhancing Rion’s status.Junichi KawamuraQuality Assurance Section, Environmental Instruments Di-vision. Joined Rion in 1997. He has been in charge of envi-ronmental measuring instruments (mainly sound level meters and vibration meters) in the Manufacturing Sec-tion. Since 2019, he has worked in the Quality Assurance Section.traceability, and calibration certification8The people behind the scenes who safeguard trust in Rion products
元のページ ../index.html#10