~ Allan Owens rejoins Pailton Engineering as quality manager ~
Steering systems specialist, Pailton Engineering, has hired Allan Owens as its new quality manager. Allan is returning to the company for a second time, having previously occupied the position of senior customer quality engineer from 2014 to 2019. He comes to his new role with over 25 years’ experience and is part of a culture shift around quality control.
Pailton Engineering is modernising its approach to quality control. Whereas traditionally, quality control was predominantly about inspecting and discovering problems or faults after they occurred, Allan is a representative of a more forward-thinking philosophy. Under his purview, quality control will be built into processes from the outset, with the idea of eliminating errors from the process.
In driving this culture change, Allan will be drawing on many years of experience as a quality engineer. He spent over nine years as quality engineer at Mayflower Vehicle Systems, then a further nine years as senior quality engineer at Covpress Limited. His previous stint at Pailton Engineering will allow him to slot into his new role seamlessly.
Allan is also schooled in Six Sigma process improvement methodologies and is a keen practitioner of Hoshin Kanri strategic planning. In addition to his experience and training, his enthusiasm for driving change will be a key asset.
Allan has ambitious goals for Pailton Engineering. World-class parts suppliers would typically expect to produce less than 25 defects per million parts. Allan’s target is to get that figure down to zero. His approach is focused on the customer.
‘My previous role as senior customer quality engineer has given me useful experience. Improving things for the customer will be at the centre of my approach,’ reflected Allan. However, he has the experience to know that achieving his aims will require everyone working together. ‘Quality is everyone’s responsibility’.
Commenting on the appointment, head of engineering and quality Nick Jordan welcomed Allan’s return: ‘It’s great to see Allan back and relishing his new role. He knows the company and the industry inside out, so is the perfect person to drive culture change and help place quality control at the heart of everything we do.’
Pailton Engineering supplies bespoke steering parts for heavy vehicles including buses, commercial vehicles and military vehicles. To find out more, visit pailton.com
