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ALL IN on Quality: Marlin Frechette and Organizational Commitment to Improvement
Kaizen is a Japanese business philosophy that means change for the better. The continual improvement of process and operations made possible by the efforts of each individual employee. From manufacturing to distribution, sales to customer support, R&D to quality control, and facilities to c-suite, every employee plays a vital role in promoting kaizen and creating a high quality product and experience for our customers.
As part of our ongoing ALL IN interview series, we sit down to talk with Marlin Frechette, Chief Quality Officer (CQO) at FUJIFILM Irvine Scientific, to discuss some of the recent changes in our operations, and the kaizen happening behind the scenes that helps achieve quality across the board. Marlin has over thirty-three years of experience with us and is essential in modernizing our quality systems. Read on and discover what being ALL IN on quality means to her.
Q: Can you share how FUJIFILM Irvine Scientific has been ALL IN on quality over the last few years?
The regulatory and compliance landscape for Medical Devices have changed significantly over the past ten years. Many countries, even those that previously had none, have added new requirements. Furthermore, our entire industry has encountered unexpected obstacles such as product recalls and supply chain issues.
In response, we have made a number of changes to promote continual process improvements, like internal workflows that give us the chance to refine every decision before implementation.
In our Quality Control groups, we’ve expanded our footprint and moved to a larger facility, which has been optimized to ensure focused responsibilities and expertise for each group. Relocating our teams and facility gives us the opportunity to be closer together, promoting better collaboration and responsiveness when troubleshooting. We have also improved and developed new testing methods and added more equipment to increase QC capabilities.
Another major enhancement to our capabilities is the ability to test products in-house rather than using third-party contractors, allowing us to take greater control over product testing parameters and reduce turnaround time. We’ve modernized the management of raw material and final product testing by going from paper-based processes to commissioning an electronic laboratory inventory management system (LIMS), increasing accuracy and efficiency.
As for Quality Assurance, we restructured the department by adding a new group—Quality Engineering—dedicated to continual improvement by performing root cause analyses and non-conformances, while also splitting the department into QA Commercial and QA Operations groups for further specialization and accountability. We’ve even started using Electronic Batch Records (EBR) and Electronic Data Exchange (EDX) systems for immediate eData transfer directly to customers.
We’re proud that most of our ART media and supplies have been manufactured here in California since our first product release in 1987, and we are dedicated to keep consistent quality and performance as the hallmarks of our media.
Q: What can we look forward to in the next 12 months?
We have several ongoing objectives that align with our philosophy of continual improvement, and we will continue to strengthen our Quality Systems where we can. That continual improvement, or kaizen, starts with understanding the key performance indicators that we’ve been tracking for many years, and using that information to improve operations, customer service, shipping, and more.
Q: What does ALL IN mean to you?
ALL IN is a commitment to participate with our customers throughout the whole process. Everyone contributes to the end result, whether that’s cleaning up the manufacturing facility or shipping the product correctly.
Q: What is your favorite thing about working for FUJIFILM Irvine Scientific and the ART industry?
The people! The people in this company care about what we do. I’ve been here for thirty-three years and I haven’t lost my motivation to deliver the best quality because of the encouragement of those within the company, and the promise to our customers to help deliver a happy family in the end.
For more information on ALL IN, check out the quality landing page.