Once you have the appropriate standards and specifications in place for steel pole and tower manufacturing, and you’ve issued your RFI/RFP, it’s time to audit your prospective vendors.
Why Complete Vendor Audits?
Most steel pole and lattice tower vendors have robust quality manuals with well documented procedures. But all too often, those practices are not followed on the shop floor. Whether it’s due to cut corners to hit production targets or gaps in training new employees, deviations from those documented best practices lead to significant quality issues. The result? Weakness and potential failure are built into your infrastructure assets before they leave the factory floor. In over 100 previous audits of utility and lighting structure vendors, we’ve noticed serious quality issues in the following critical areas:
- Equipment Setup and Calibration
- Inspection Practices
- Training Records
- Welding and Fabrication (MAJOR RISK AREA)
When you partner with Exo for a vendor audit, we go to the factory and interview their team. We review all documentation and written procedures to make sure that they are in accordance with current codes, standards, and specifications necessary for a well-built asset. And because codes can sometimes be slow to catch up to current issues, Exo takes a step further and audits to the highest standards of industry best practices that we know are causing major field issues in the industry today. We know where to look and the right questions to ask to understand the true quality performance of a potential fabricator.
As our client, you’ll get a detailed account of the true quality of the product coming out of a facility. We audit multiple qualified vendors so you can compare them side-by-side for a clear understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of each vendor. Since we have thoroughly canvassed the market in North America, you can compare your vendor(s) against the whole industry. We know what to look for in a steel pole and tower manufacturer because our team includes people experienced in designing and building poles and towers for the utility and lighting industry. No one else brings that level of experience to the table. Trust the Exo difference.
