QEMS: Gold Sponsor for Union County COC Red Carpet Gala 2016

QEMS, Inc. was a Gold Sponsor for the 2016 Union County Chamber of Commerce Red Carpet Gala. Members of the Executive, Human Resources, Sales, and Quality teams came to proudly represent our company at the event and had a wonderful time.

This annual gala, always held the first Thursday in December, is the annual premiere event for the whole of the Chamber. At this event, awards are presented to distinguished chamber members and those who have volunteered throughout the year. The event is located at the Union County Agricultural Center in Monroe, NC, and boasts an impressive “golden row” for golden sponsors displays. QEMS proudly participated in the golden row, just as they did in 2015. The next gala will be held December 7, 2017, and QEMS looks forward to attending once again.

Attached is the photo gallery from this event.

QEMS Celebrates Thanksgiving 2016 and End of Year Birthdays

2016 was an incredible year for QEMS and, looking back, we have a lot to be thankful for. As we approach the holiday season (and even more exciting news with our company’s 15th Anniversary right around the corner), Executive Management and the Corporate Event Team wanted to take an opportunity to look back with the whole team and show how thankful we are for all the wonderful things that transpired in 2016.

The event was catered by Creative Food Solutions and coordinated by Executive Management, Human Resources, and the Administrative Event Team.

2016 was the year that:

  1. QEMS was recognized (again) as a safe workplace. Early in the year, we received our second consecutive gold annual safety award from the North Carolina Department of Labor.
  2. QEMS exceeded all expectations during their ISO9001 audit. This year, we passed with zero nonconformities and opportunities for improvement cited. Our auditor insisted he found “nothing but strengths.”
  3. Executive Management decided to pursue our transition from the ISO9001 standard to AS9100 (Aerospace) by 2017. Action has already been taken internally to begin our transition, with an estimated certification date by summer 2017. This will include a training of an implementation team and a new wave of internal auditors. Considering Monroe, NC (where QEMS, Inc. is located) is home to one of the largest aerospace clusters in the Carolinas (and the Carolinas are a hotbed for American aerospace manufacturing), pursuing this standard shall mark our next launch forward in QEMS’s bright, shining future.
  4. QEMS gained six certified Lean Six Sigma Green Belts. Thanks to our Green Belts (Hannah Pham, Sarah Miles, Nirmal Boriwala, Phillip Nguyen, Kien Truong, Mustafa Albayati), we have reduced excess inventory for a high run assembly, increased first time yields in wave solder, and are continuing to reduce changeover time for the SMT lines. We’ll see many more projects in the future from these teams in the future.
  5. QEMS partnered with NC State and South Piedmont Community College to invest in further training for some of our current and future leaders. This education has helped improve internal workplace communication. Lean Awareness was also managed earlier in the year, giving the basic Lean concepts to everyone at QEMS.
  6. QEMS invested in multiple new equipments and technologies to tighten control on our processes. A CRM and task-master software was launched for the key team in the early part of the year. An SQL-based MRP system update was successfully launched in late August. A modified control plan format (complete with thorough FMEA) was launched in September. A new SMT reflow oven was installed in early November. New barcode scanner software is presently being quoted to minimize manual data entry and improve communication between our internally-designed control plans, the MRP system, and tighter control on serialization.
  7. QEMS will celebrate its 15th Anniversary. Technically, the anniversary will take place in early 2017, but our company Christmas party (located at the Ballantyne Hotel on December 17, 2016) will share a celebration for this pivotal landmark.

“It’s been a year of continuous improvement,” says Miles (auditor lead from the Quality team), “but it wasn’t only Quality and Management responsible. Everyone’s played a role in getting us to where we are today. I’m looking forward to seeing even more progress in 2017 and it’s right around the corner.”

QEMS Participates in 2016 Make It In Union County Manufacturing Week

On Thursday, October 6, Sarah Miles and Vinh Nguyen of QEMS proudly participated at the Make It in Union County Manufacturing Showcase. The showcase is a chance for local manufacturing facilities to talk about their companies and spark an interest in manufacturing among middle school and high school students. This program, partnered with the Union County Public Schools and the Union County Chamber of Commerce, promotes awareness of manufacturing within Union County and all the opportunities available right here in North Carolina. Other companies participating at the showcase include (but are not limited to) Charlotte Pipe and Foundry, Vanguard Pei Lung, Scott Safety, Greiner Bio-One, Assa Abloy, and many others.

The following Friday, representatives from QEMS (Sarah Miles, Vinh Nguyen, Sarah Hoyle, Phillip Nguyen, Gary Nguyen) also attended the Celebration Breakfast for the event. Roger Collins, the host speaker for the breakfast, is the chair of the NC Apprenticeship Advisory Council for Siemens Energy, Inc.

Our team had a great time with the event and is already looking forward to participating next year as well. More information about the program can be found at http://makeitinunioncounty.com/

QEMS Completes Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Certification 2016

On September 22, 2016, the Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Candidates for QEMS took their certification exam in the morning, enjoyed a delicious lunch at Rolling Hills Country Club, and returned in the afternoon to present their Green Belt Projects.

Special guests included Mr. Phuong Nguyen (CEO and President of QEMS), Dr. Ron Fite (the Master Black Belt sponsor for all three projects), and Todd Morris from South Piedmont Community College.

The three teams were as follows:

  1. Hannah Pham and Sarah Miles – Inventory Turn Analysis for [CONFIDENTIAL] High Cost Assembly
  2. Nirmal Boriwala and Phillip Nguyen – Changeover Improvements for Surface Mount Technology
  3. Kien Truong and Mustafa Albayati – Improvements to 1st Pass Yield for Wave Solder Department

A great amount of research, time, effort, and initiative went into each of these projects. Coursework for the Green Belt class began in late June 2016, along with the completion of a test catapult project (see gallery for pictures).

The hope going forward is to implement further Six Sigma projects on-site, use Six Sigma as the next level for Continuous Improvement, and to have our key team at QEMS embrace the Six Sigma methodology. In time, QEMS may consider pushing forward a few personnel for Black Belt certification.

Certifications will be presented on-site in the next few weeks.

2012 – QEMS named World Class Supplier by Scott Safety

On December 6, 2012, the Monroe Enquirer Journal released a story regarding QEMS once again being named as a “world class” supplier by Scott Safety (a Tyco International Company specializing in life safety equipment) for the third consecutive year.

Being identified as world class is a recognition only given to the top 1% of Scott Safety’s suppliers worldwide. QEMS was 1 in 8 of 600 suppliers to receive this award. “QEMS’s receipt of World Class Supplier for three consecutive years is truly unique and is a testament to their dedication to continuous improvement,” stated Valerie R. Raye: a senior buyer for Scott Safety’s Strategic Sourcing Department.

QEMS was founded in 2002 by its President and CEO: Mr. Phuong Nguyen.

QEMS, Inc. is fiercely proud of this award and wished to share the good news with our employees, contractors, vendors, customers, and friends. The full article from the Monroe Enquirer Journal can be found here: http://www.enquirerjournal.com/home/qems-again-named-world-class-supplier/article_90ceb932-5a0e-5099-9668-1531ef5d30f9.html

QEMS Celebrates July Birthdays 2016

QEMS hosts a monthly birthday event to treat QEMS employees celebrating a birthday within the calendar month. In July, the birthday event was hosted at Rolling Hills Country Club in Monroe, NC. During the event, a game was played among the birthday personnel to see who could move the most marshmallows to another bowl using only their mouth to guide the spoon. The winner was Kien Truong from Engineering. Congratulations, Kien!

Please enjoy the gallery for our birthday celebration and see for yourself how much fun we have with our company!

QEMS Hosts 2016 May Birthday Event

QEMS hosts a monthly birthday event to treat QEMS employees celebrating a birthday within the calendar month. In May, the event was hosted on-site and catered by Creative Food Solutions. The Executive, Sales & Marketing, and Human Resources teams were excited to discuss upcoming events as well as some of the great achievements QEMS has made throughout the year thus far. Some of these achievements (such as the 2nd Consecutive Gold Safety Award from the NCDOL and our excitement for announcing our Lean Six Sigma Green Belt candidates) have been discussed on the website already. Others (such as our announcement for the 15 Year Anniversary/Christmas Party in December) were news for the group.

Sarah Miles from Human Resources stated, “I first walked through the front doors of QEMS in late 2014 and I can’t begin to tell you how dedicated a company this truly is toward process improvement, preventive action, and compliance. It’s a committed team and I’m glad I’ve had an opportunity to work this hard with so many great people.”

Keep up the good work, everyone! Keep us clean, keep us neat, keep us happy, and keep us moving steadily forward as a top quality company!

QEMS Announces Candidates for Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Certification 2016

QEMS, Inc. is pleased to announce that training for the Lean Six Sigma Green Belt began on Monday, May 16, 2016 and continue on Mondays until August 1st. Participants (Sarah Miles, Paul Ziino, Lisa Nguyen, Nirmal Boriwala, Olga Claros, Phillip Nguyen, and Mustafa Albayati) were selected from multiple departments and chosen to represent QEMS’s next big leap toward process improvement and lean manufacturing. Lean Six Sigma is an organizational methodology utilized to decrease process variation, defects, excess inventory, and other types of waste. Six Sigma Quality is a term generally used to indicate a well-controlled process. Green Belts analyze and solve quality problems and participate in projects.

The instructor, Dr. Ron Fite, is a certified Master Black Belt and has over 30 years of manufacturing experience, plus 10+ years of teaching experience in the areas of continuous improvement, quality and leadership. Ron has served as a Quality Manager, Corporate Quality Engineer, middle school teacher and adjunct instructor for community colleges in Virginia and North Carolina.

Congratulations so far, team! Let’s prepare to make QEMS lean, mean, AND green!

2016 Union County Safety Awards Gallery

QEMS, Inc. was presented with a Second Consecutive Year Gold Award from the North Carolina Department of Labor on April 28, 2016. The company selected supervisors and safety team members to represent them at the banquet, which was hosted by the Union County Chamber of Commerce.

QEMS Celebrates March Employee Birthdays 2016

QEMS hosts a monthly birthday event to treat QEMS employees celebrating a birthday within the calendar month. In March, the birthday event was hosted at Applebee’s in Monroe, NC. Please enjoy the gallery for our March birthday celebration and see for yourself how much fun we have with our company!

 

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