In business for over 80 years, Boddingtons continues to invest in the successive generations coming forward. Over the past thirty years matters of Quality and Quality Assurance have come to separate the leading moulders from the pack.
We talked to Alex Grindley, Age 23, about his work in this important area at the company.
Alex – welcome to the website blog. Firstly, what prior work and experience equipped you for your current role at Boddingtons?
I qualified as a Quality Technician through an apprenticeship scheme achieving a Level 3 advanced apprenticeship in Mechanical Engineering whilst gaining experience in the quality field in my role as a Quality Technician for an Engineering Company manufacturing metal, plastics and composite products for the Aerospace & Automotive sectors.
And now?
The skills gained and applied to my role at Boddingtons include Manual and CNC Metrology, Problem Solving Techniques, Inspection Techniques, Technical Document Writing and Quality Systems Management.
A typical day in the Boddingtons Quality Department might include monitoring the cleanroom activities including sterility, environmental monitoring and product testing. I also actively help to resolve supplier quality issues, internal quality issues and any customer issues of the day.
In addition to the above, I support New Product Introduction and Validation (IQ,OQ,PQ & PPAP) which includes Dimensional Inspection, Capability Analysis, DOE, Gauge R&R. I am also involved in the creation of training material for SOPs and Product Specific and regularly roll out the training to all functions in the business.
How does Boddingtons enable you to do what you do?
Firstly, the renowned team spirit is fantastic here. It gives me opportunity to learn and develop and I also enjoy seeing projects delivered successfully with recognition for the effort put in. The recently launched £4.6m facility is also very inspiring and promises great growth ahead.
Qualifications and training is important in my area and I am currently working towards the Chartered Quality Institute qualification with a planned completion by July 2018.
Short-term I will be attending a 2 day BS EN ISO 9001 Internal Auditor Training Course in October. In particular, this will help me to identify improvement opportunities within the business.
What’s next?
I am particularly interested in developing my understanding of BS EN ISO 13485:2016, BESEN ISO 9001:2015 and all applicable and related regulations. I would like to progress in the Quality Team to Quality Engineer and beyond. I am also very interested in new technology such as automated inspection and test equipment, understanding how this can be applied within Boddingtons to enhance product quality and business efficiencies.
Thanks for your time Alex – good luck in the work ahead!
