Quality Department Spotlight

For this Department Spotlight, we are highlighting the Quality Department’s progress in 2023.

In 2023, the Quality Department’s greatest achievement was helping to lower the Cost of Poor Quality/Scrap by performing extra audits when needed in various areas to aid in this. While the end of the year’s COPQ was not ideal, we are still lower than 2022’s totals!

The department’s goals this year have included increasing audits and adding a layered process audit system for dimensional checks on the floor in manufacturing areas. This enables all levels of Fastco teams to review product and document it, from team members to team leaders, and managers.

I believe that open book management has helped most team members see where the company is financially. It has also helped team members understand our long-term stability. This has helped to raise morale, get more discussions going, and build an ownership mindset in team members.

We look forward to seeing more process improvements in 2024. We will continue to prioritize safety, quality, and production, in that order, during this year and beyond.

by Brian Kropp, Quality Manager