November  2004 - Partnership Aims to Ensure Quality Construction
By Mandi Harding

Quality matters in the construction industry, and in the past five or six years particular attention has been placed on assuring quality in the homebuilding industry nationally as well as locally here in the valley. Two Framing Contractors Association members, Framecon, Inc. and Simpson Strong-Tie are serving as bellwethers.
ãA 1999 case study was executed by the National Housing Quality a division of the National Association of Home Builders to determine the feasibility of developing a quality assurance program in a non-controlled labor force environment,ä said Emmet Mielbrecht, regional builder program manager for Simpson Strong-Tie. ãAnd the answer they discovered was, yes, it was very possible.ä
With more effort and consideration, two certification programs were born: the National Housing Quality Trade Contractor Certification Program and the National Housing Quality Builder Certification Program.
The inherent benefits of participating and attaining certification include increased productivity, trained field personnel, significantly reduced or eliminated callbacks, reduced exposure to litigation, tighter schedules and reduced cycle time and, perhaps most importantly, optimum customer satisfaction.
ãFramecon has been certified since 2003 as a trade contractor, but the exciting news for us as a manufacturer is that we are participating in a pilot program to justify the development of a National Housing Quality Sponsoring Manufacturer Program,ä Mielbrecht announced. ãThis program provides assessments and training to the individual needs of a particular company as it pertains to that manufacturerâs product. And as the dynamics of the industry continue to change, I think that this type of involvement and partnership by manufacturers is essential for the overall goals of both the trade contractors and builders.ä
The core value of the quality assurance program is continual improvement, and continued education is essential.
ãThe cooperation between the trade contractor and a given manufacturer for training is integral to a companyâs existence. The main premise is that things change over time ö codes change and materials also change, if our employees arenât continually kept abreast of the industryâs innovations, then it sure makes it hard to maximize our companyâs objective in quality assurance,ä said Ryan Stewart, president of Framecon.
A simple way to conceptualize the quality assurance program is to visualize four action steps that form arcs in a circle. The first arc is ãPlanä ö where a company determines how to best meet the customers expectations; the next arc is ãDoä ö implement or perform the work; next comes ãCheckä ö evaluate or plan is carried out; and finally, ãActä ö improve the process.
ãFrom a companyâs perspective maybe you find number of nonconformances, or what we term ãHot Spotsä, in one project. The idea is not to become overwhelmed in addressing all Hot Spots, but to take the most serious of those hotspots and activate into the four-action cycle until it has been eliminated. Commonly you will find by addressing this one hotspot, youâve inadvertently addressed numerous others,ä said Mielbrecht.
Framecon and Simpson Strong-Tie are the first trade subcontractor and manufacturer in the valley to team up to maximize education and training to enhance the quality process.
ãOur role in this is to act responsibly and ensure our products are being installed properly, weâre willing to come to your jobsites and inspect our own inventory after installation. We are acting as the Check portion of the action cycle on our product,ä Mielbrecht noted.
In pursuit of perfection, the duo outlined a program and initiated it in late August. First, Simpson Strong-Tie performed a pre-assessment of the installed product. After evaluating the work, Mielbrecht met with Allen Haynes, quality assurance manager for Framecon. Together they discussed the hotspots and a determined a plan of action based on the frequency of misapplied product then scheduled a training date for mid-September.
Simpson Strong-Tie Territorial Representative, Mike Wagner, conducted the training on various jobsites. Wagner addressed easy corrections to issues such as the type of nail being used in the Simpson product.
ãWe have a top-down approach. We ensured our 11 crew leaders, representing 200 framers and 5 stackers, representing 100 stackers were present at this training seminar which lasted about an hour and half. It is then their responsibility to make use of this training and ensure each subordinate is aware of the proper technique,ä said Haynes.
Early this month, Simpson Strong-Tie is scheduled to again visit Frameconâs jobsites to conduct a post-assessment. The goal here is to determine if the hotspot has been adequately reduced.
ãDifferent companies will have different measures of success, and therefore training methods will be interdependent on this fact. Allen and I have already discussed Frameconâs acceptable rate of occurrence goal after training. If we find that misapplication is occurring higher than this rate, then we know the top-down approach wasnât successful and we will employ other training methods such as utilizing translators and going directly to the worker,ä said Mielbrecht.
While Haynes, charged with the duty of quality assurance, maintains his own list of hotspots, Mielbrecht has helped him see more. Training has been made more effective by photographing a particular hotspot and comparing it with a photograph of proper installation for installers.
ãIt is reassuring to know that Simpson wants to be proactive with quality application. It isnât unusual for things to get stale , and this Simpson program helps break things up and keep the guys on their toes,ä said Stewart. ãThis combined effort between the trade contractor and the manufacturer however, is equally important for the builder and the customer. The collaborative idea here is to get it right the first time.ä