I hold an Industrial Technology Associates Degree form the University of Toledo and have completed 125 hours towards a bachelor of Business Administration degree. Additionally, throughout my career I have participated in numerous continuing education seminars including Statistical Process Control, PPAP & GP-11 submission training, Geometric Dimensioning & Tolerancing and ISO 9000 auditor training.

I have been employed at the Pilkington Company (formally Libbey Owens Ford Co.) for 37 years during which time I have continually worked in the area of Quality Assurance. Until 1988 I worked at the Rossford Plant and at various times worked itís the Wareroom, Tank, Edging, and Bending Departments. I began as a Quality Inspector and moved from that position to Quality Foreman and eventually to Plant Quality General Forman. My duties were mainly supervisory but also included involvement in the creation and continued use of SPC as a tool for quality improvement and cost containment.

In 1988 I began working as a Quality Technician in the OE Tooling & Development Group at the Pilkington Co. and I continued with this group until my retirement January 31, 2001. While assigned to OET&D I was responsible for quality functions during production development contributing to cost-effective tooling transfers to the producing plants. I was responsible for preparing and submitting to the customer all product prototype orders. These submissions included the preparation of gage R&Rís control plans, flow diagrams, FMEAís and capability studies. SPC was extensively used to assure glass making tooling was capable of producing acceptable parts. The use of statistical studies led to tooling modifications resulting in tooling that was able to produce parts at higher yields and superior quality.

Temporary production was run OET&D for a two-year period and during that time I was responsible for hiring, training and supervising three quality technicians to cover a three-shift operations. I prepared and submitted PPAP packages for this production operation. I also prepared PPAP packages for production runs at the Rossford Plant and assisted in performing Run and Rates at both facilities.

I received QS 9000 auditor training and was a team member on the QS 9000 implementation team at OETD. Part of my responsibility was the creation and maintenance of gage calibration system at OETD. QS 9000 certification was received during January 1996 and I have participated in every six-month assessment since that time. These assessments have all been successful.

At various times during my career I have made numerous visits to Pilkington Plants at Collingwood, Shelbyville, Kentucky, Sherman, Niles, and Clinton. My tasks during these visits consisted mainly of monitoring quality during development and PPAP runs and conducting capability studies to confirm product quality. Additionally, I spent two months at Shelbyville, IN and one month at Niles, MI to assist in these new plant start-ups. During these times I assisted in establishing a quality system for these new operations and assisted in completing PPAP submissions on the parts they were about to produce.

Sincerely,

Robert C. Clapp