Shining an Internal Spotlight on Quality

Each of our employees shares responsibility for maintaining our high quality standards, so customers can unequivocally trust Hutchinson as their shock, vibration and noise solutions provider.

To reinforce and highlight this company philosophy, quality department leaders created a triannual newsletter that pulls back the curtain on what its team does daily. This initiative has helped all employees become more aware of what commitment to quality entails and the part they play in its success.

Elevating Quality

Our quality department inspects all products to confirm they meet our stringent standards before they are sent to customers, helping us achieve exceptional levels of customer satisfaction and retention.

But here, quality is about more than a singular department’s function; it’s a foundational tenet of our overall company culture. Everyone has a part to play in maintaining our high quality standards. To help bolster buy-in on this important operational philosophy while communicating what the quality team does, department leaders created a newsletter that details and showcases their work.

The Newsletter

Customer visits, internal and external audits, and improvement initiatives happen all the time within our quality department, but employees in other departments may not realize it. The quality team identified these topics as well as critical everyday tasks as areas to highlight in the newsletter, increasing clarity and transparency.

The inaugural edition featured the status of company-wide process control auditing, a description of recent customer visits, an announcement about the purchase of two new coordinate-measuring machines (CMMs) and a posting about a process control training program available to all employees. It also promoted a quality-conscious mindset by outlining roles that various employees, such as engineers, operators and customer service representatives, can play in maintaining quality control.

Results and Looking Ahead

After just one issue of the newsletter, many of our employees have reached out to the quality team to express their appreciation and increased understanding of the department’s purpose and goals. Some also registered for the process control training session promoted in the newsletter, so they can learn how they can help move the needle on quality in a positive way.

By raising the profile of our quality department through this newsletter, we are already instilling a culture of quality across our organization. We are confident that improved solutions for our customers, enhanced customer retention, increased referrals and long-term success will continually follow.