September 05, 2019
QUALITY ASSURANCE LEADER
Friesens has a long-standing history of quality initiatives, including most recently the Continuous Improvement Initiative, led by Vern Bergen. I am excited that Friesens has created this important initiative in our never-ending desire to get better at what we do and to increase the speed at which we improve. I have just been promoted to the newly created position of Quality Assurance Leader. My first PNL report is below.
As a long-time employee of Friesens I have worked in various areas of the company, including:
• Press
• Bindery
• Electronic prepress (involved in Friesens’ transition from film to CTP)
• Tech support
• Most recently in customer service in our Book
Division
It is this experience, combined with my natural inquisitive nature, that gave me the skills needed for my new role as Friesens’ Quality Assurance Leader.
Friesens continues to grow, and it is important that we focus on quality and continuous improvement. Although there have always been quality processes in place, we felt it would be beneficial to have another focused position looking at quality and process improvements in all areas.
Without getting too technical, these are some of the things we
are working on:
• Improve the flow of data from when the job first
comes into the plant to when it leaves
• Decrease variation between production stages
• Reduce colour variation on press
• Modify our checkpoints between production stages
• Improve the response time when issues do arise,
whether they’re internal or external
Friesens is committed to providing you with high-quality products in a timely manner. Increased industry demand combined with tighter deadlines puts a greater strain on all systems. This makes it even more critical to make things right the first time, every time.