BRAINARD RIVET A higher standard

The Girard company expects its new quality system certifications to bring in new business.
By CYNTHIA VINARSKY
VINDICATOR BUSINESS WRITER
GIRARD -- Four years after reopening their shuttered Harry Street manufacturing plant as an employee-owned company, the workers at Brainard Rivet have something else to brag about.
The rivet-making company has achieved two quality system certifications, which officials believe will have a dramatic, positive effect on the company's business.
Judy Volpe, general manager, said Brainard Rivet's certification to the QS-9000 and ISO 9002 International Quality System Standard marks the successful culmination of an 18-month effort involving all 31 employees.
Volpe, quality manager Scott Felger and information technology coordinator Joe Lamanna led the effort.
"What this means to me, is that we've proved that there's nothing this group of people can't do," Volpe said. "It means this 86-year-old company will still be around 86 years from now."
The process
The certification process involves putting together a detailed quality manual including written instructions for every production area, training employees in the system and creating an internal audit group.
Independent registrars then conduct a three-day audit to evaluate the system. It's not uncommon to discover several weak points during the audit, but the auditor evaluating Brainard Rivet found none. "That's unheard of in the industry," Volpe said.
The ISO 2000 certification is based on a world standard for quality systems, she said. The QS 900 certification is a more difficult standard that is becoming a requirement for second- and third-tier suppliers serving the Big Three domestic automakers.
New regulations issued in July require that any company doing business with an automaker must achieve at least the ISO certification by the end of the year, Volpe said, and that rule has many companies scrambling. Brainard Rivet was already well on its way in the certification process, so it was easily able to meet the deadline.
"We got a fair number of our old customers back when we reopened, but some of them wouldn't talk to us at all until we had our QS-9000 certification," she said. "This was a necessary step, and we did it because we wanted to, not because we had a gun to our head."
The company spent about $36,000 on consultants and manuals for the certification process, with about half paid by an Ohio Industrial Training grant from the Ohio Department of Development.
Company history
Brainard Rivet was earning average profits of $2 million annually in 1997 when its former owner, Rhode Island-based Textron, Inc., decided to relocate production to a Virginia plant. It moved the machinery out and closed in May of that year, leaving 68 people jobless.
Determined to keep the plant open, Brainard employees found Fasteners, an employee-owned company, which agreed to buy the plant as a wholly owned subsidiary. Since then, Volpe said, the company has invested nearly $2 million on new equipment since its reopening.
About 75 percent of Brainard's rivet business is with automotive and truck part manufacturers and distributors. The company also produces metal rivets for the furniture, farm, lawn and garden equipment and recreational vehicle industries.
vinarsky@vindy.com