Throughout its 60-year history, Kesla’s products have been renowned for their excellent quality. However, maintaining and improving quality requires continuous hard work. As part of its quality effort, Kesla is investing in a recently commissioned test centre.
The new test centre enables wide-ranging testing of products and components because, in addition to the traditional measuring and testing tools, it includes items such as hydraulic power units for operability testing. Operational testing of the products will continue to be done during the manufacturing process in production. On the other hand, the centre will focus on inspecting subcontracted components, testing components subject to complaints, diagnosing root causes for problems and refurbishing products.
The test centre is located in Joensuu, which is the main base of the company’s resources for product development, quality and after-sales marketing.
High-quality components are the starting point
Kesla’s operations are steered by the ISO 9001 quality certificate and the ISO3834-2 welding certificate. Most of the components are supplied by the company’s factory in Ilomantsi, but a significant number of components are also supplied by other subcontractors. The subcontractors are expected to meet the same quality standards. An important part of the test centre’s operations is quality control of the supplied components.
“Quality control is carried out in the centre but also in the reception of goods. Everyone working there is also a trained inspector,” says Reijo Tuononen, After-Sales Manager at Kesla. “Any deficiencies found in the inspection phase improve the quality of KESLA products, thus reducing complaint-related costs and increasing customer satisfaction.”
In cases of complaints, the relevant component is tested in the test centre. If necessary, the entire batch is subjected to inspection. Besides testing, the expertise of product designers and after-sales marketing personnel is tapped into in the process.
“The goal of both Kesla and our suppliers is to ensure high quality that meets our customers’ needs. We are happy to receive feedback and suggestions for improvement and we take these very seriously,” says Quality Manager Tero Tanskanen. “We must have the necessary prerequisites for success – we do not take chances.”
Kesla has made significant investments in the quality of its products in recent years. Therefore, each product to be launched needs to have a quality management plan that predetermines the allowed variance in quality and testing targets. These are based on identified risks and the management of residual risks.
The test centre provides operational opportunities for after-sales marketing as well
The facilities of the test centre are well suited to refurbishing individual components in cases where this is reasonable. Refurbishing individual machines and implementing system updates are also possible in the facilities.
“For example, if there is a suspicion that the unusual operation of a crane is caused by insufficient oil flow from the base machine, the same crane can be connected to the test centre’s hydraulics. If the crane operates well at that point, we can clearly establish that the oil flow from the base machine is not sufficient,” says Receiving Inspector Pasi Sormunen.
After-Sales Manager Reijo Tuononen says that the facilities are excellent for training sessions as well.
Kesla believes that strong investments in quality development will be worth the effort in the long run. The customer is at the heart of everything and we believe in Finnish work. And so do our customers, regardless of their nationality.
After-Sales Manager Reijo Tuononen (left) and Receiving Inspector Pasi Sormunen are satisfied with the new test centre.