Errors will occur during the execution of a project. They can come from a designer s calculation, a subcontractor s machining of a hole pattern, or a customer s mistyped specification. We are all human, and errors will occur.

When a team member makes an error during the execution of a project, do not reprimand him or her immediately. For example, a design error was made during a vehicle motor mount stress analysis, namely, the moment of inertia for a motor mount beam was miscalculated. The design error surfaced after the first two prototype vehicles were built. The designer came to the project manager with a red face and announced the error. It was an honest mistake. The project manager asked the designer to correct the calculations and get them checked by another engineer. The project manager gathered all the designers for a lessons-learned meeting, explained the situation, and brainstormed the solutions so that such an error does not occur again. The solution was to implement a dual and independent checking system for the critical calculations. The two vehicles were retrofitted with the new motor mounts, and after that incidence, no design errors occurred during the execution of the project.

In another example, a designer put the wrong voltage control panel light part numbers on the drawing bill of materials. The drawing checker also missed the error and it was overlooked during the design review meeting. The solution to this error was to make it a requirement to put a...