Mitchell Mercer

Background

About Mitchell Mercer

20+ years of Process and Manufacturing experience in the Textile and Industrial Bearing businesses and now I primarily work in China on Quality Management Solutions! How’d that happen? After 16 years in the Textile Industry, I changed career direction and moved into the Industrial Bearing business as a Quality Manager where I was challenged to re-energize an existing Quality System for Industrial & Aerospace Bearings. Recognizing that I am not the traditional quality guy, I knew I didn’t want the traditional QM Systems I had used for years (the quality-cop-on-the-block mentality), so I created Quality Management Solutions that support and complement all functions – not just measure/monitor. In 2007, I was asked to join a corporate team tasked with deploying new facilities in China for Aerospace and Wind Energy. As Quality Work Stream Leader for this team, I knew I could do the job, but what about the travel; the language; … the food? Naturally, I accepted. Working 40% of each year in China has been the greatest experience! Coordinating new QM solutions into new plants with new teams that don’t understand western manufacturing is a challenge not easily described. Suffice it to say that explaining southern slang can take hours (“Y’all” means “all of you”, “Yes, Ma’am” is a term of respect, and “Fixin’ to” means “I am getting started”); so imagine trying to teach technical issues. The days are long and the challenges many. But we built, certified, and gained all corporate and customer approvals. I continue to support these plants as they grow. The technical and cultural challenges remain, but the results speak for themselves and I have been blessed with added responsibility for supporting other Chinese locations as well as India and Romania. The richness of these cultures has been a wonderful reward both professionally and personally and I established lifelong friendships with these teams. I cannot write about them all here, so also check out my blog link below.