WINTER 2025

30THE DISTRIBUTOR’S

30THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINKRob LaPointe EXPEDITE TESTING SERVICERob LaPointe is a noted authority in materials and fastener technology. With extensive experience in themanagement and science of materials testing laboratories combined with master’s degrees in physics andeducation, he excels at bringing solutions to the client. Working specifically in the fastener testing industry,he has developed expertise in mechanical, nondestructive, metallurgical and chemical testing. With abackground of 20 years in physics education, Rob is effective at communicating complex ideas in a simpleand understandable manner, communicating well with clients enabling them to make informed decisionsabout their products and business. Rob is President/CEO of Expedite Testing Service, 11645 Riverside Drive,Suite 127, Lakeside, CA 92040. Tel: 619-736-7872, Cell: 909-254-1278 or visit www.expeditetest.com.FASTENER SCIENCE:BASIC INSPECTION FOR QUALITY CONTROLAs a fastener distributor, knowingthat the parts you supply to yourcustomer are correct in both form andfunction is essential to your business’reputation and success. A simple andinexpensive quality control inspectionstation can greatly reduce the risk ofpassing a vendor’s error on to yourcustomer. Setting up a basic qualitycontrol inspection station is simple andinexpensive, but the reward for implementing the systemwill have a big payoff.Risk is something all businesses must face. Whenwe identify and understand these risks, we can developand implement mitigation procedures to minimize them.Risk mitigation is the cornerstone of quality managementsystems such as ISO 9001, which require a procedure forinspecting and approving the receiving of products thatwill be sold to your customer as well as supplies thatwill be used to produce products you sell. Even if yourcompany does not have a quality management system,product inspection is one simple and effective mitigationprocedure that you can adopt.Every good procedure can be described by a flow chartthat distills all the steps in the procedure down to a listof simple events that happen in a particular sequence.Inspection of items received from a vendor should beat the end of a procurement procedure. It might looksomething like Table 1.If receiving the order from the vendor does not involveTECHNICAL ARTICLETABLE 1 SIMPLIFIED PROCUREMENT FLOWCHARTan inspection to verify if the correct product or supplieswere received, a vendor’s error will likely be passed on toyour customer. As you can imagine, this is not good. Eventhe best suppliers will occasionally make mistakes andsend you the wrong items. It is always up to the receiverof the items to verify their correctness. Do not skip thisstep. It is necessary and never a waste of time.Small companies do not typically have a full-time qualitymanager whose responsibility might be to set up andoperate a receiving inspection station. It is not necessaryto have a full-time staff member for this activity. Anyonein the company can learn to use measuring tools andto follow a procedure for receipt inspection of products.It’s that simple. And it’s not expensive either. A budgetof a few hundred to a few thousand dollars will provideall the tools needed to properly inspect products forconformance to purchase order requirements.Let’s set up a small inspection station and supply itwith some basic tools to inspect fastener products forresale.CONTINUED ON PAGE 100