Quality Magazine - March 2009 - (Page 49) 1 Nuclear Filter Technology Golden, CO Nuclear Filter Technology (NucFil) was founded more than 20 years ago. Today, the manufacturing company provides packaging, shielding and characterization technologies for ventilation, storage, transportation and disposal of radioactive and mixed waste. “We are a provider of vents for the department of energy for nuclear waste containers. Also, we provide nuclear containment devices for a lot of the DOE sites across the country,” Curtis Marks, quality control manager at NucFil, explains. In addition, Marks says, NucFil is currently trying to move into the nuclear energy field, working with private companies in the United States. The company is an approved supplier to many DOE facilities, including Argonne National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories. NucFil, a small company of less than 40 employees, prides itself on being ANSI/ASME Nuclear Quality Assurance-1 (NQA-1) compliant. The company’s quality program, which consists of three team members currently, gets audited half a dozen times a year to ensure compliance—something NucFil has achieved for close to the past 15 years, according to Marks. As part of that compliance, the manufacturer keeps strict control of material traceability and all of its processes. Such compliance remains a large focus at NucFil. “We do lots of sampling of inline products. We also do material traceability of just about everything we bring in as far as raw materials; we do third-party testing of it to maintain the quality of the raw stock that we receive,” Marks says. In addition, employees are qualified and compliant with ASNT TC-1A NucFil provides ventilation for flammable gas mixtures in nuclear waste containers. Source: Nuclear Filter Technology training for any nondestructive examinations performed at the plant. Training is a priority at the company and all training records are kept up to date, according to Marks. For more information, visit www.nucfi l.com. 2 American IV Products Inc. Harmans, MD American IV Products Inc. (AIV) was founded in the 1980s, says Bob Rogers, director of operations and quality assurance at the company. Initially, AIV made a name for itself supporting medical facilities by refurbishing and reselling kidney dialysis machines. In 2003, AIV branched into the world market with its fi rst repair service sales in Europe. Today, AIV provides patient care solutions to the global medical community in more than 30 countries by offering replacement parts and patient monitoring accessories, including cardiac monitors and fetal monitor transducers, ECG cables and temperature probes, and medical device repair services. AIV places an emphasis on one of its mottos: Focusing on supporting medical facilities around the world with engineered and manufactured replacement parts, accessories and specialized repair services. The company aims to reduce total cost of ownership of patient care equipment by offering its customers cost-effective alternatives to replace original equipment manufacturers’ accessories. The company has been ISO 9001: 2000 certified since March 2004. That same year, AIV registered to ISO 13485—the international standard for medical device manufacturers and the highest level of ISO recognition for medical device manufacturers. AIV also is registered with the Food and Drug Administration as a medical device manufacturer. AIV manufactures fetal monitoring transducers, in addition to other patient monitoring accessories and infusion pumps for the medical industry. Source: American IV Products Inc. With just less than 50 employees and four dedicated quality team members, AIV puts its focus on the details, according to Rogers. “It comes down to our attention to detail. We’re not afraid to spend the money to put the proper systems in place, because we know it’s going to pay for itself in the long run. Our customers know that if they get something from us, it’s going to last and they’re not going to have to turn around and send it back to us. I think that speaks volumes,” Rogers says. That attention to detail comes from a belief in the importance of employee training, which includes off-site ASQ training and on-site training throughout the year. For more information, visit www.aiv-inc.com. www.qualitymag.com March 2009 | QUALITY 49 http://www.nucfil.com http://www.aiv-inc.com http://www.qualitymag.com
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