From LinkedIn

Zero defects: is it possible?

The idea of zero defects is hard to grasp: the world is never perfect, people make mistakes, machines sometimes have problems, and so on.

The result is the belief that producing defective parts is inherently unavoidable, and therefore acceptable as part of the manufacturing process.

Every time I see paratroopers jumping from the C-130s (the place where I work is right in front of a drop zone, which is where the picture was taken), it reminds me of an interesting story about zero defects. The story goes that during the Second World War, at a certain point, the error rate in parachute folding was 3%. "Only" 3 percent!

After some improvements to the operating procedures and some extra training for the operators, the number improved to 2%.

Then the problem was finally solved by asking the people who folded the parachutes to test them by jumping from planes themselves, occasionally and without notice…

The result? Zero defects!