The drive for higher quality never ends at Revology

Quality matters to everyone at Revology Cars, especially Charles Hopewell. As quality manager at the Orlando-based maker of reproduction original Ford Mustangs, Hopewell’s mission is to raise Revology’s quality standards to new heights.

With over two decades experience managing quality for suppliers to big automakers such as GM, Ford, Mercedes and Toyota, Hopewell is well equipped for the challenge. “I am here at Revology to implement the best practices in quality control you would see at a Tier 1 or 2 supplier and an OEM like Toyota,” says Hopewell.

The idea is to bring data driven oversight to the Revology production process, which is largely manual rather than automated. “I have come from a high volume manufacturing environment to a low volume company but with high complexity,” says Hopewell. “It means I have a larger scope of work, but the underlying processes to achieve OEM level quality do not change.”

At Revology, Hopewell notes that the steps to assemble a car – assembly process manuals – were already in place. What was needed was a set of controls to ensure not just that the correct steps were taken, but that they executed with quality in mind. “It’s about process controls and not just performing a process,” Hopewell notes.

Some examples, says Hopewell, include using witness marks to ensure engine mount bolts are torqued to the correct specification, and creating a gap gauge to confirm that panel gaps are correct and consistent.

A further element of the quality process is risk assessment, a process of evaluating the relative problems caused by improperly followed assembly procedures. Hopewell has formed cross functional teams to help identify potential issues by bringing in observations from various team members. “This helps us catch issues that we might not be aware of and prevent them going forward.”

Hopewell points out that quality problems have a cost that can be tracked. “For instance, how much rework time are we putting into the process? Our steps can reduce the cost of poor quality.”

“At Revology Cars, quality starts with our customers,” says Tom Scarpello, Revology’s Founder and CEO.  “We work closely with our customers to understand what is relevant and meaningful to them, so we know exactly what we need to deliver.  From there, it is all about repeatability.  When we control the process, we control the outcome, thus achieving consistent quality.”

“Quality management is a never ending process,” adds Hopewell. “We will continually look for opportunities to make the quality level better and improve the efficiency of Revology Cars.”