As one of the world’s leading and most respected manufacturers of cross-sector fastening systems, EJOT has a reputation for setting the bar high in terms of quality of products and its service. From design, production and testing to logistics, sales and customer service, everyone at EJOT is focused on how its products can provide the maximum benefit to customers in a way they can rely on every time.
It is an ethos that applies at every stage of the manufacturing and supply process, and deep rooted due to the company’s vast experience of manufacturing fasteners for many different industrial, technically demanding applications, including automotive. To achieve this requires EJOT UK to apply robust processes for monitoring and checking products and facilitate close inter-departmental collaboration to maintain a dedication to continuous improvement.
Quality Manager at EJOT UK, Fiona Morley, has a unique cross-departmental remit and plays an instrumental role in making sure customers receive consistently high-quality fastening products that mean they can deliver projects safely, efficiently and to exacting standards.
It’s a role that is not just about helping EJOT UK to excel – she and her colleagues assists Senior Management in supporting the EJOT Group globally with the progression of processes aimed at optimising the environment, excellence and sustainability.
The focus and dedication of the quality team, led by Fiona, is shared by colleagues throughout the EJOT Group whose positive mindset has developed over decades of providing technically advanced fastening solutions for customers in a diverse range of industrial sectors. These are industries where near-zero defect rates are demanded due to the safety critical nature of applications, such as the body-in-white (BIW) structure of vehicles and electric vehicle (EV) batteries.
EJOT’s routine application of these exacting standards to its complete range of construction fasteners means its UK customers in the building envelope sector, as well as those specifying and installing its anchoring systems, can be assured of industrial quality and technical excellence.
Fiona says: “The Applitec Centre allows our quality and technical teams to work together very closely to achieve our quality assurance and quality control objectives. The way we work ensures we can achieve quality standards not normally seen in construction product manufacturing.
“This is illustrated by how rare it is for a fastening issue reported by a customer to be attributed to an EJOT quality issue. In fact, less than 0.5% of the products we supply every year can be associated with any kind of quality concern – and that doesn’t necessarily mean the product is at fault in these cases. That’s a tiny proportion of the millions of components we produce annually for the UK construction and industrial industries.”
Fiona’s experience and knowledge has continuously developed since she was appointed as Quality Manager in 2018. Today she has a role that touches every department and function, with a clear distinction between quality assurance and quality control. These are intrinsically linked but distinctly different.
Fiona says: “Quality assurance is about managing the requirements of the multiple systems that EJOT UK and the EJOT Group works to, primarily the internationally recognised ISO standards that cover the progressive requirements of business, from environmental and energy management systems.
“Our ISO standards commitment means we have to work continuously to maintain conformance with the processes we have in place, meet the commitments we’ve set and always be looking at how we can improve how we work. That requires dedication and focus from the entire team so we can contribute to the quality of what we provide to our customers holistically.”
Managing quality control processes
Quality control means ensuring that products received by customers, whether that is a self-drilling roofing fastener or a heavy-duty mechanical anchor, meet the standards expected. It is a multi-dimensional focus, which begins with checking raw materials and components received by EJOT UK for its manufacturing and assembly processes and ends with products being sent out to customers that are of the highest standard, consistently.
Fiona continues: “Not only do we manufacture products here at our UK site, but we are also involved in processing the supply of fasteners produced by other divisions within the EJOT Group throughout the world. That means we are part of an integrated global unit where our quality processes are being followed correctly through production to ensure the products being manufactured work exactly as they should.
“Ultimately, what we manufacture are highly technical products. And for our fasteners to deliver on their promise and perform well in-situ, we have to have the right checks in place at every stage of the design, manufacture and supply process.”
How quality control works
All the products manufactured in EJOT’s Yorkshire factory are quality checked throughout their production. This involves the quality control team conducting spot checks throughout the day to monitor correct coding and labelling in addition to checking the products themselves.
A consistent, meticulous process extends across all product ranges, which includes EJOT’s safety-critical LIEBIG anchoring products.
Fiona’s team utilise the state-of-the-art testing equipment within the Applitec Centre on a daily basis, primarily for checking raw materials and inbound goods. This includes checking the material hardness, and critical dimensions using a range of specialist equipment, with a typical example being conducting checks on the coatings of products using state-of-the-art X-Ray equipment.
EJOT UK’s flagship Colorfast self-drilling fasteners, which feature a colour-matched over-moulded head, are another typical example. The quality team checks the colour of Colorfast heads with great precision in a light cabinet calibrated to match colour permutations that span all British and International Standards. Torsional testing, also known as a torque test, of the fastener’s head is also checked to ensure that the over moulding is performing exactly as it should be.
Fiona adds: “The quality team benefits from working closely with the technical team. They have such a wealth of experience that they will usually be able to pinpoint a potential issue, which could be due to installation technique or the fastener not being correct for the application. That means we are almost always able to rule out quality issues before any investigation is even needed.
“We are the first port of call for UK customers, whatever market they operate in. Uniquely, that means we are involved in managing quality for EJOT customers in both the construction and industrial industries, including those in automotive manufacturing.
“So, part of my role is to support our customer service team in respect of understanding what information we require from customers to help them comply with the quality systems applicable in their sectors, such as IATF 16949 in automotive. I can help the team understand what documentation our customers in these sectors will typically require and how they will need this providing.”
Supporting EJOT UK’s long-term goals
A key part of the Quality role is continuous improvement. Standards such as ISO9001 encourage this, but team leaders at EJOT are always looking at how processes can be enhanced to do things better.
Fiona continues: “The standards are one part of continuous improvement, but we have our own ideas and strategy too. We encourage everyone to be constantly looking for opportunities to improve and it has become almost second nature for many people in the team.
“We are working collaboratively and inter-departmentally to find new ways to help everyone get things right first time and improve processes. For example, we’ve optimised our powder coating process in terms of energy management. This has involved changing the fuel source required to heat the oven with the result being energy savings and reduced CO2 emissions.”
The next major step for the quality team will be the long-term development of the ISO14001 model and ensure its environmental management systems are in line with Group directives and all EJOT subsidiaries around the world. This is crucially important in helping the EJOT Group as a whole to meet its 2035 net zero deadline.
