Quality Assurance

 

Soft Play Offers Manufacturing Excellence

 

Manufacturing consistent quality products that exceed customers' expectations is the number one objective at Soft Play's manufacturing facility in Farmington, MO. As a testament to their high quality standards, the plant has achieved ISO 9002 Certification and follows rigorous procedures to ensure that every component and process is error-free.

 

"We have performance objectives related to policies, procedures and work instructions," said plant supervisor, Katie Schwent. "Everything is electronic, so all employees can access the information they need online."

 

Quality controls and steps include:

 

  • Employee training focuses on quality manufacturing, so that every employee understands how the quality of products relates to his or her job specifically.
  • For each play system order, manufacturing creates a "play system blueprint" that defines the products to be manufactured each day in order to get the order out on a timely basis. Employees are required to follow that blueprint to the letter.
  • As many of our playgrounds are "made-to-order," foremen perform a contract review on each order to ensure that the order will be filled as expected by the customer.
  • Product parts are inspected twice - once prior to leaving its origination and once prior to shipment.
  • Play system blueprints are updated daily to ensure the most updated engineering specifications are employed for each component.
  • Detailed records of all inspections are maintained as proof of quality procedures.
  • Employees are encouraged to request corrective action in the event that they identify items that do not conform to current specifications.
  • Several work teams follow the Japanese practice of "kaizen," or continuous improvement, meeting once a month to consider many small improvements or cost saving opportunities. On average, over 20 suggestions for improvement are made at these meetings.
  • Every measuring device in the plant, from yardsticks to highly sensitive scales, is calibrated against a standard and either fixed or replaced if they do not conform exactly.

 

"Quality control has many benefits," Schwent said. "It ensures that customers get exactly what they ordered, it saves time and money by doing it right the first time, and it gives our employees a sense of pride in producing absolutely top-quality work."