THIRD PARTY INSPECTION IS SIMPLE, RIGHT?

“After having considered, "this man can accomplish this, by these means", let (the king) leave with him the discharge of that duty” – The Thirukkural

Organizations have a team of people in their Quality Control department to monitor and manage the project's or product's quality. When it comes to the Product, these individuals will periodically measure its various parameters and determine whether or not production is proceeding according to plan. By regulating the several manufacturing processes, deviations, if any, are addressed during the production phase itself. When it comes to projects, the project manager and his team assess the timeline, cost, quality, and other factors to determine the present status. After making thorough analysis, the report is presented in the monthly meeting to the sponsor and the stakeholders. Deviations are got approved in this meeting.

Some firms rely on unbiased third party inspections to maintain strict quality standards. For instance, the UL, BIS, and STQC are just a few of the organizations that do independent third-party inspections for ISO Quality management certifications for businesses and even government agencies. Up until a few years ago, the DGS&D department in India was responsible for testing the elevators in Central Government buildings.

Some organizations have their own testing unit for this purpose. The unit's testing authorities will report to their respective functional managers, who are unrelated to the project or product. This unit's entire workforce is organised according to a different organisational structure. The head of this division will answer directly to the head of the company. So, the test report will be objective and unbiased.

Inspections by a third party are thought to be quite stressful. Despite the fact that most inspectors are knowledgeable and competent in their industries, some of them can be difficult to work with. I'll describe an amusing instance involving difficulties encountered during a third-party inspection and how they were resolved..

Ours was a functional organization which does not have a projectised hierarchy. All the projects are to be carried out at the same time by the same team. Once, Our Project team was vested with the responsibility of installing a centralised HVAC plant in a Telecom building. This project was one among a few other projects that we were handling simultaneously. I was the junior level Project Manager. The installation was completed on time. The Project Manager wanted to complete the third party inspection. So, based on the assurance given by me, he made a request to the independent testing unit of our organization to conduct the inspection which will last for 2 days.

The Inspection team arrived on the appointed day. After preliminary checks, the performance test was commenced which will continue for 24 hours. By the end of the day, the project manager felt certain that the test would be a success. He therefore requested that I stay at the location to observe the test during the night and that he will join the test the following morning when I would be relieved to rest.

Everything went on well till midnight. We decided to take some rest at the site itself as we were damn tired after working continuously for more than 15 hours. When it was halfway past midnight the main HT fuse in the Substation blew up. We were shocked. The reasons were not known because all the machines were operating satisfactorily and there were no overloading issues. We chose to replace the fuse only once. After 30 minutes of restoration work, it blew up once more. This time, the inspector halted the test and instructed us to look into the fuse blowing incident and determine what caused it.

We immediately got over our exhaustion from the day and got down on our knees. We thoroughly inspected all of the building's switches, cables, end connections, etc. Following two hours of careful investigation, we discovered that the failure was caused by an incorrect cable connection at a switch in the substation. The outer insulation was found slightly damaged at the connection area due to which there was a leakage of power supply to the frame.  This leakage doesn't happen all the time; instead, only after getting sufficiently heated up due to the operation of the HVAC machines. After working for an hour more we restored the cable connection. It was 4.00 AM and we all were wide awake without a moment’s rest.

But the inspector was now red with anger. He complained that we wasted his valuable time by not conducting any initial testing prior to submitting the plant for evaluation by a third party.  He declared that after preparing the report during morning office hours, he would leave the site because the installation had failed the test. Then he immediately rushed to his guest house.

All of the team members were really upset with the outcome because so much of their labour had gone to waste. As I didn't know how the Project Manager would respond, I was also disappointed. I didn't tell him about any of the occurrences up until this point because I was afraid of upsetting him. However, the matter is now beyond my control.  I mustered courage and called him on the phone at 5.oo AM. (There was no mobile phone those days. All calls had to be made from the wired phones only). His immediate response after picking the phone was “what happened?”. He had judged that no one would call him at such odd hours unless something was wrong. I narrated the events. He thought over for some time and then told that he would meet the inspector at the site. He also asked me to wait with the full team at site.

As per his instructions, we gathered at the site mentally preparing ourselves to pack off and leave soon. The Project manager reached at 9.00 AM, though he had to travel a 2 hour distance. The Inspector was also waiting for him to apprise the events and prepare the report.

The Project manager patiently listened to the Inspector whose tone was highly subdued now. But he conveyed his intent uncompromisingly that the plant had failed the test and he is preparing the report, accordingly.

The Project Manager called me in and questioned me directly about whether the defect had actually been fixed. Then, facing the inspector,  in his captivating tone, he communicated the gist of events that had happened the previous night, in a nutshell and the inspector’s suspicion about whether the Plant was run before offering for test. He conveyed in clear technical terms that the plant was actually trial-tested before offering for third party inspection. . Because the trial test was done only for a few hours, not long enough for the cable to develop significant heat, the issue could not be found. In contrast, the third party test saw the defect after the Plant had been operating for more than 6 hours. Second, the HVAC plant's equipment was operating properly, and the malfunction had occurred outside the Plant's boundaries. It is therefore unnecessary to fail the Plant. What reason can the Inspector write in his report when the fault had been resolved now and is also not relevant to the project?

The Inspector thought for a while and reluctantly told that if everything is alright now, he has to start the performance test from the scratch for which sufficient time is not available as he had to visit a distant site the next afternoon for another test. He had already packed his bags and not in a mood to stay back. The Project Manager made some phone calls to the Railway department, from the wired phone nearby. Then, turning to face the inspector, he announced that a fast, fully air-conditioned express train departs from this location the following morning. It can take the inspector to the specified location at the scheduled time. He continued by saying that the Project team would purchase the ticket because the Project Manager was aware that the Inspector was not formally authorised to board that train and was not eligible to receive reimbursement from his Department for the cost of the ticket.

The Inspector was put in a spot. Because both issues have been resolved by the project manager at this point, he cannot depart the location citing Plant's failure or his prior appointment. After giving it some thought, the inspector decided to start the test over. The situation was win-win. The Inspector was not at any loss. He could travel by the high speed fully air-conditioned express train which is a luxury those days, to keep his appointment. The Project Manager is also not at a loss. Compared to the enormous expense of setting up the third party inspection once more on a different date, the ticket booking expenditure is just peanuts. By then, the Project would be behind schedule.

The test started once again. The Project manager smiled at me when I looked at him with admiration. He asked me to leave the site for taking rest as he would continue for the day.  When I arrived at the site the following morning, the test had just been successfully completed. The report had been prepared and the signing process was going on. We bid farewell to the Inspector, who was reputed to be tough, but wasn't quite as tough as our Project Manager. I remembered the saying “When the going gets tough, the tough gets going”

The key takeaway from the negotiation was that we should always aim for a win-win outcome. We have to empathise from the other man’s point of view to understand his needs and then we have to draw out a solution which satisfies both the people. In our example, the Project Manager had patiently listened to the inspector before suggesting any solution. He ascertained the availability of the express train which would fulfill his need. He also ascertained that the test cannot be failed on technical grounds, as it would discredit the inspector because the fault is outside the scope and had been fixed. Without giving the inspector a chance to speak anything, he then delivered the remedy. He dealt with the problem by using his listening and communication skills, personality traits, familiarity with the Railways and the Inspector's Department, presence of mind, and empathy. As a result, he was successful. 

Despite my desire to remain anonymous, if I didn't introduce Mr. N.S. Gopalakrishnan, the seasoned project manager to whom I made reference in the article, I would be failing in my obligations.

    Mr. N.S.Gopalakrishnan

Hope you enjoyed reading this post.

See you in the next post, Bye.