Note from P.-J. Boulanger on the role of the quality engineer (25 September 1940)

In this document

This typewritten note is signed P.-J. Boulanger and dated 25/9/40 p. 1. It is addressed by name to Messrs. Ingueneau, Blondel and Magès p. 1 and defines, in a series of brief recommendations, the role of the "quality engineer".

The responsibilities of the quality engineer

Boulanger posits that this engineer "is responsible for the quality of a given vehicle" and "retains this responsibility until the vehicle is discontinued" p. 1. He must ensure the application of "the quality prescribed by the drawings and specifications" while seeking "constantly to improve this quality" p. 1. He specifies that he "is not concerned with the production rate" but has "full powers to slow down or stop production" if quality requires it p. 1.

An "animator" rather than an executor

The note insists on the posture of an animator: he "seeks the why and how of things that are not working", without carrying out the studies himself, but by designating a person in charge, a goal and a deadline p. 1. He must also impose links between departments (Design, Manufacturing, Lab, Methods, Control, Workstation Organization) and contribute to the education of manufacturing supervisors, "who must give him complete satisfaction — or be reassigned" p. 1.

Rework and scrap thresholds

The document sets numerical benchmarks: a part is only "regularly good" if the rate of rework or scrap is "minuscule: 1/2% or 1/4%" p. 1. A rate of 5% is considered "serious" and signals that "the process must be changed" p. 2. Rates of 10% or 20% require "a revolution" and, if necessary, "the intervention of the boss" p. 2.

Finally, the note lists the "side issues" influencing quality: regularity of raw materials, heat treatments, handling, storage, cleanliness of workshops, condition of machines, sharpening and changing of tools p. 2, and recommends involving the quality engineer from the development of ranges during new manufacturing p. 2.

Context

Pierre-Jules Boulanger had been running Citroën since 1935 and remains famous for his demand for industrial rigour, particularly in the preparation of the 2 CV and, later, the DS. Paul Magès, who joined Citroën in August 1925 at the age of 17 and a half (autobiographical notes), appears here among the direct recipients of this quality doctrine, in the middle of the Occupation period (September 1940) — a few months before he joined the design office and sketched, from February 1944, the first plans for the hydropneumatic suspension (plans of 17 February 1944) —, a time when Citroën's industrial activity was severely constrained.

Archivist's perspective

This text is not a technical document on a specific invention, but it sheds light on the culture of excellence in which Magès was trained from the beginning of the 1940s: this note has the value of an internal charter, distributed to several engineers to standardise a working method p. 1-2.

Boulanger's insistence on numerical scrap thresholds and on changing the process rather than tolerating error p. 2 recalls a rigour that would later be found in the meticulous development of the hydropneumatic systems associated with Magès. This document thus constitutes a valuable piece of context for understanding the managerial environment in which his research took place.