The Progress of this case will be followed from a
CASE DIARY
in chronological order with links to appropriate documents.
Top of Memorandum on the
Racketeering Nature of State Farm's Misconduct
for which this is an exhibit.
The List of Exhibits
Exhibit 8
October 8, 1990
ROUGH DRAFT
MEMO TO: Jack Gillis
CAPA
FROM: Ben C. Parr
RE: Taiwan Technical Committee Findings
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Get 202-3 and 4 realigned and approved so that we can have Tong
Yang PUR and RIM products in the CAPA manual. This needs priority.
2. Investigate DTL procedure for checking certification on "farmed
out" dies producing parts.
3. Insist that when DTL is waltzed and danced about as we were, and
sees that the manufacturer's quality is marginal for any reason
(including management attitude). that it really totally inspect
the entire aftermarket part manufacturing operation - including
any dies and any stock on the premises.
COIN JOIN KEY
At Coin Join Key we saw a significantly improved operation from three
years ago, yet it cannot consistently produce quality sheet metal
products.
1. Many of their fixtures should not have been certified to the OEM
sample (it didn't fit) and in some cases the OEM sample had
obvious damage.
2. Newer products did show improvement.
3. Production parts for that day should not be certified.
4. Observed a strong willingness to improve, but a lack of ability to
do so. SUSPECT that DTL gave significant assistance to this
organization and it appears some of it was incorrect and other
portions not well understood, e.g.. edge waviness and other
features necessary for the part to be satisfactory.
5. Coin Join Key repeatedly asked for more feedback from CAPA on what
to specifically correct.
In my opinion they know what is inferior - they feel that since
they got a CAPA approval their product, as produced, is good
enough. They do not check their production runs for production
variance.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Coin Join Key should (on a part number basis) be completely resurveyed
by DTL in the strictest detail for certification and possibly cited or
decertified for:
1. Fixture qualification to OEM part fit.
2. Fixture maintenance and irregularities.
3. Quality control protocol and procedure availability and for not
adhering to that protocol.
Wednesday we visited Haur Tay and DTL.
HAUR TAY
Mr. John Chen arrived back in Taiwan from a 40 day U.S. trip to meet
with us. John is the president of the Apex Group, which consists of
Haur Tay, Coin Join Key and three other organizations. Apex Group
members contribute to a significant majority of manufacturer oriented
quality related complaints. He said that he had received complaints
while in the U.S., but they were too general for them to fix anything.
It was obvious, as we worked their checking fixtures using parts
brought from the U.S.A., that they had heard from the Coin Join Key of
the CAPA visit the previous day. They were not in production (this day
was their Moon Festival Holiday), therefore we were restricted to
viewing their checking fixtures and items from their finished
inventory. We found unsatisfactory and inconsistent quality. Haur Tay
was extremely cooperative, obviously and sincerely wanting to know
"what" to correct.
*(Personal Note:
Considering what we saw this time, coupled with the significant yet
inadequate improvements they have made to date. I suspect they are
saying, "Tell us how." (not what) to correct their deficiencies. We
seem to be losing the complete meaning of their requests. I believe
that they know when the part is not the same as OEM, but think that
the differences are forgivable, or that the part can be "adjusted to
fit."
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Exactly the same as Coin Join Key.
2. Accept the request that CAPA send back to the Apex Group, at their
expense, returned as unacceptable in U.S. parts.
3. CAPA have a strong presentation as far as to what CAPA means to
the Taiwanese manufactures, to the U.S. body shops, to the U.S.
importers, the Taiwan trading companies and the U.S. insurance
company members. Only then will they understand the value of the
CAPA Seal and its true meaning.
4. CAPA find ways to improve communication to its Taiwan members,
especially suggesting that when visiting the U.S.A. they visit the
CAPA office. Today the trend is to only visit DTL.
5. Procedure manual be revised to state that DTL (or certifying
organization) be required to give reasons and demonstrate
deficiencies which cause the decertification action.
6. Revise procedure manual to require manufacturer tie in the CAPA
seal number to a production lot. This will correct many of the
observed difficulties and enhance the ability to track complaints.
DTL - TAIPEI
4. The Taiwan office records are pretty good from an administrative
content viewpoint. Technical content accuracies and organizational
factors need improvement.
5. An average of 20 new parts per month are being investigated for
certification by DTL. Improvements in efficiency are required.
6. DTL (Don Auen) has a proposal for a procedure to replace the
"container inspection program" yet assure that a "quality alert"
for the prevention of shipment of substandard parts "is
available". This might be a candidate for a Tech Committee meeting
agenda item.
CONCLUSION - OPINION
The next few weeks are critical for CAPA. DECISIONS AND ACTION ARE
REQUIRED. The NACE convention in New Orleans will see significant
aftermarket part activity and the ABPA convention (after NACE) in San
Diego can be made into an opportunity.
TIE FENG
At Tie Feng we saw an up scale Taiwanese manufacturer who produces
over 100 parts - 34 for the North American market.
We did not look at procedures and quality control protocols, but
they were obviously in use! We saw assembly fixtures in operation
and checking fixtures nearby.
We saw a complete staff doing their job quite well, being led by
proficient, well motivated, and well meaning management. The
president of Tie Feng, Mr. Parkson Jong, is the new incoming
president of TABPA and he took office on October 4. 1990 (the day
of our visit).
RECOMMENDATION
Work closely with this new president. He appears knowledgeable,
capable and well meaning! The CAPA Director and he have a challenge
that might easily become the best opportunity since the inception of
CAPA.
Friday we attended the TABPA from 8:30 am to 12 noon, and then visited
the MRL/TTRL Complex.
TABPA
1. At TABPA we saw a much more mature and disciplined group than
previously observed. The Xerox copy of Appendix I is a partial
list of attendees.
A. Each of us made a statement pertinent to the need for quality
parts.
B. We were courteously received and sincere, courteous appreciation
was conveyed by the CAPA Tech Committee visitors.
TABPA Committee members were introduced. There are four
committees:
A. Sales & Planning.
B. Public Relations
C. Material
D. Technical
Committee number D is newly formed whose mission (according to Mr.
Parkson Jong) is to "promote the production of quality parts." The
chairman is from Nam Ji who sells mostly to Europe and the vice
chairman is from Legion, which is affiliated with Keystone. I do not;
believe that the chairman was present at the meeting. MRL and ITRI
were in attendance.
3. The following requests were made for us to take back to CAPA.
A. Will CAPA help with specific complaint data and other detail
necessary for improving part quality? Update frequently, report at
least monthly (or more often) in a timely and informative fashion.
Answer: Yes, we owe you that - from a technical viewpoint.
B. Will CAPA supply an OEM master component? Answer: We can see
advantages and disadvantages, but we will look at it.
C. Can CAPA revise program to include drawings? Answer: We can see
more disadvantages, but will look at it.
D. Can CAPA help market CAPA parts? Answer: Do not know. USAA and
Allstate policy of using (only) CAPA parts was again restated.
E. Will CAPA talk to ADP regarding marketing of parts? Answer: We
will look into it. Not a function of the Technical Committee, but
we are considering developing a requirement that a decertification
be immediately reflected by ADP.
F. Would CAPA rate the manufacturers by some method of ratio parts
manufacturers to number of complaints, or some other "report
card?" Answer: I denied that it was a CAPA or a Technical
Committee function to provide a report card, or a hit list. I
wanted all manufacturers to compete among themselves, by their
standards, to build and certify their best products. Tech-Cor and
USAA said that they had no objection to this proposal! I agreed to
bring to the CAPA organization their request and worded my reply
as follows:
(Read and interpreted to them.)
"Obviously we do not have a consensus (here today), however, we do
agree that we owe CAPA participants a thorough, accurate, and timely
assessment of the problems that we see with the quality of the parts
they produce." We will get back to them regarding this request.
At MRL, we heard that there are three divisions of IRTI that might be
of help to CAPA and TABPA.
A. The MRL.
B. The Mechanical Energy Research Lab (MERL) that deals with molds,
dies, and fixtures, and have had successes with such high tech
components as jet engine components for GE and Pratt and Whitney.
C. Measurement Center, Mr. Li-Chung Lee, Ph.D has been given the
responsibility to work this project. Mr. Lee indicated that he had
some manufacturing experience and had studied in the U.S. I
personally propose that the entire MRL/ITRI potential be discussed
with Jack Gillis either at a special committee meeting, or as an
agenda item with adequate discussion time available.
Appendix II contains a "report of sorts" from one of the female
interpreters/translators who was with us the first two days. I asked
her for her assessment of what transpired and any other comment she
had. She had lived in the U.S. while attaining an advanced degree at a
well known university located in the Northwest U.S.A. (Oregon, as I
recall). Take them for what they are worth!
BCP:jf
Attachments
cc: Bob Mercherle
Ed Schrank, USAA
Jack Billington, USAA
Donald B. Cameron, Tech-Cor
Jerry Dalton, Craftsman Auto Body, Inc.
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Created: February 4, 2000
Last Updated: May 28, 2000