Thomas is Senior Manager of Quality Assurance and Key Accounts for one of the country’s largest trophy and awards manufacturers. His main responsibility is to make sure the customer is happy with the product they receive. Working with the entire supply chain from the factory to shipping, Thomas uses data points to correct present issues and prevent any future issues with customer orders.
Transcript
My name is Thomas Cortine and I'm involved in quality assurance, and in that role as quality assurance manager, I also deal with key accounts for my company. Well, the world of quality assurance has evolved quite a bit, it kind of ties into another area called supply chain management because quality assurance is concerned with everything that happens from the factory, all the way through to the customer, and is the customer happy with the product they received? Well, we gather data from start to finish and we analyze the data, we keep track of where we have problems and where things are going well, and we adjust how we run the supply chain accordingly. A busy day for me would be looking at data and putting it into a spreadsheet, and analyzing the data for things that need to be corrected or adjusted. Also, I am involved in creating samples for new customers. Because I work with key accounts, that means people want customized awards, not just what's ever available on the website. That requires making samples or having samples made, and that requires making sure that if the customer decides to do business with us, will we be capable of making a product for them that they'll be happy with? Well, we look at customer complaints and what was the complaint? Was it that they had damaged their product? Did they feel they got the incorrect product, did they feel the product didn't look the same to them as it did in the photograph we sent them? Those kinds of things, and we adjust accordingly as to how we should handle it going forward. So, it's always looking to improve things. Well, some of the services are customization of the trophies and awards. This is important because it's not the trophy or award that they're giving to someone, it's the recognition they're giving to someone, and someone needs to be able to come to appreciate that intangible by being given a physical award, so it's important that our awards spark in someone that feeling that they've been recognized for something.
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