QUALITY BECOMES JOB 1

(Excerpt from the upcoming book on Robert Slass, Founder of Rotor Clip Company, a successful US manufacturer of retaining rings)

“…Companies should be in business for the long term to compete successfully and provide jobs. To do this, constant improvement is necessary.” Turning Deming’s Points into Action, by Robert Slass, Industry Week, June 20, 1988.

The 1980’s saw the rise of Japan as an economic powerhouse and an innovator of products and services. They perfected methods of production and succeeded in manufacturing quality goods at very competitive prices. This gave Japanese companies a strong advantage in selling everything from automobiles to consumer electronics. Many industries that enjoyed sole domination of their respective markets for many years were suddenly scrambling to stay in business.

http://www.thebubblebubble.com/japan-bubble/

Bob watched these events with great concern. He was particularly troubled by companies that had been in business for a lifetime suddenly selling out or dissolving into bankruptcies. If Rotor Clip was to avoid a similar fate, it had to readjust to the changing manufacturing picture.

Of all the quality ideas circulating in the automotive industry at the time, Bob was most drawn to W. Edwards Deming. His view of continuous improvement and Statistical Process Control fit with Bob’s own philosophy that quality should be the number one priority in his manufacturing operation. 

Deming developed his techniques in the US in the 1920’s. But his breakthrough came when he was invited to speak to the Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers (JUSE) to help in the reconstruction of that country after World War II. From June through August 1950, he trained hundreds of engineers, managers, and scholars in statistical process control (SPC) and concepts of quality. Deming was so well received by the Japanese that the “Japanese Economic Miracle” that soon followed owed its success in large part to Deming. To show their gratitude the Japanese industrialists instituted the “Deming Prize” for excellence in manufacturing, an honor that is still revered in Japan to this day. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming.

But Deming’s concepts were slow to catch on in the US. After the war, our factories were more concerned with filling orders than struggling to learn the quality techniques espoused by Deming. We were still sorting parts “after the fact,” not developing “in-process” checking techniques like SPC to detect and correct errors before bad parts could be made. This complacency was short lived as Japanese companies (inspired by Deming) introduced products like automobiles that were perceived by American consumers to be of higher quality than their domestic counterparts.

By the 1980’s, American manufacturing responded to the threat. Bob led the retaining ring industry in this effort by re-vamping his Quality Assurance department and adopting some of the principles outlined in Deming’s 14 points:

1     Create constancy of purpose toward improvement of product and service.

Bob continuously improved his die designs to produce parts in high volume and reduce costs. He instilled awareness in all Rotor Clip employees that quality was everyone’s concern.

Eliminate the need for massive inspection by building quality into the product in the first place.

100% inspection was replaced by automated measurement of critical characteristics like thickness and free diameter. Operators monitored production processes with mini computers to detect negative trends and stop production before bad parts could be made.

Institute a vigorous program of education and self-improvement.

Training became an ongoing effort at Rotor Clip especially cross training to ensure knowledge and best practices were shared by all.

Improve quality and productivity, and thus constantly decrease costs.

Wire material needed to coil retaining rings was brought in-house to be annealed and shaped so as to control quality and improve production. Bob also utilized technology purchasing a CNC and an EDI machine in the 1980’s along with three laser machines in the 1990’s to increase productivity while improving quality and decreasing costs.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming)

Bob’s efforts paid off as Rotor Clip became one of the first suppliers to receive a GM SPEAR 2 (SPEAR was an acronym for Supplier Performance and Evaluation Reporting) in 1985. Earning a “Spear 2” rating meant that your company was “self-certified”; i.e., parts were considered of high quality, bypassed inspection and went directly to the GM production line.

Other quality accolades soon followed including the Chrysler QE (Quality Excellence) award in the same year, the “Ford Q1” designation in 1986, and the GM “Mark of Excellence” in 1989.

Bob Slass had firmly established Rotor Clip’s reputation as a quality source for retaining rings that continues today with our current quality designations: ISO/TS 16949: 2009, the worldwide automotive quality standard, and  ISO/AS9100C, the aerospace quality standard.

Joe Cappello is Director of Global Marketing for Rotor Clip Company. If you would like to continue to receive excerpts from his upcoming book on Rotor Clip and American manufacturing, click here  and e-mail him your request. He'll add you to his mailing list for updates.