Jessica Castillo, Human Resources Business Partner
This month, the North American Operations column would like to highlight the Incoming and Final Inspection team at Mini-Circuits’ Florida location in Hialeah. This department was established in the last quarter of 2022, thanks to the hard work provided by team members as well as leadership. Over the years, Mini-Circuits Florida has had to pull a selection of raw materials to send to headquarters in Brooklyn, New York so that Incoming Inspection can evaluate the materials received and approve them for production.
As you can imagine, this was a process in and of itself and would delay the start of production because of the time it took for the raw materials to travel to and from locations. However, with the expansion of the Mini-Circuits Florida office thanks to the efforts of Rose Morgan, Incoming Materials Manager, Elkhan Meirov, VP of North American Operations, and the rest of the Florida team, the idea came about for the facility to house its own Incoming and Final Inspection department. With approximately 50,000 square feet to work with, the building was more than capable of handling the addition.
The Florida team was fortunate that one of Mini-Circuits’ team members from the Brooklyn headquarters, Raquel Duenas Sanchez, was offered the opportunity to be transferred to the Florida location to lead alongside John Alize, the QA Inspection Supervisor for this project. Thanks to Raquel’s background knowledge in receiving, documentation and extensive training provided by Rose Morgan, she was able to launch the Incoming Inspection department as envisioned.
With this new department in house, Mini-Circuits Florida has now decreased lead time and increased efficiency to start production sooner. The facility now receives raw materials, inspects them, tests them, and packages them to be stocked in Florida’s warehouse. This also saved the company from potential delays and drastically reduced logistical cost of the raw materials being sent to the Brooklyn headquarters and back. In addition, this assisted with better distribution of the workload amongst the Incoming Inspection team at headquarters and Raquel’s team in Florida.
Alongside the Incoming Inspection department, the Final Inspection team was created, comprised of Jacqueline Brea, Mildred Gonzalez, and Maria Abreu. This group of ladies is responsible for inspecting and packing all the kits that are finalized by production before being sent to headquarters and customers. It is basically 3 departments converted into one. Before, the three different major production cells in Florida had its own final inspection and packing department. Now, with the expansion of the Mini-Circuits Florida facility, one final inspection department belongs to all 3 production cells, making the process more lean, efficient, and productive.
While this department is a new addition to Mini-Circuits Florida, it has brought many benefits, including a reduction in found defects that would otherwise be found by the team at headquarters. The new department has also aided in reducing the amount of time it would’ve taken to receive feedback on the items sent. This department, while still relatively new, is expected to grow and help increase the number of finished goods that are produced, inspected, packed, and shipped to customer. Overall, the team at Mini-Circuits Florida has achieved great results and its future is looking very bright.
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