u/NoGene7922

Quick background: 2 years in procurement successfully, moved to Quality for broader manufacturing experience. Realized it's not my lane.

What I learned:

I thrive on: vendor negotiations, relationship building, business conversations

I struggle with: repetitive QC cycles, documentation-heavy work, limited external interaction

My concern: It's only been ~ 7 months in Quality. Will transitioning back to Procurement now look flaky to employers, or is a year enough time to say "I tested it and it wasn't right"?

Specific questions for the community:

Anyone successfully pivot back after a similar move?

Did you lead with "here's what I learned" or just move on?

Better to stay longer to avoid red flags, or cut losses early?

Looking for experienced folks who've navigated this.

Quick background: 2 years in procurement successfully, moved to Quality for broader manufacturing experience. Realized it's not my lane.

What I learned:

I thrive on: vendor negotiations, relationship building, business conversations

I struggle with: repetitive QC cycles, documentation-heavy work, limited external interaction

My concern: It's only been ~ 7 months in Quality. Will transitioning back to Procurement now look flaky to employers, or is a year enough time to say "I tested it and it wasn't right"?

Specific questions for the community:

Anyone successfully pivot back after a similar move?

Did you lead with "here's what I learned" or just move on?

Better to stay longer to avoid red flags, or cut losses early?

Looking for experienced folks who've navigated this.

I am a QA assistant in industrial manufacturing. A lot of my work involves reviewing supplier documents before material is accepted: MTCs/MTRs, CoCs, inspection reports, and supporting test documents.For people in QC/QA, which checks take the most time in your process? For example, matching heat numbers, checking test values against the required grade/specification, confirming certificate type, finding missing signatures, or checking whether the same certificate was reused.Are you using any OCR, QMS/ERP tools, scripts, or AI assistance for this today? I am trying to learn which parts are genuinely repetitive and which parts require experienced human judgment.

I work with supplier material test certificates for industrial equipment and would value a metallurgy perspective.When reviewing an MTC/MTR, which checks are straightforward to standardize, and which need an experienced person to interpret? I am thinking about chemistry, mechanical results, material form/condition, heat traceability, test methods, and specification revision.Has anyone seen useful OCR or AI assistance for extracting data from certificates? I am especially interested in where it helps versus where it creates a dangerous false sense of confidence.