Photo By Matthew Montgomery | Jose Arrieta and Alex Luna, Defense Contract Management Agency quality assurance...... read more read more
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EL PASO, Texas - Ensuring uniform items meet quality standard requirements is a job with an immediate impact on the warfighter, and a job Defense Contract Management Agency quality assurance specialists here take very seriously.
Allowing defective uniforms to make it to the field is not something the DCMA team takes lightly, said Jose Arrieta, Defense Contract Management Agency quality assurance specialist. “If a particular defective garment is shipped I feel like I’m responsible, even though I don’t see 100 percent of the product. It goes back to making sure the right processes are in place, effective and being followed.”
Arrieta inspects military uniforms at ReadyOne Industries. The company is one of the largest producers of military uniforms. They supply the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps with multiple items, ranging from everyday uniform pants to cold weather jackets.
ReadyOne Industries is part of the AbilityOne program – a federal initiative to help people with disabilities find employment. According to their website, the vision is “to enable all people who are blind or living with significant disabilities to achieve their maximum employment potential.” This is done by working within a national network of more than 600 nonprofit agencies that sell products and services to the government.
Although ReadyOne is a nonprofit organization under the federal initiative, Arrieta said they are held to the same Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR 52.246-11) quality standards as commercial garment manufacturers. “Requirements in the contracts outline our responsibilities, regardless of the company,” said Arrieta.
A large portion of the workforce in the facility speaks Spanish and Arrieta knows communication is the key to ensuring the quality of the end product. This is where his ability to speak Spanish comes in handy. “Many times I communicate with them in Spanish to make sure they understand the technical side of their job,” said Arrieta. “It is beneficial because it is sometimes easier to communicate and understand issues of a technical nature in the language they are most comfortable with.”
Helping Arrieta in the facility is Alex Luna, DCMA quality assurance specialist. “Coming into the garment industry, I realized quickly how it is a very different commodity from what I’ve worked in the past,” said Luna, who’s worked in various programs ranging from tooling to complex systems. “The garment industry is unique because of the nuances, but what remains common is breaking it down to the processes.”
Before final shipment, based on requirements stated in the contract, the team performs a random inspection on a sampling of uniform items with a very strict eye. “If we find more than the allowable number of defects based on the requirements, the entire shipment is rejected and the contractor re-inspects all garments and then re-submits shipment to DCMA,” said Arrieta. “To me, every single suit, every single stitch, means a lot because at the end of the day it is supporting the warfighter,” said Arrieta.
| Date Taken: | 06.20.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 07.03.2012 13:52 |
| Story ID: | 91062 |
| Location: | EL PASO, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 52 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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