VIGILANCE PERSONIFIED

Rick Hudson on Protecting Customers from Quality Issues.

by Leigh Bell

Tainted toothpaste. Poisoned pet food. Shredding tires. Toys contaminated with lead paint ... all made in China. The recent spate of safety recalls has people asking some serious questions. Can we trust the products coming out of Chinese factories? Rick Hudson’s answer is, “Trust, but verify.”

For Rick, today’s headlines reflect concerns he has had since he first visited China more than a decade ago. Hudson smiles as he recalls his first trip to Shanghai. “Most people were on bicycles. Driving on the highways, you had to watch out for wagons pulled by mules. Now there are cars everywhere; it’s all changed just like that,” he says, snapping his fingers.

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY
“China is a wonderful country. They have smart, motivated people who want to succeed. But the industrial and economic infrastructure is still developing. You’ll find some of the world’s best manufacturers there, but you’ll also find some of the worst,” he said. “Our job is to sort them out.”

“We have great relationships with our manufacturers in China, and we trust them,” Rick said. “But when it comes to quality, we have to be vigilant.Trust, but verify.”

At RL Hudson that means testing Chinese-made parts at the company’s headquarters. Experts in engineering, materials and quality follow processes designed to help ensure that parts are manufactured to the customer’s specifications. Right down to the ingredients in the material compounds.

That’s important when you consider that RL Hudson supplies parts that go into some of the world’s best-known consumer brands, many of which function under extreme conditions. In manufacturing, the smallest change — the slightest substitution — could have severe consequences.

And some Chinese manufacturers have been known to quietly tweak a product.

That’s what befell toy juggernaut Mattel Inc. when a Chinese-made toy line turned up with lead-tainted paint. The Chinese manufacturer subcontracted the painting to another vendor, who used paint from a non-authorized supplier.

The paint contained lead; massive recalls followed.

So, if quality problems are such an issue, why not just manufacture products here in the United States?

“It’s not so much where a product is manufactured, but how,” said Rick. “In a price-driven economy, companies have to produce products at the lowest possible cost, or they will be out of business. This is why our customers demanded lowercost Chinese-made goods years ago,” Rick said, walking through his pristine warehouse where row after row is filled with boxes stamped :Made in China. “But ‘Made in China’ doesn’t have to be synonymous with questionable quality.”

PRICE ISN’T EVERYTHING
In the world of consumer products, you expect a tradeoff between price and quality. People understand that the lowest priced car won’t also be the best quality car. That formula doesn’t work for RL Hudson customers. “The quality is nonnegotiable; it has to meet the customer specs, period,” said Rick, “But we also have to get the price right.”

In China, low prices are common, but reliable quality can be a challenge, so RL Hudson is very particular about the manufacturers it works with. Each of of Hudson’s suppliers receives a stringent 52-page Supplier Quality Requirements Manual printed in English and Chinese, which details the company’s expectations.

“It documents the way we expect business to be conducted between our suppliers and ourselves,” Rick said.

TRUST, BUT VERIFY
While the company has worked hard to identify and develop relationships with China’s best manufacturers, and even though those manufacturers understand the company’s manufacturing requirements, it isn’t enough for RL Hudson.

China’s culture respects face time. They deliver better quality when they know and respect the people they’re serving. That’s why Rick and his team spend nearly three months of every year in China visiting manufacturers and surveying their practices.

Employees who travel to Asia learn basics of the language. Their business cards are even printed in Chinese.

And today, RL Hudson has its own office near Shanghai, staffed by five full-time employees, including an Americanborn, Japanese-trained mechanical engineer whose purpose is to visit and assess manufacturers.

Once a part is manufactured, experts at the company’s Quality Lab use a full range of sophisticated scientific tools, including infrared scans to assess a product’s makeup. Parts are burned and the vapors are analyzed to certify the right ingredients were used. The objective is to verify the part has been manufactured as specified on the engineering drawing.

None of this comes cheap. And while the company could certainly cut a budgetary corner or two, Rick says the savings aren’t worth the risk. Especially when measured by the value of trust and assuredness that RL Hudson provides customers. “We have to be relentless in our efforts to ensure quality,” he said. “So, as I said,we trust, but verify.”

Solutions 4Q07

VIGILANCE PERSONIFIED

Rick Hudson on Protecting Customers from Quality Issues.