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News | July 14, 2020

New training could benefit DCMA East employees

By Jason Kaneshiro DCMA Eastern Region

A newly developed hands-on workshop that supplements a standard computer-based training class is poised to enhance quality and process oversight at factories where welding occurs within Defense Contract Management Agency’s Eastern Region.

Eastern Region’s Quality Assurance Directorate established the computer-based welding training class for their quality assurance specialists to teach the basics of welding, including inspection.

The welding workshop raises the competencies of QAS’ through adding instruction on the specific mechanics of the planning and execution of a process review, hands-on training with gages, and additional instructor interaction.

Gary Fister, non-destructive test level 3 examiner, and Chuck Palmer, lead quality assurance specialist, coordinated with eastern region quality assurance leadership to enhance the welding skillset of the QA workforce.

“We are excited to get this initiative deployed to the field,” Fister said. “Through this curriculum, DCMA Eastern Region is enhancing our QAS’ competency in welding process oversight, for we owe it not only for the success of our mission but to those who protect our freedoms every day. Their equipment requires to be processed as designed to assure operability throughout its life cycle and it’s is part of our job to assure that expectation is achieved through effective process oversight.”

Patrick Cassidy, DCMA Hartford’s senior quality assurance specialist, said that the workshop was a great experience and reinforced the attention that QAS’ must pay to the intricate details during a welding inspection.

“I've been doing this for a while, but the class really got me to think in a more detailed way,” Cassidy said.

Since there are more than 200 QAS’ throughout DCMA Eastern Region that perform some kind of welding process oversight, more classes will be needed to reach everyone. The first workshops were held at DCMA Syracuse in March 2019 followed by a session at DCMA Hartford in April 2019. Ten additional workshops have been held throughout DCMA Eastern Region in 2019.