A working day…

Q. What in your background prepared you for your current role?

Having a background in international business, I like to take solutions from different countries and plants and to share best practices. I see a lot of companies trying to streamline best practices and improve product conformity, and we have a perfect solution for that.

Q. What do you think is the biggest issue facing the quality control and testing industry and why?

We often hear quality and operations teams talk about the challenges of finding people to fill positions on the floor and in technical roles. Labour seems to continue to be a challenge that pressures more people to wear many hats and sometimes fill roles, without the required technical skills or backgrounds. Turnover adds an additional layer of challenges as many people have moved companies, industries or retired. This puts additional pressure on quality to build consistency and meet challenges with experience and microbial or engineering knowledge.

Q. How has the industry changed since you joined QualiTru and in what manner?

Over the last eight years, I’ve heard many comment on loss of expertise as many seasoned technical expertise. We also see more automation. There are fewer people on the floor and more robots. Last, QualiTru has expanded its focus from final product inspection to a more thorough inspection of the process and with understanding equipment hygiene with new technologies.

Q. What do you consider your greatest achievement/challenge?

We provide a sampling solution into 30 countries today and have introduced ten new distribution partners over the last three years. I’m really proud of the partnerships we’ve developed, which provide technical support in plants and for farms to improve their milk quality with better sample data. This also includes industry partners such as Bentley, BioMeriuex and Campden, for example, which are all aligned with our company’s mission to improve milk quality.

Q. What does a typical day look like for you?

Some days are spent on the road travelling with partners in the passenger seat to visit plants and learn about their process monitoring issues, and others may be spending an afternoon troubleshooting a quality issue, supporting product development efforts with the team or developing a new training program for sample collectors.

Q. Outside of work, what are your hobbies/interests?

I enjoy hiking with my family and cooking for friends.