Global Commercial Cooking equipment brand engaged Gait’s supply chain and quality teams to find an alternative supplier to solve quality issues
Case Study
An industry leading supplier of commercial cooking equipment, engaged Gait’s Supply Chain and Quality Engineering teams to find an alternative solution to an oven door latching system that was having high reject rates. The team’s solution reduced the components’ quality issues to zero.
The Opportunity
With products being exported to over fifty countries globally and dealing with major inefficiencies due to high reject rates and poor supply chain management, this globally recognised commercial cooking brand, turned to Gait International’s extensive experience and supplier network to help solve an issue with a commercial oven door latching system.
The company lacked the team bandwidth and expertise to find a solution themselves. Gait International had been recommended to them, and they had been impressed by the high praise that the team had received for their experience and proactive approach.
Gait International were tasked with finding a new solution that would reduce the reject rate to as close to zero as possible.
The Solution
Supplier Selection
Gait’s access to an extensive base of suppliers across Taiwan, Thailand and China, enabled the team to perform in-depth research to find a premium stainless steel supplier that would be able to provide a consistent high quality product at a competitive price.
Quality Control Enhancement
The Gait Quality Engineers assessed all critical elements (dimensions, weld strength and function) of the product and created monitoring criteria for each of these elements. Documentation and clear steps at each stage in the process ensured consistency and repeatability.
Test Gauge Development
The testing protocol for the product was augmented by new test gauges which were developed so that an additional inspection could be completed efficiently before shipping
Cosmetic Finish Management
Through every step of this project, maintaining the high cosmetic finish was critical to the project success. Regular sampling through the supplier transition and adding additional checks to the process ensured that the product maintained this key factor
The Results
Zero Defects
The time spent on selecting the right supplier partnership and the tight quality control measures that the Gait team implemented ensured that this part is shipped with zero defects every time. This has gone way beyond the client’s original expectations
Resource Optimization
Solving this supply and quality problem for this commercial cooking equipment supplier and giving them complete peace of mind has freed up the team to spend time on more strategic projects.