Quality Control Checklist mobile app gives Airstream automated uniform checklists

Airstream is an iconic American brand and longest standing provider of travel coaches in the United States. Founded by Wally Byam in 1931, the company designs and builds its popular recreational vehicles in its Jackson, Ohio manufacturing facility. Airstream currently employs more than 800 people, providing vehicles throughout the US, UK and Europe, and even to NASA to transport astronauts to the launch pad.

Key issues: 

• Logging of issues with pen and paper slowed the final inspection process 
• Lack of uniform inspection criteria made it more difficult to train new inspectors 
• Quality sampling for reporting purposes was limited to about 10% 
• Reporting of quality assurance data to the production team took about a week

- Eric Clinton, Quality Assurance Manager, Airstream 

The challenge 

Known for its high quality and distinctive style, Airstream was highly protective of its processes, including detailed final inspection of every luxury coach. Until recently, this meant maintaining the same manual workflow that had been used since the company’s inception. This involved an associate inspecting each coach with a clipboard and pen, writing down issues to be addressed by production before shipping to the customer. Over the years, however, company growth made this manual operation inefficient, delaying reports to production managers and limiting quality sampling to about 10% over the course of a week. The team needed a system that increased productivity in the quality assurance process without compromising its focus on exceptional craftsmanship. 

The solution 

After research and consideration, Airstream chose Hexagon's digital transformation solutions to transform its quality assurance process. Customised by Airstream, Hexagon's Quality Control Checklist solutions digitalised Airstreams processes, giving inspectors an automated, uniform checklist that applies the same criteria to every coach, every time. The app is also easy to use and train, making it easier to onboard even beginner technology users. With the app, Airstream has simplified and shortened the entire quality inspection workflow.  

Faster, automated inspection process 

• Uniform checklist for every inspector 
• Easy-to-learn, intuitive mobile interface 
• Decreased reporting time from a week to one day 
• Increased sampling from 10% to 100% 
• Reduced use of paper for the inspection process 
• Access granular data to minimise the cost of poor quality 
• Real-time notifications of events 
• Generate instant internal and external feedback loops 

- Airstream