I had the opportunity to sit down with Christine Davis, founder and owner of contract manufacturer CAMtek (now part of the Zentech family) for a interview to talk about her experiences as a women business owner in a male dominated industry. Aside from her great stories, much can be learned from her experiences as she helps other women in the business be successful. Her new column, Her Voice, can be found at industry media giant iConnect007.
Click below to read the interview:
While QMS documentation is often viewed as a necessary evil, it is a very important aspect of any quality system, but needs to be functional. The documentation system needs to be lean, mean and user friendly to the workforce. Read Part 2 here http://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1319500-pcb007-dec2020/69?m4=
Missed Part 1: Taming the Big Hairy Monster? Read it here http://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1309864-pcb007-nov2020/95?m4=
I am pleased to share the below press release from client Ventec on their recent ISO certification:
We are proud to announce that we have passed the ISO 9001:2015 audit for our Quality Management System at our US-facility in Fullerton (California), following an audit by certifying body Intertek. This follows the certification of Ventec’s Chicago facility earlier this year.
ISO 9001:2015 sets out the criteria for a quality management system and is based on a number of quality management principles including a strong customer focus, the motivation and implication of top management, the process approach and continual improvement. The hard work put in by Anthony Guerra, Julie Vance and the entire Ventec Fullerton staff, supported by Steve Williams from TRAC has ensured achieving a perfect audit with official certification being issued this month.
“Further to successfully certifying our Chicago facility in April of this year, I am very proud that our Fullerton facility now has also successfully passed the ISO 9001:2015 audit without any instances of non-conformity,” said Jack Pattie, President Ventec (USA). “It recognizes the hard work of the entire Ventec team and confirms the success of our quality strategy for the benefit of all our customers.”
“Ventec’s global emphasis on implementing and maintaining a seamless QMS that adds value to the business is second to none. Jack and the entire team in Fullerton embraced the process and were highly engaged in the development and implementation. The results speak for themselves; a perfect audit for Fullerton to match Chicago’s results earlier this year. It is a pleasure working with an organization that gets it,” added Steve Williams, President of TRAC.
“Ventec maintains robust quality management systems in all its facilities around the world including AS9100 Rev D and IATF 16949:2016, ensuring that all our customers receive reliable, consistent, good quality products and services from us through our fully controlled global supply chain,” said Mark Goodwin, COO Europe & Americas.
While QMS documentation is often viewed as a necessary evil, it is a very important aspect of any quality system, but needs to be functional. The documentation system needs to be lean, mean and user friendly to the workforce.
Read my latest article here: http://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1309864-pcb007-nov2020/95?m4=
What do customers want?
What a customer wants is very simple. They want the core product or service of your business to meet their needs and expectations. If you are a PCB manufacturer, they want a board that works, is delivered on time and at a fair value for their money. So, if wanting stuff that works, when you need it, is not an unreasonable expectation, then why are consistent high marks for customer satisfaction so difficult to reach and maintain?
Because customers expect these things; they are called Order Qualifiers, or in other words, the price of admission. Satisfying these core areas will not create loyal customers or cause them to tell others how good you are. However, if you don’t meet these basic objectives, they most certainly will tell anyone who will listen how bad you are.
Order Winners, the things that will drive loyalty, additional business and turn customers into your best sales people are the little extras; things that most companies fail to either realize, or don’t place as much value on. The following are a list of things that your customers really – really – really want that will turn them into fans for life!
Understanding your customers may seem like a no-brainer, but talking with company leaders across various industries the past seven years demonstrate just how difficult this can be in practice. One of the newest requirements to both ISO 2015 & AS9100 2016 is expanding the whole concept of who is a customer. The traditional definition of a customer is organizations that pay us for our product. The new requirement is to define the “Interested Parties” to the business, and to identify what their needs are.
Interested Parties are defined as any party that has an interest in how your company performs. This includes traditional customers, but also adds parties such as owners/stakeholders, employees, suppliers, banks, and the community. Only parties that have an interest in how your company performs and impact the QMS need be examined, although this should be a very short list. Because, as I preach to my clients, a “B” can be functionally swapped out for the “Q” in QMS as it is actually a Business Management System for the entirety of the organization.
How can this help? Excellent question, because any requirement comes with the expectation that something must be done. A simple analysis at the next management review meeting will suffice, using a tool such as my attached Interested Parties Worksheet. Refreshing this activity then becomes an annual exercise.
American Standard Circuits is one of the elite PCB fabricators in the industry, and I had the opportunity to interview CEO Anaya Vardya for iConnect007’s virtual SMTA International exposition. Anaya talks about the impact of Covid, what they are doing to keep employees safe and new developments in the company. PCB007’s industry audience ranked this interview No. 2 in their Top Ten picks; watch the interview here: http://pcb.iconnect007.com/index.php/article/124625/real-time-withsmtai-2020-asc-makes-lemonade-out-of-lemons/124628For enhanced high-speed signal-handling performance required by the world’s most demanding high-frequency Printed Circuit Board applications, Ventec International Group has launched a laminate option to its tec-speed 20.0 glass-reinforced hydrocarbon and ceramic laminate cladded with thin-film resistor material from Ticer.
Read about it here:
Contact me for all your quality needs.
Steve Williams
920-841-3478
Steve@tracQMS.com
Watch my Real Time with… interview with ASC CEO Anaya Vardya on the upcoming SMTAI (virtual) conference and how they are managing trade shows in this “new normal”
Call now to schedule your interview…
Steve Williams
920-841-3478
Steve@tracQMS.com
Read here http://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1259453-pcb007-june2020/61?m4=
Avoid audit “dings”
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