ASCOlectric, QMI's First Customer in 1983, Continues to See Benefit of Management System Registration
CSA Group granted CSA Z299.4-1979 certification to ASCOlectric on June 3, 1983, thereby creating ASCOlectric as QMI's first customer when CSA Group created the QMI division in 1984. The company split into ASCO Valve Canada and ASCO Power Technologies Canada in 2001. Both companies are subsidiaries of Emerson Industrial Automation, but they hold one ISO 9001 certificate and one quality registrar of choice: QMI.
When the company began in 1888, ASCO (Automatic Switch Company) manufactured controls for an emerging technology, the elevator. In the 1920s, the company name began manufacturing solenoid valves, according to Bill Loftus, a Supervisor of Engineering Services and 36-year employee.
"Today, ASCO is synonymous with solenoid valve and synonymous with quality," said Loftus. "There are as many people involved with quality as there are employees," said Loftus. "We've got about 100 employees now and every individual is told that they are the one that controls the final quality of our product."
ASCO had instilled quality standards before third party registrars and standards existed, insisted Loftus. In the beginning, engineers applied "good judgment to meet the needs of customers." When standards and codes emerged, ASCO engineers and its senior leadership worked with code-writing agencies to share knowledge and spearhead product research and development.
With the widest customer base in its industry, the ASCOlectric provided independent quality auditors with field experience.
ASCOlectric President J. Hans Kluge was an instrumental force behind the CSA Z299 standard, which provided customers with independent evidence of contract compliance and nonconforming products or services. Kluge, a board member of CSA, later became the company's president and chief executive officer.
"As a medium-size company, we simply had to get involved in the process of trying to influence the writing of standards, and of understanding what the issues really are," said Kluge. "If you are not involved in standards or standards-setting, you will be left outside and the competition will run away with your business."
Loftus said that Verma Mani was the first QMI auditor assigned to ASCOlectric. "Starting with Verma, QMI has always sent us excellent personalities over the years and it's always been easy to work with them. They're always professional and concentrate on the task at hand.
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