Fastco's Quality Policy is displayed throughout our facilities
A Brief History Of Quality
By Jesse Brasseur
Resources were limited in Japan in the 1940s due to World War II. During that time Japanese motor companies Mitsubishi, who built the zero planes for the Japanese army, and Toyota, who built the vehicles for the Japanese army, came together to form the original Quality Management System based on 2 very simple principles:
Don’t create waste.
Don’t spend money unless you absolutely have to.
After the war, both companies nearly shut down. So Toyota doubled down and developed the Toyota Production System Manual. The TPSM is an airtight system that has a requirement for literally everything. I used the TPSM when I worked for Futaba Indiana of America as a Quality Team Leader in Stamping. Futaba was a tier 2 company that built the majority of the frame components and instrument reinforcement panels that Toyota installs. I learned some basic principles that I’ll be working with Nick DePompelo and the rest of the team to implement.
After the second world war, the International Standardization Organization was founded in London to have standards for rebuilding the country, who saw constant bombing and turmoil. In the 1970s and 1980s, American automotive companies were losing a ton of revenue to the Japanese companies. American automotive quality was basically the wild west, with no rules to govern it. So they looked over at Toyota’s Manual and started copying it. They then worked with ISO and the Society of Automotive Engineers to create the first ISO Automotive playbook, based in Toyota’s already used standards. Years later in 1996, the International Automotive Task Force was founded, and in 1999 they created IATF 16949, which is a list of procedures an automotive company should use to govern themselves.
And here we are today using these standards as a result of the second world war. I look forward to working with the Quality Team and discussing some of the standards that I learned and potentially implementing them.
Interesting facts about Toyota- Toyota is the largest Automotive Manufacturer in the world, and if you buy a Toyota in America, it was completely assembled in America. No other Automotive Manufacturer in America can make that claim.
Our CEO, Bruce Tap, and his dad, Fastco's Founder, Arvin Tap.
How To Run This Business
My dad and I had a close, but often contentious relationship. He had a much different idea on how to run a business than I did. Part of this was the result of his life experience, experience that made him much more “hands-on” than I was. Back in the early days of Fastco, my dad and his partner Steve Frantz pretty much did everything on their own. If they did not do it, it was not because they couldn’t do it, it was because they finally hired some people to do other things. From his early days to his last active days at Fastco, team members always knew who was in charge: Arv.
Our CEO, Bruce Tap, and his dad, Fastco’s Founder, Arvin Tap.
I’ve been at Fastco nearly as long as my dad, hand-feeding parts into machines at the tender age of 13, doing a lot a different jobs (including fair amount of goofing off and creating mayhem). I was back and forth between Fastco and school for several years. I came back for good in 1996. My dad and I frequently clashed over how to run a business. He was devoted to a hands on-approach. He’d been successful. Why deviate from success? I wanted a less centralized approach with more emphasis on delegation and consensus decision making. In some cases, we did not have some of the right people in key places, so things never seemed to work out the way I envisioned. He would often challenge me with the question, “Show me how you are going to run this business?”
My journey to find a different approach was frustrated by key events that made it difficult to stay the course and be consistent. From the so-called “Great Recession of 2008-2010” to the Covid-19 pandemic, I have had to deal with a lot of uncertainty and disruption in my tenure as President and CEO.
The Great Game of Business
During the pandemic years, I became familiar with Jack Stack’s The Great Game of Business. I read it and subsequently read a companion book entitled Get in the Game. Both intrigued me. I tried to familiarize the management team with these materials and concepts, and I (we) made a couple of attempts to implement GGOB principles at Fastco. We began attending the GGOB conference in 2021. The team that went in 2023 came back with a lot of enthusiasm for the Great Game, and it was quickly decided that we needed to hire a coach. After a team was assembled to evaluate GGOB coaches, the decision to hire Alia Stowers was made.
After hiring Alia things quickly took off. We have scoreboards, departmental huddles, various committees like the Culture Crew, and, of course, the crown jewel—the weekly company huddle. We’ve just begun to play the GGOB. There is much more to do. Having said that, though, I must say how incredibly proud I am of each and every member of Team Fastco. They have indeed risen to the challenge and have proven that they can play the Great Game.
Looking Back, Looking Forward
We did our first official company huddle the week before Memorial Day this year. If my dad had been able to attend our first huddle, I would have said to him, “this is how I want to run the business.” My dad, however, passed on April 29, 2024 nearly a full month before we implemented our huddle. He was not really focused on Fastco in the last couple of years of his life—something that was very surprising for me. At the same time, had he been able to come back and observe the huddle, I’m sure he would have been very pleased and proud of everyone at Fastco. Would we have convinced him that this was a better way to run the business? I’m not sure, but I know he would have given the matter very serious consideration. That, in and of itself, makes me very proud.
Looking back, I took nearly 25 years figuring things out. I must really be a slow learner. How, however, I am very confident that my team is going to take the ball and run with it. As Jack Stack says, it is easy to stop one person but hard to stop 100. We will keep this in mind as we move forward. We are stronger together than we are individually.
Completing planned repair requests on a monthly basis, and
tracking repair and maintenance spending monthly.
These metrics help keep production running and help profitability of the company as well.
I’m looking forward to getting more frontline workers involved in company decisions. It is great to see the success that Great Game of Business can bring to our company.
Talking with the team, they often struggle with going out on repairs and talking with some of the newer employees about repair request put in for preventable issues. As much as possible and practical, the team would like to see some of the newer employees lean on some of the senior employees when struggling with a machine issue prior to getting maintenance involved.
We appreciate everything that the teams at Fastco do to support us as we work to support production.
This year, Fastco has added / is adding three new (to us machines). Here’s a breakdown of each machine.
New Cold Heading Equipment: Nakashimada NP-121
In the spring, we onboarded a Nakashimada NP-121. We were able to find this gem with the help of FH Machinery out of Pennsylvania (Thanks John!). These machines are rarely produced, and it is even harder to find a used machine in decent shape.
Inside the Nakashimada NP-121
The machine ended up getting is the equivalent of finding a unicorn that is being ridden by leprechaun. What I’m trying to say is this was an exceptionally rare find. This machine in particular was delivered to the former owner as a brand new machine in 2019 and only ran periodically, which means it has very few hours of run time on it. This was a machine type that Fastco had been looking for to strategically add both capacity and capability, and we hit the used machine jackpot.
We currently have two Nakashimada NP-100 (2 die 3 blow) cold formers that stay very busy. The addition of another 2 die 3 blow machine adds capacity, and the increased size of the new machine allows us to quote larger parts that have a geometry that is appropriate for this type of forming sequence. The big advantage to 2 die 3 blow machines is the second punch (hammer) transfers the first station blank to the second (final forming) die. When loading the 1st station blank into the 2nd die, you are able to upset the head stock, allowing for a greater deformation ratio before the 3rd punch (final hit) forms the head / drive geometry. Also, by using the 2nd punch as the transfer mechanism, you are able to run parts that would be very difficult to transfer on a standard progressive cold former.
New Equipment in Thread Roll: Saspi #40
Saspi #40
This year, Fastco also procured and began using a new (to us) Saspi #40. This machine provides us with some additional capabilities. More importantly, the machine’s location will help streamline our manufacturing process. This roller is set up in the middle of our cold heading west bay. There, it will be the second half of a manufacturing unit with our 6-die Jern Yao.
This shift to a cellular manufacturing setup for our largest parts will help reduce downtime. It will also create a more efficient and cost-effective manufacturing process.
Coming Soon: Ingramatic #50
Finally, we are excited for the impending delivery and installation of a new (to Fastco) Ingramatic RP7 #50 thread roller. In addition to gains in capability, we will increase our annual capacity for larger parts by 4-5 million parts per shift.
Ingramatic #50
In terms of capabilities, this thread roller will allow us to roll up to 6” of M20 threads. This is slightly over what we are currently capable of cold forming. Having a machine of this size allows a safety factor on the size of blank we are able to roll without causing undue stress on this machine. This roller has a variable frequency drive. With this, we can roll at a maximum of 120 parts per minute. We should also be able to run current #40 size thread rolling parts with #50 dies at a faster PPM, allowing us to be more efficient with existing work. With the larger #50 roll dies, we will get more revolutions to make the threads. This translates into better die life and speed by spreading the stress over a larger surface area.
by Josh Symon (Engineering Manager), Jonathan Wright (Manufacturing Manager), and Bethany Tap
Percentage of on time shipments for orders with stock on hand,
Number of errors made by Customer Service, and
Time it takes to process finished goods into inventory.
On-Time Shipments
We felt the focus of on time shipment for in-stock orders was important to the company as a whole as it was the best way to ensure we as a team didn’t leave any possible revenue on the table in terms of shipments going out the door as quickly as possible. It has brought more attention and planning to upcoming shipments each week, and will shine a spotlight on any weak areas within our control that could inadvertently delay a shipment from going out on time.
Customer Service Errors
Customer Service felt that the best way the team could impact profitability was to track order-entry errors. In tracking errors, we hope to avoid them, therefore ensuring we do not cause extra unnecessary costs due to things like an incorrect ship date or quantity in PLEX. Entry of a wrong part number for a spot buy, which could cause parts that aren’t needed to be built and then likely not sold, etc. Almost any error in accuracy of interpretation or entry of our orders could cause costly mistakes to Fastco, directly impacting our profit.
A customer service representative at Fastco.
Efficiency in moving Finished Goods to Inventory
Lastly, our team wanted to track our current efficiency in the process of moving finished goods into inventory, starting with unloading the skids from our truck into the appropriate inventory aisles, and then the process of verifying skids, putting them into the racks and updating that inventory into PLEX. The team had some ideas for possible ways to improve the efficiency of this process overall. Therefore, we wanted to track our actions to have a baseline for our current methods. Hopefully, this will bring more awareness to how we do things to see if our ideas made sense.
Challenges Faced in Distribution and Customer Service
As a small crew at full force, absences, especially unexpected ones, can have a huge impact on our team. Luckily we have some awesome team members. They pull together to get the job done no matter our staffing situation. Our team just worked through three months of being down to just three people pulling, prepping and shipping our orders. I’m extremely proud of how they worked together to get the job done! Especially when short-handed, we need support from other teams to give us as much notice as possible for shipment needs and make sure PLEX orders are as up to date as possible. That way, we know what we need each day.
Looking Ahead
We are excited for the changes our progress into the GGOB and the weekly huddles has brought to our team and Fastco as a whole. You can feel the shift in the energy, the mindset and the awareness that these huddles have provided. We love hearing everyone’s questions. Seeing the thought, effort, and collaboration of working through these questions has been so encouraging. We can’t wait to see where we are year from now!
by Emily Bradfield, Customer Service & Distribution Team Leader
Background of yellow black strips . Dark grey asphalt road divided by yellow paint. yellow black background
Safety Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (SFMEA)
Over the last year and a half, Fastco’s safety team has been developing a Safety Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (SFMEA). We identify safety and health risks using a failure modes and effects analysis. We adopted this from the quality methodology used in the automotive industry to reduce the risk of product failure.
The Purpose of SFMEAs
The purpose is to identify risk and put into place controls that lower risk. We identify every hazard in the facility with a severity, probability of occurrence, and current methods of detection prevention. Then, we rate severity, occurrence, and current detection controls on a scale of 1-10. They are multiplied together creating a risk priority number (RPN). The goal is to work on hazards with high RPN and put in place controls that lower the occurrence and increases prevention.
Updating Safety FMEAs
Departments within the organization update their SFMEA on an annual basis. Examining occurrence data from the list of hazardous or potentially unsafe activities in each department allows an evaluation of whether current practices are effective and if implemented improvement have led to statistical improvements in accident prevention. In addition, when an accident or injury occurs in a department, we re-evaluate SFMEAs to determine if we need to recalculate the RPN. This could be due to an additional occurrence of a type of injury and for an evaluation of whether additional controls are possible and/or appropriate—different guard, additional PPE, and re-vamped training for example. In this respect, the SFMEA is a living document, updated and amended to address specific safety situations.
SFMEAs and Risk Management
The establishment of SFMEAs also allows for a historical record of risks within the facility, including how risks have been handled, what controls and improvements have been implemented, and what the success rate has been for implemented improvements. The SFMEA is a tool to help everyone take charge of their own safety. With SFMEAs, each team member reviews hazards and comes up with ideas for making their workplace safer. SFMEAs also provide a place to review and record those ideas. Overall, the SFMEA provides a solid foundation for a culture of continual improvement.
The Inspection Team developed Scoreboard drivers based on production from our Electronic floor, EZ-sort and Roller sort. As a crew, we forecast the production volume weekly on Mondays for all three areas. We create this forecast using the number of tubs that can be run from in-house inventory as well as all possible inventory that may arrive hot or is past due on the daily incoming list. This impacts on-time delivery to our customers, along with company and employee success.
Aerial view of the Inspection floor
Ongoing Initiatives for the Inspection Team
This year, we are looking forward to the ongoing growth in knowledge, training, and implementation of the Great Game of Business for the entire Sort crew. As the Team Leader, I am excited and extremely proud of each crew members’ engagement with our scoreboard and the company huddle. Their willingness to make the culture change needed for the ongoing success of our department and Fastco inspires me.
Challenges & Commitment to Improve
As the final production department in the process, the Inspection crew faces many challenges. These include insufficient timing on parts arriving into our department and a need for updated equipment to support current increased volumes and work from new business awards.
In short, our commitment is to impact positive change in not just our department but throughout Fastco. Our questions, concerns, and even complaints come from a sincere commitment to improve.
by Julie Rogers (Inspection Team Leader) and the Inspection Team
Fastco Quality; A tale of redemption and going above and beyond for a customer!
At Fastco, we take quality and customer service seriously. That being said, the Quality team itself doesn’t often get to be “good guys.” Our jobs often involve the negative, what was wrong, what didn’t go right, what failed internally or at a customer. Here’s a story about what went right: team members going above and beyond to aid a CUSTOMER having an issue. This is also a story about the importance of having a trusted domestic supplier.
The Fastco Quality Story
Recently, a customer contacted me about our part potentially being suspect. The part was failing push out and torque tests within their assembly flange. We pulled parts from inventory and, within a few hours, verified hardness, tensile, microstructure, and knurl diameters were good. The customer also verified the parts as good, but were still having this problem.
The stud in question
That afternoon, I visited the customer’s plant and verified the parts were not working in their assembly, even though they were within print. The knurl diameters were a little below the middle of the specification and still were failing their required testing. But the customer needed to get parts to their customer within a week! The only potential option was to re-roll the knurl to a higher end or slightly over their specification and test to see if this would work.
Monday morning, I took a box of parts from inventory to the Thread Roll team. By 12:30 p.m., they had 50 parts ready for testing. These parts showed above passing for both torque out and push out. We delivered the required parts for their build rerolled by Wednesday at no additional cost to our customer.
A Reliable, Local Supplier
This is what it means to have a reliable, local supplier. Big thanks to the members of Quality and Thread Roll that made this happen, as well as the Wash, Sort, and Distribution teams.
A driver represents a key activity that drives the operations and financial results of a company.
In Thread Roll, we chose three drivers this year that we really wanted to focus on: Parts Produced, Machine Efficiency, and Training Hours. We also have a year-long mini game called “Make the Boss Pay” which is aimed at tackling Cost of Poor Quality (CoPQ). We were able to win that mini game in Q1, and the team leader treated his team to a fun lunch.
Parts Produced
We track and record parts produced daily on our department scoreboard. This allows us to see where we are as far as how many parts we’ve rolled in relation to our absorbed costs forecast. And everyone knows, the more quality parts produced, the more profitable Fastco will be.
Efficiency
We track this measurable weekly in our team huddles. This allows our team to see on average how efficiently the machines are running in relation to their standard run rates in PLEX, our ERP system.
Training Hours
We track training hours weekly in our team huddles. We track the total number of hours team members are logged into machines under “Training.”
Behind the Drivers: Our Challenges
Cost of Poor Quality and Training seem to be the two biggest challenges facing Thread Roll right now. Luckily, with help from our department scoreboard and mini game, we are able to track and review these numbers regularly. I feel these challenges go hand-in-hand. Once we’ve established more training in our department, the CoPQ numbers should drop considerably.
Training Days
This leads directly into what I am most excited about for Thread Roll in 2024, which is training, training, training! The “Training Days” we’ve started have helped up and coming setup personnel to be able to focus more on setups without the need to stop what they are doing to dump production pans. We will continue to implement more of these “Training Days” when opportunities present themselves.
If you have been paying attention to the news lately, you have probably come across stories of increasing tension between China and the island state of Taiwan. In fact, in recent years the Chinese government and military has become increasingly aggressive with respect to violating Taiwanese airspace, harassing Taiwanese shipping, and putting pressure on other nations not to allow Taiwan to join such international organization as the World Trade Organization (WTO), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the United Nations (UN). What’s the nature of this conflict and how serious are the ramifications for the rest of the world?
China and Taiwan: Roots of the conflict
The conflict between China and Taiwan has its roots in the 16th century. Chinese settlers from the Guangdong and Fujian provinces sailed across the straits of Taiwan. Eventually, they settled the south west portion of the island in the vicinity of modern day Tainan. Although nominally under Chinse control, the Chinese who settled Taiwan did not pay much attention to the central government in Beijing. When the Qin dynasty, from time to time, did try to exert more administrative control, the settlers on Taiwan proved unusually rebellious. In the 18th and 19th century, there were numerous rebellions on the part of the Chinese residents of Taiwan against the Qin dynasty.
The problem of Taiwan for China became a moot point in the early 1890s, after the Chinese lost a war against the rapidly rising empire of Japan. According to the terms of the treaty of Shimonoseki of 1895, China formally ceded Taiwan to Japan. The Japanese would rule Taiwan for the next 50 years, until their defeat in World War II would force the return of the island to China.
A map of China and Taiwan
China and Taiwan Post WWII
The end of war in 1945 led the resumption of Civil War in China between the Nationalists forces under Chiang K’ai-shek and Communists forces under Mao Zedong. When the Communist triumphed in October 1949, the Nationalists forced retreated to the island of Taiwan, where they established the Republic of China which now competed with the Communist mainland named the People’s Republic of China.
During the 1950s and 1960s, both entities claimed to be the “real” China. Communist China planned to invade Taiwan and complete the “revolution. However, the military support and economic aid provided to the government of Taiwan by the United States made this invasion problematic. When the United States officially recognized the People’s Republic of China in December 1978, it no longer officially recognized the Republic of China on Taiwan. At the same time, the United States pledged its support for Taiwan by providing defensive weapons to the island state in case of an invasion by the People’s Republic of China.
For forty years, the two parties have uneasily co-existed. The Communists in China have become more impatient for unification. Meanwhile, on the island of Taiwan, many of the residents simply want to be independent of China. They argue that Taiwan is not really China, but another sovereign country. The United States believes there is one China; however, it has also said that force may not be used by the Communist Chinese Part (CCP) to bring about re-unification. If re-unification take place, it can only be the result of an agreement between the two sides.
Xi Jinping
Since Xi Jinping became the leader of China in 2013, the CCP has doubled-down on its determination to re-unite with Taiwan. Viewing Taiwan as a renegade, break-away province, President Xi, some say, is determined to force reunification, even by violent means. Most Taiwanese reject forced re-unification. My contacts on the island claim nearly 75% of the Taiwanese population view their country as sovereign. With the recent example of China’s governance of Hong Kong, few Taiwanese want to see their right to self-government diminished.
China’s determination to force this issue has led to increased harassment of Taiwanese shipping, regular violations of Taiwanese airspace, constant pressure on international organization to limit or exclude Taiwanese participation, and aggressive and threatening rhetoric. If the new president of Taiwan, William Lai, were to make a formal declaration of independence, the result would undoubtedly be a declaration of war and invasion of Taiwan, something the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has been planning for a number of years.
The Threat to Global Supply Chains
There are several threats to international commerce that will undoubtedly happen if China invades Taiwan. First, international shipping will be cut off from the straits of Taiwan, the area between south China and Taiwan. Shipping companies will have to find alternative routes, creating delays and extra costs. Second, critical supplies from Taiwan will be cut off from Europe, Japan, and the United States. These include steel, fasteners, various types of industrial equipment, and, perhaps most importantly, semi-conductors (microchips). Third, other economic shortages will probably result from sanctions imposed on China by the United States, the EU, and other important international players, including Japan, South Korea, and Australia. In other words, there will be hardships felt around the globe by many countries, people, and businesses. Given the highly developed nature of Taiwan’s economy, there are many valuable industries and assets at stake.
Are we prepared?
While a very small island in terms of area, Taiwan is one of most sophisticated economies on the globe. It has 23 million people, but it ranks 21st internationally in terms of Gross Domestic Product. Even with rigorous U. S. assistance, it would be no easy task to repel a Chinese invasion. The results on international trade would be significant. Many U. S. fastener distributors still import a significant portion of their product from Taiwan. In addition, Taiwanese equipment in the fasteners industry still plays a significant role. For instance, they are a major manufacturer of cold headers, thread rollers, CNC grinders, and sorting equipment. Microchips and other sophisticated technologies would potentially be difficult to come by.
In order to prepare for conflict, what should companies that are dependent on Taiwanese products do? Number one, develop alternative suppliers for products made exclusively in Taiwan. Second, increase inventory of key components that are made in Taiwan—replacement parts for instance. Third, carefully consider the risks of further sourcing to Southeast Asia until the geopolitical situation is more stable.
Ironically, the tension between China and Taiwan could be good for the domestic fastener industry as well as other industries. However, the cost could be high in terms of human lives and disruptions to the economies of many Southeastern Asian nations.
