Addressing Waste: Interface's QUEST Program
Interface began the QUEST™ program in 1995 to engage our associates in identifying, measuring and eliminating waste in our manufacturing processes. As a result of their valuable suggestions to minimize material usage and improve the efficiency of our equipment and processes, QUEST has achieved a 50 percent reduction in waste cost per unit, resulting in $372 million in avoided waste costs to date.
QUEST follows three principles: identifying every possible waste stream; developing methods to eliminate this waste; and, then, measuring the savings. QUEST is an overarching model of employee engagement around the issue of waste reduction. It creates focused and innovative cross-functional teams of 15 to 18 employees throughout the world brought together with a shared goal. Rather than holding each facility accountable to generic guidelines for the QUEST program, individual Interface facilities are encouraged to discover waste reduction processes and approaches that are unique to their location.
Perhaps the most markedly innovative aspect of QUEST is how broadly waste is defined – that is,
any cost that does not produce value to customers. As you might expect, this includes scrap materials and defective product, but it also includes process waste, such as a misdirected shipment or an incorrect invoice. As the program continued, definitions of waste evolved and now extend past our own production procedures to consider our entire supply chain. Interface requests that all suppliers minimize their packaging and, where possible, the company reclaims packaging from customers for onsite recycling. Where waste cannot be avoided, Interface will look to find other uses for it, either within existing internal processes or by recycling it for re-use by other organizations.