SV Customer Win: Next Level Quality Management at Alacriant
Streetsboro, Ohio based Alacriant, Inc. has successfully implemented SV’s Quality Management software for its entire metal fabricating operation.
“We made a full commitment to SV Quality in 2022.” says Tony Horvat, Director of Quality. “We phased in the solution and mapped it to our processes, helping our Quality Management system to go next level.”
Alacriant was undergoing tremendous growth when it took on the project, onboarding several new customers and parts each quarter. Under heavy resource demands, it chose to divide the implementation into manageable pieces.
1. Integrated Quality: First, the company consolidated its MRB-related quality issues onto the single platform, with supporting workflows. “The software collects all quality findings centrally – RMAs, NCRs, CCARs, quality alerts -- and manages them for disposition.” says Marvin Parms, Quality Supervisor. “It generates timely notifications and reminders on ownership and next steps, allowing us to communicate with our customers and suppliers responsively, accurately, and confidently.”
2. Shop Integration: Understanding the importance of shop communication, Alacriant moved on to the plant floor. It connected the open quality items and documentation to the production work cells and introduced quality signoffs, including PPAP, buyoff, and management review. “We now know in the shop which work orders have open quality issues, and which need PPAP, buy-off, or management review. This keeps everyone informed and forces approval gates before the next operation is begun.” says Aaron Orlando, Production Manager.
3. Reporting and Metrics: According to Horvat, “Our customers have high quality reporting demands, with proof of continuous improvement. Before SV, assembling this information was extremely time-consuming.” The company thus focused on reporting in Phase 3. “Now," says Horvat, " our Power-BI based Business Intelligence software delivers this information in visual, drillable dashboards for both internal and customer use.”
4. Return and Rework: Finally, Alacriant turned its attention to return and rework management, a notoriously complex area. Working internally to assign ownership, containment, and communication responsibilities, the company implemented a disciplined return and rework process, accounting for all scenarios from customer finding back through vendor rework. “This step demonstrated that we are serious about proper identification, containment, disposition, and labeling of suspect product throughout the process – raising the bar for us, our customers, and our suppliers.” says Larry Dotson, Supply Chain Manager. The new process includes disciplined communication and labeling requirements with customers and suppliers.
Horvat concludes, “Our long term commitment to automating our quality processes with SV has paid dividends. Our customers have seen improved quality, on time delivery, and communication. We are holding our suppliers more accountable on their product quality. And our internal team owns quality issues through to completion. The overall proof of success has been in the high grades we receive from ISO and customer auditors on the state of the art system we have implemented.”
Alacriant, Inc. is a manufacturer of fabricated metal assemblies serving both the commercial and defense industries. Located in Streetsboro, OH with 3 manufacturing facilities and over 150 employees, Alacriant’s commitment to excellence has resulted in tremendous growth, with the company breaking into The Fabricator's FAB 40 list in 2023. Learn more at http://alacriant.com/.
