Customers expect high-quality aluminum fabricated components. Profile Precision Extrusions promises a lot to our customers; industry best dimensional tolerances, on-time delivery, fabricated aluminum components ready for assembly, and engineering assistance to name a few. We’re not the least cost producer in the industry. Customers pay a premium for our aluminum extrusions. They expect their money’s worth. (Don’t you when you pay a premium for something?) Our expectation of ourselves is that we’ll deliver more value than the cost of the extrusions.
One way to deliver value is to use the same inspection tools, gages, and methods that the customer uses. Doing so helps to ensure that the supplier and customer agree parts are acceptable. Using the same tools is especially important when the allowed dimensional variation is less than .003”. In 2018 Profile purchased a Hexagon Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM) so that we could replicate what our customer DowDuPont was using to measure our extrusions. Such precision is necessary due to the fact the parts are used in airplane jet engines. We are also using the CMM to reduce lead times for other customers by inspecting parts faster than is possible doing so manually.
Other customers do not require the extreme precision of a CMM for inspecting their parts. In our July 2017 blog, we describe other inspection tools we use on a daily basis.
Value can also be defined by how pleasing the parts look. A challenging area for delivering quality is parts that are cosmetically critical. Medical components can be especially challenging. Not only does the part need to be dimensionally perfect, in many cases it needs to look perfect too. Developing detailed written inspection instructions with the customer is the best way to ensure both parties evaluate the extrusions in the same manner. Including things like the type of lighting, how far away from the naked eye the part is evaluated, the length of time each surface is inspected, and photographs showing acceptable and not acceptable surface conditions is important. In many cases, the instructions are also shared with other vendors so that the whole value chain evaluates the parts in a consistent manner.
At Profile Precision Extrusions, quality is more than making aluminum extrusions dimensionally accurate, visibly appealing or being ISO 9001/2015 registered. We have real, live humans to answer your calls. We ship orders on time. We return your calls and email messages in a timely manner. We strive to exceed our customers’ expectations, or work until we do. Contact us today with your aluminum extrusion idea.
