Since beginning work with GaMEP, Ingevity has:
- Certified to the IATF16949:2016 Standard
- Completed the certification within the 24-month period required by their customers, which was 12 months quicker than previous implementation requests.
- Expanded their production capabilities to meet new customer demands, going from 50 to 250 employees.
Ingevity Corporation provides specialty chemicals, high-performance carbon materials and engineered polymers that purify, protect, and enhance the world around us. Through a team of talented and experienced people, Ingevity develops, manufactures, and brings to market products and processes that help customers solve complex problems. These products are used in a variety of demanding applications, including asphalt paving, oil exploration and production, agrochemicals, adhesives, lubricants, publication inks, coatings, elastomers, bioplastics and automotive components that reduce gasoline vapor emissions. Specifically, the company’s plant in Waynesboro, Georgia, makes a carbon honeycomb filter used to collect automotive gas emissions within a vehicle and reuse them, rather than release them into the atmosphere.
Over the course of more than ten years, the Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership (GaMEP) at Georgia Tech has worked with Ingevity on projects ranging from process improvement to project management.
In 2016, after a series of automotive recalls (unrelated to Ingevity) the entire industry worked to improve quality standards. Many automotive OEMs began to require new certifications for companies in their supply chain. Even though Ingevity already had a quality management system in place and was certified to ISO 9001 and its automotive supplement, TS16949, the company needed to certify to the new, more stringent automotive- quality standard, IATF16949:2016, by September 2018, to maintain its customer base.
In addition, due to changes in Environmental Protection Agency emission regulations for vehicles sold in the United States, the company’s product was suddenly in high demand among many automotive manufacturers. Because of this, the company was simultaneously in a period of tremendous growth and expansion and many of the staff members who would have been tasked with implementing the new quality system were already working on other projects.
Chuck Sabo, quality systems manager, quickly realized that his team needed some help and reached out to Elliot Price, Augusta Region Manager, who connected them with a GaMEP project manager and quality management system expert, Ade Shitta-Bey.
Sabo said, “We have a longstanding relationship with Elliot and GaMEP. They are not only experts at what they do, but their mission is to see Georgia manufacturers thrive. I knew working with Elliot and his team would help us get the project done quickly and cost effectively.”
Shitta-Bey completed an executive overview of the new standard with the company and then worked with members of the implementation team one-on-one, to help them better understand the new requirements and apply them to their product and facility. In addition, she worked with the team to update their processes to meet the standard.
Sabo said, “Working with Ade was not only necessary to get the job done on time, but was also a wonderful experience. She is passionate and dedicated to quality. Her enthusiasm gets people excited and helps them to understand how important it is to not only put the system in place, but to stick to it day in and day out.”
The project culminated in the company’s successful transition to IATF16949:2016 within a few months of the work they completed with Shitta-Bey. These certifications allowed the company to maintain supply to their customers while also making their processes more efficient.
Sabo said, “Working with GaMEP was critical to our success in meeting the certification deadline while at the same time enabling us to continue our plant expansion.”
