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When I was standing on top of the Great Wall of China, on that cold day a few years ago, all I could think of was, “You’ve come a long way from Iowa”.
I could easily be one of those ticked off Rust Belt people. My parents were what you would call “working class”. My dad was a railroad worker, and for awhile my poor mom waited tables at night in an all night restaurant.
I am the oldest of four kids, and my outcome could have been completely different. I was a two sport athlete in college, and majored in chemistry. I was not a great chemistry student, nor that great of an athlete, but I could set up an apparatus better and faster than the pre-meds I was competing with. I also got a little experience working with the then-room-sized computer that was still using the punch cards. The blowoff “TV and Film Fundamentals” class I took would eventually come in handy, I guess, about 30 years before the invention of you-tube. Communications are important, as is building a “tool kit” of skills.
When I got my first “real” job, everyone around me told me how lucky I was. Biggest employer in the state, secure industry (or so I thought). The reality was a little different. In the first four years, there were four workplace fatalities. There were quality issues so bad that it caused one of the biggest recall situations in history, and basically bankrupted a 75-year old company. It was my job one night to haul records from the basement of the place into a semi-trailer to go to court because of the lawsuits. The union situation was so hostile that there were bullet holes in the entryway of the building where the salaried employees went in. That industry has contracted by 75% since those days, because of product innovation and moving offshore. People lost sight of the customer. People refused to change.
Since then, I appreciated the link between management, business systems, quality and safety. Nothing happens in isolation. There was a side benefit: I took advantage of their tuition refund program and worked nights, and got my MBA during the day. I can say this now because most of them are not around anymore, but the unenlightened management actually threw up road blocks to try to keep me from graduating. My motto is “action is good”. I am resourceful and determined.
I had a job in Texas for awhile, in a little company that is now a vacant lot but it was a wonderful training ground in working in a multi-cultural environment, even if the conditions were a little difficult. I was doing formulation development, which was very interesting because I had to learn how to turn customer wants into profitable products. I produced several multi-million-dollar formulations. When the first ancient IBM-PC appeared in the office, I actually used it to computerize my own job. I eventually was doing the work of 3 people, and selling the software on the side. From then on, I was as competent as the IT people in just about any company. Adaptable.
I was in the basic chemical industry for awhile, working on a global-reach R and D Project. 19 countries, four continents, in all sorts of different places, from a very high end corporate board room in Boston to the nastiest working conditions you could possibly imagine, in a sweat shop in Asia. The key lesson: It’s hard to get people to change. p.s. Northern Italy is very pleasant. I was involved on a team that was doing an R and D Scale Up situation in a product line that is now the major area of profitability for that company. It was a multi-million dollar success, but it was a hard job,
I “graduated” from my corporate million mile job and found myself working in a startup situation. This was also very valuable experience. Some of these experiences were translated directly into some of the little videos in my “ISO9001:2015 Transition Story” Playlist, which, in a light hearted way talks about some of the side issues and booby traps involved with management behavior. Sometimes it really is about getting people to change, and it is quite often about the management.
I “graduated” from my corporate career at 55. A lot of people say “I lost my job” but I did not lose anything. Through a series of events, I found myself reinvented as a quality systems auditor, consultant and thought leader. I go all over the country, and have had intimate experience working with the quality systems of major international companies, and have stories to tell. I took advantage of the opportunity and made my own job. I guess that is the common theme throughout my journey. Resourceful.
It is still part of my mission at the moment is to try to get people to change, and this mission is flavored by this long history. I spend a lot of time in small businesses and startups. I have worked on the ISO registration for more than 30 entrepreneurial organizations, including some family businesses, and everybody is faced with the same problem. How to develop systems, and how to change in a controlled manner, and above all, the importance of “why” which asks the question, “why are we doing all of this?” I am sharing some of these experiences with training, speaking, and my funny Youtube Channel. I am working on the Ted Talk for all of this.
Thanks for visiting my website. I hope you will click around, read a few of my stories, and reach out if you need help in your ISO9001 deployment, business systems improvement, quality systems, and market development.
Articles and Publications
James A. Shell is the writer of over 100 articles on business analysis, and numerous technical papers. He has also very recently learned how to do website design:
Information Links
- Jim’s Linkedin Page
Resume and other background information.
- Click Here to visit my home on Seeking Alpha.
- Click here to listen to my interview on the Nationally Syndicated “George Jarkesy” show!
US Patents
Project List
Contract Auditing and Consulting in the following industries:
Information Systems/Data Center
Rubber and Plastics
Explosives
Chemical Production
Machinery
Distribution (Automotive and Aerospace)
Residential Real Estate Management
Electronics: Surface Mount Assembly
Manufacturing Assembly
Electronics: Cable Assembly
Electronics: Component Repair
Metal Fabrication
Textiles: Broadwoven Fabrics
Real Estate
Data Services
IT Consulting
Quality Systems Thought Leadership: Producer of 150+ videos with 100,000 page views on various quality-systems related topics, www.youtube.com/getisohelp
Quality Systems Management: Document control, management review and other quality responsibilities in two AS-9120 (Aerospace) certified distribution operations. Internal auditing, audit management, document control and system improvement.
ISO13485 Consulting: Consulting and contract auditing in software development in a medical goods application. ISO13485 and CE-Mark Deployment, Audit support, Training, and Quality Objective development.
TS-16949 Deployment: Development of quality systems, production systems and control plans qualifying a conversion operation for TS-16949 certificaton
Process Development Consulting: Product and business system development in an operation for recycling specialty materials, in the automotive supply chain. Work with Tier-1 automotive supply companies on PPAP, FMEA, product specification development, product development, quality measurements and analysis of end-use performance measurements. Extensive promotional activities, including research presentations, trade show production, and other promotional activities.
Quality Systems Consulting: Automotive Assembly: In a long term consulting assignment, developed and implemented a Six-Sigma based quality management system in an outsourced automotive assembly operation for a global level manufacturing company. Employee training and motivation, development of quality measurements and analysis of quality data to understand sources of variability, deployment of solutions and follow up. Development of a quality culture as an integral part of system improvement.Paragraph
Consultative Management/Specialty Chemical Startup: Develop and implement a quality system in a specialty chemical continuous operation startup situation. Determine sampling points and frequency, determine product specifications, implement quality specifications based on customer input, field experience in developing customer end-use criteria, Quality System reporting, Culture development and training as the operation transitioned between an R and D operation and a production operation.
