PERSONNEL QUALIFICATION
STANDARDS
Personnel Qualification Standards (PQS) is a
compilation of minimum knowledge and skills
necessary to qualify for a specific watch station,
maintain specific equipment, or perform as a team
member within a unit. The PQS program is not a
stand-alone training program but provides a key
element of a well-structured and dynamic unit-training
program (OPNAVINST 3500.34). PQS is used in the
aviation and surface communities, but is not applicable
to nuclear propulsion or the fleet ballistic missile
weapons systems.
It is the individual Sailors responsibility to
maintain and complete the sign-off pages of PQS sheets.
Your responsibility will be to help guide the individual
through the program. This guidance involves keeping an
accurate record of their progress through a point system.
There are two methods of record keepinghard copy
(chart) and automated data processing (computer). Each
method is valid, and the method used is dictated by the
command. Regardless of which method is used, the
same information is entered for tracking the individuals
progress. For detailed information, consult the
Personnel Qualification Standards (PQS) Management
Guide, NAVEDTRA 43100-1.
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
A major problem facing the armed services today
is the lack of money. Our budgets are not going to
increase in the near future. Indeed, they will probably
continue to shrink. Although our present system of
doing business is adequate, it will not allow for many
improvements in production. We have done an
excellent job with our present system. To make our
dollars go further will mean a change in the way we do
business.
Todays leaders must set their sights on improving
the entire system. Increased productivity and better
quality through leadership is the primary goal of the
continuous improvement program.
The focus of continuous improvement is the
process by which work gets done. The person most
familiar with the process is the individual worker
responsible for making it work. Often, a process is
either unwieldy or just plain unworkable. In a rigid
bureaucracy, it is nearly impossible for workers to
persuade upper levels that there is a need to change
procedures. Under continuous improvement, leaders
are responsible for making job improvement
suggestions as easy as possible for workers.
Supervisors and managers should monitor the work
process so that they can respond to suggestions from the
work force concerning unworkable procedures. Sailors
are good at coming up with nonstandard (but workable)
solutions to problems. In some cases, those solutions
result in unsafe practices; however, they often are
extremely practical. We must develop the ability to find
improvements and include them into standard
procedures; doing so serves a dual purpose. First, it
makes sure the recommended improvement is easy to
use and meets all applicable standards. Second, it makes
the improved method available to everyone involved in
the process. Total quality leadership is a practical
application of working smarter, not harder.
A popular myth among military leaders is that
increased quality results in increased costs and
decreased productivity. In reality, improved quality
ultimately results in decreased costs and increased
productivity. How can that be? A focus on quality
extends the time between failures in equipment and
improves the efficiency of our operations. It reduces
rework requirements as well as the need for special
waivers of standards. It also reduces mistakes and
produces monetary savings through more efficient use
of scarce resources.
Continuous improvement has several direct
benefits:
Increased pride of workmanship among
individual workers
Increased readiness
Improved sustainability because of extended
time between equipment failures
Greater mission survivability
Better justification for budgets because of more
efficient operations
Streamlined maintenance and production
processes
The essential ingredient of continuous
improvement success is leadership involvement.
Management controls the process that accomplishes
the mission. Quality, however, is in the hands of the
workers who do the job. Leaders, therefore, must drive
out the natural fear of change and innovation that is
part of most peoples basic psychology. Total quality
leadership requires acceptance and a total effort from
the top down.
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