“My career field in quality is similar to figuring out a puzzle: I am given a variety of information which serve as the puzzle pieces, and I utilize that information to create solutions or improvements, thus solving the puzzle,” states Adam Rodriguez. Adam is a great example of an employee who is always looking for a challenge to work through and solve. Fluxergy is filled with motivated employees like Adam who are prepared to create solutions and ultimately play fundamental roles in the growth and success of the organization.
Adam Rodriguez grew up in Guadalupe, a small city located in Santa Barbara County, California centered around agriculture. After graduating from high school, Adam attended Cal Poly Pomona to study microbiology. During his time as an undergrad student, Adam worked hard both in and outside of school, working three different jobs. Adam stayed at Cal Poly to earn his Masters in immunology, but left to join the workforce, finding employment at two different sterilization companies before joining the Fluxergy team as the Lead Quality Engineer. Much of his experience consists of overseeing quality processes such as complaints, CAPAs, and validations. In his previous role, Adam’s work was recognized when he was named the youngest Quality Manager and for having run the quality department on his own for 30 days straight.
As the Lead Quality Engineer at Fluxergy, what does your job entail?
“I oversee Fluxergy’s CAPA (Corrective and Preventative Actions) process as well as its complaints and validations. For example, when overseeing complaints, I assure that departments such as Customer Support perform and document their activities. We take customer feedback and investigate why the customer is experiencing problems. I am also in charge of educating departments at Fluxergy on using the different tools within our digital quality management system. I am the administrator or “design guru” of this program, which involves giving employees the tools to investigate issues and determine how to correct or prevent the issue from reoccurring. Overall, my role is to filter all of the information I oversee to the Quality Manager to find ways to ’be better’ and consistently strive for improvement.”
How would you describe the company culture at Fluxergy?
Fluxergy is a very transparent company, which is something I appreciate. I work with different managers in various departments and feel comfortable doing so. I think that transparency is an important value for all companies to implement because we are here to become a successful organization, so it is important to be able to voice concerns, no matter who the concern is coming from. There is a collaborative spirit among Fluxergy’s employees, meaning that everyone is open to making compromises and eager to learn or know more. One of my main goals is to make people feel welcomed, and I think that Fluxergy’s employees do a great job of this as well. I am responsible for doing the quality orientation for every new employee, and I always make sure to emphasize that new employees should feel free to reach out to me, as I am here to help and make the system work for every employee.
What have been some of the biggest challenges that you have faced at work?
I think that the biggest challenge I have faced as the Lead Quality Engineer is translating the requirements for quality in a way that every employee can understand. It is important for me and the rest of the quality department to recognize that while we have years of experience in quality, there are many other employees who don’t have much knowledge on quality systems and their requirements because their department has other responsibilities.
What have been your most significant contributions to Fluxergy?
My most visible contribution to Fluxergy is the Intellect Electronic Quality Management System (eQMS). My experience with working with the configuration aspect of our Intellect system allows me to take the requests for things other departments want to see and work with the system to deliver those requests. In addition to this, my experience and knowledge with the Intellect system also allows me to resolve any problems employees are experiencing. In the bigger picture, my biggest contribution to Fluxergy is being open to hearing employees' concerns and working with them to create solutions.
What do you think is the most important skill that a successful professional in your field needs to have?
The top skill is having empathy. Working in quality requires the ability of being understanding and having the willingness to listen to the needs of various departments or employees. This is important because all of the data which exists in Fluxergy’s quality system comes from the inputs that each department logs into the system. I think that it is also important to be in touch with humanity; understanding that people make mistakes and having the willingness to work with them to prevent future mistakes from occurring can help one be successful in the quality field. Without these qualities, one will not get the results or improvements that they want or that the company needs.
Which of your co-workers motivates and inspires you the most?
I have two people that motivate and inspire me; Abtin Keramati in the quality control department and Nicole Doan in the customer support department. Despite being new to the field, Abtin has been a huge help to the research and development team, while also excelling in his role in quality control. It is motivating to see someone as young as he is being confident and reliable while also pushing Fluxergy further. Nicole is also inspiring to me because she has a calm personality while handling everything in the customer support department; her ability to handle difficult situations is a great asset to her department.
What does your life outside of work look like?
I make it a priority to plan time for the gym every weeknight. On the weekends, I spend a lot of my time reading, sleeping, and doing chores around my home.
I enjoy painting and drawing, writing lyrics, recording music, cooking, and more. In fact, I have a mini cookbook I'm currently working on a second volume of it. My love for it began when I worked at my family’s restaurant when I was growing up, and my culture views cooking as a way of displaying love to others. Family is a big priority for me, so I make sure to spend quality time with them.
“In quality, we design the system around the people, not the people around the system.”
Interested in joining the team at Fluxergy? View our open positions here: https://www.fluxergy.com/careers