The Shop Floor, Top Floor Talk Show: Casual Convos with Manufacturing Pros
Manufacturing leaders face daily challenges—from quality pressures to efficiency demands. This show brings real conversations from those who've solved these problems.
But behind every high-performing plant are leaders solving big problems with innovative strategies, transformative technologies, and counter-intuitive approaches that challenge the status quo.
In each episode, you'll hear candid conversations with manufacturing professionals sharing their unique perspectives on top-of-mind topics and actionable advice you can apply immediately.
Walk away with actionable ideas and new perspectives on continuous improvement, from people who truly understand your daily challenges.
The Shop Floor, Top Floor Talk Show: Casual Convos with Manufacturing Pros
From Police Force to Partner: Transforming Quality Culture
Quality departments often get viewed as the company police force, creating tension and conflict across manufacturing organizations. In this episode of Shop Floor, Top Floor Talk Show, host Josh Santo speaks with Steve Povenz, former Director of Quality at Shape, who breaks down why this perception develops and how to fix it.
Steve explains the root causes behind adversarial quality relationships. Competing metrics between departments create natural conflicts. When manufacturing gets measured solely on throughput while quality focuses on corrective actions, teams work against each other instead of together. Poor engagement from quality professionals who stay at their desks rather than on the shop floor makes the problem worse.
Steve demonstrates how vulnerability creates partnership. He transformed a struggling plant by telling the operations manager that her problems became his problems. Steve joined every safety investigation and improvement effort, proving quality adds value beyond finding problems. The partnership delivered a 60% drop in customer incidents and major cost reductions.
