At Reata Engineering, quality assurance isn’t limited to inspection at the end of production. It’s woven into every step of our operation.
From quoting to shipping, quality is a mindset, a process, and a commitment shared across the entire company. We don’t view quality as a box to check, but rather as an opportunity to collaborate and deliver better outcomes for our customers. By integrating quality into every phase of our workflow, we’re able to strike the right balance between precision, efficiency, compliance, and service, based specifically on what our customers value most.
Quality Starts at Quoting
At our Colorado machine shop, many of our projects begin with prototypes or first-run components. From the instant we begin inspecting RFQs that come to us through our secure quoting platform, our quality team collaborates with engineering and production to interpret intentions that may not be clearly defined in the print. This is Reata’s design for manufacturing expertise in action, performed proactively from the very beginning.
We don’t just ask, “Can we make this?” We ask, “Can we make it reliably, inspect it properly, and ensure it performs as expected?” This is especially imperative for challenging industries like aerospace and medical machining, where the consequences of poor communication can be dire.
Quality Is a Full-Team Effort
We pride ourselves on being a collaborative precision machine shop. Our machinists and quality personnel don’t work in siloes; they work side by side, ensuring quality checkpoints are embedded into the workflow.
For instance, when a new part hits the floor, our quality team verifies everything from material traceability to tooling readiness. This ensures our machining operations produce results that meet the high-precision requirements our customers expect.
Inspection Is Communicating, Not Policing
Our quality department is there to support our teams, not make a mountain out of a molehill. If a machinist hits a snag, our quality professionals are there to help troubleshoot and find a solution together. It’s not about assigning blame; it’s about understanding the root cause of issues and determining how we can implement better processes going forward. We often assist in benchmarking in manufacturing industry settings by documenting solutions within our ERP system. This creates a communication loop that empowers our team to track what was done, why it was done, and how to replicate success in future runs.
Tools that Match Our Commitment to Quality Assurance
Being an ISO 13485-certified machine shop, we maintain a comprehensive arsenal of metrology equipment. But sometimes, unique parts call for specialty gauges. When that happens, our team acts fast to ensure we can still inspect and verify every feature to spec.
Partnering with Customers for the Best Results
At Reata, we believe that our services are most successful when customers are part of the process.
In many cases, we find the best results come when customers engage directly with our team. When questions arise, we invite those conversations. In fact, we’re willing to coordinate on-site visits to problem-solve directly with customers as needed.
One standout example of this happened when a customer brought us prints with sparse details. Instead of taking our best guess, we contacted the customers and had a conversation about the part’s intended function and application. From there, we collaborated with the customer to finalize functional features and tolerances. That open communication ensured a successful outcome and a stronger partnership going forward.
Our collaborative approach to quality assurance is especially important when performance failures occur despite the parts matching the prints. When something is awry through no fault of our own, other machine shops might throw up their hands and say “not our problem.” But not Reata. We investigate the failure and collaborate directly with the customer to improve the part together.
Quality Assurance Is Built into Everything
From quoting to delivery, quality is a company-wide commitment. It’s not just a department or a phase of production; it’s a critical part of our culture. By treating quality as a shared responsibility, we ensure that every project meets the highest standards of performance and reliability.
Whether you require first-run components or legacy parts, you can count on Reata Engineering to deliver precision and trust. Request a quote from our precision machine shop today!