Page 5 - Demo

Slippery rock Gazette
2019 CALL FOR ENTRIES
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R ALL AWARDS
Pioneer Award
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JULY 20
Pinnacle Awards
Tucker Design Awards
For more information visit www.naturalstoneinstitute.org/awards.
Training & Education
Quality at the Source:
Do you want to improve the quality of your product? This is how to do it.
The mentality of each and every operation in a business must be that the product cannot move to the next step unless it is within the quality toler- ances established by the company. This means that every operations employee should be held accountable for their own quality and should be responsible to their down- stream “customer” before any piece can move.
Final inspection alone of the finished product will not suffice to achieve excellent quality.
The quality of the prod- uct must be the responsi- bility of each employee who works on the job. It
Ed Hill
Synchronous Solutions
is important for the busi- ness owners to establish and maintain this principle within the company.
A personal signature should be required on the paperwork and/or on the actual piece indicating that each production operator at every step has confirmed that the product is within tolerance. The personal signature will add to the level of accountability and will help to ensure that er- rors are not compounded by
additional labor on a piece that may not meet the standards. The objective should be to find errors before they are moved through the manufactur- ing process.
No piece should be worked on unless it has a signature from the pre- ceding operator indicating that the quality has been checked.
Any production opera- tor who notices an error should be authorized (and encouraged) to stop the movement of that piece to ensure that the error will be corrected. Job descriptions should be available for all jobs to ensure that the de- sired method is followed.
Please turn to page 6
“Quality is not an act, it is a habit.”
July 2019|5 Natural Stone Institute Completes
22nd Home with Gary Sinise Foundation
The Natural Stone Institute has pro- vided natural stone and fabrication ser- vices for its 22nd home with the Gary Sinise Foundation’s R.I.S.E. program (Restoring Independence Supporting Empowerment). The R.I.S.E. program builds specially adapted smart homes for severely wounded veterans and first responders. To date, Natural Stone Institute members have been involved in twenty-two completed homes.
Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) (SOAR(A)) in 1997. On May 31, 2008, while con- ducting operations in Iraq, Gary’s helicopter suffered a catastrophic mechani- cal failure. The helicopter crash-landed, injuring Gary severely. Medics evacu- ated him to Germany for a spine stabilization surgery and treatment took him from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, to the Tampa VA Hospital and finally the Shepherd Center in Georgia. His broken back paralyzed Gary from
Laura Grandlienard (ROCKin’teriors), chair of the Natural Stone Institute R.I.S.E. committee said: “Being involved with the R.I.S.E. program enables our industry to take a lead- ership role in supporting these veterans and their families who have endured so much to protect our freedoms. We feel tremen- dous pride in sharing our talents for such an import- ant cause. It’s a beautiful feeling to say ‘welcome home’ to these heroes.”
Fifty-one Natural Stone Institute members have
Gary and Mari Linfoot and their new R.I.S.E. Foundation program home.
Natural stone and fab- rication for US Army Chief Warrant Officer 5 Gary Linfoot (Ret.) and his family in Tennessee were provided by Northern Stone Supply, Triton Stone Group, and Smokey Mountain Tops, in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Gary Linfoot enlisted in the Army Reserve after graduating high school in the hopes of becom- ing a helicopter pilot. After attending Flight School and graduating a Warrant Officer in 1990, he joined the Army’s elite 160th Special
the waist down. After three months of recovery, Gary returned home to a very new kind of life.
Gary and his wife Mari have raised three children over their 26-year mar- riage. They fight to over- come Gary’s disability together and have had re- markable success. Wearing an exoskeleton suit, Gary walked his oldest daughter Allysa down the aisle on her wedding day in 2016, and he currently works as a helicopter simulator in- structor pilot with the 160th SOAR(A) at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
donated their time, products, and services to this cause since 2016. Find the list of all donors at www.natural stoneinstitute.org/RISE .
Stone companies interested in getting involved with future projects are encouraged to contact Pam Hammond at pam@natural stoneinstitute.org.
The Natural Stone Institute is a trade association representing every aspect of the natural stone industry. The current membership exceeds 2,000 members in over 50 nations. Learn more at www.natural stoneinstitute.org.