Quality Follows Risk, Not the Org Chart - by Trista Li

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Quality Follows Risk, Not the Org Chart<br>A Framework for Finding Your Buyer in Manufacturing

Trista Li<br>Aug 06, 2026

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This newsletter covers go-to-market strategy for founders selling AI and hardware into manufacturing. If that’s you, or you’re investing in this space, you’re in the right place.<br>This is the second post in a series on the manufacturing tech sales journey. This one maps the quality buyer.

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Quality Follows Risk, Not the Org Chart

You reach out to a VP Quality, but can’t move forward without clear use cases. You reach out to Quality Managers, 2% reply with “this isn’t relevant.” You try the Plant Manager, thinking maybe quality isn’t the right door. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. Each company feels like starting over.<br>There's no consistent path because quality isn't a department. It's a risk-allocation function, and risk differs by company, so quality does too.<br>“When things go poorly, quality is brought in either to blame or to fix.” — Anna Boyd, Founder, Next Rev Solutions, ex Redwood Materials, Tesla, 3M

I spent two months talking to quality, engineering, and operations leaders across Tesla, Rivian, Redwood Materials, Ford, Kraft Heinz, PepsiCo, Blue Origin, and Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers. Every one of them described a different org. All of them were describing the same three risks.

Three Risks Quality Prevents

Quality Management System (QMS) reduces Compliance Risk

QMS protects the company's right to operate. It guards against failed audits, lost certifications, and regulatory action. A single compliance gap can trigger fines, customer disqualification, or a plant shutdown.<br>In February 2022, Abbott shut down its Sturgis, Michigan plant after an FDA inspection. The country ran out of baby formula for months, all due to a quality system problem!<br>Supplier Quality Reduces Supplier Risk

Supplier Quality protects against defective material entering production, mixing with good stock, causing scrap, rework, and unplanned downtime. A single bad batch from a single supplier can halt an entire plant. The cost compounds: the lost production, the downstream rework, the customer impact.<br>Takata's airbag inflators became the largest automotive recall in U.S. history, roughly 67 million inflators across 19 automakers. None of those automakers made the defective part, but all of them paid for it.<br>Customer Quality Reduces Customer Risk

Customer Quality protects the relationship. An escape reaches the field. A warranty claim triggers an investigation. A recall makes the news. What you lose is trust, the contract, and years of revenue that walking out the door.

Deploy 95 interviews, 2026.<br>Every company carries all three risks. But not every company treats them equally.

Which Risk Dominates Determines Where Quality Gets Staffed

It comes down to how expensive each failure is and how expensive prevention is when the failure isn’t likely.<br>Compliance Risk

What share of revenue is gated by a certificate? If you can’t bid without AS9100 or IATF 16949, the certificate is the business. If it’s a nice-to-have, QMS is overhead.<br>“The aerospace industry is highly regulated, and it’s really hard to innovate unless you just don’t give a damn about the law.” — Former Controls Engineer, Blue Origin

Supplier Risk

What share of COGS is somebody else's process? If you are vertically integrated, risk is low. If >50% is supplier parts, it’s high. Risk also multiplies by supplier geography and tiers.<br>Eighty percent of a car is supplier parts. The supplier quality engineer’s job is to make sure those parts are okay before they become the car. - Stefania, Supplier Quality, ex Stellantis

Customer Risk

What share of revenue is your top customer? One customer at 40% means one escape is an existential. Fragmented base means it's a warranty line item.<br>They’re paying the price of a car for a single piece of pure silver. We might make a hundred that day, but they care about theirs. A little scratch? They’re upset — Raven, Quality Engineer, Specialty Materials for Semiconductor Manufacturing

Detecion lag matters

A compliance failure surfaces at the next audit scheduled, months out. A supplier failure surfaces at receipt, same day. A customer failure surfaces in the field? Six months later, through a complaint, with the root cause cold.<br>The longer the lag, the more people it takes to investigate, and the more of the quality org gets pulled downstream. Staffing follows detection lag as much as risk size.

Deploy 95 interviews, 2026. Allocation splits are directional, not surveyed.

Quality Competes for Someone Else’s Budget

Quality has authority without resources. A quality manager can stop a shipment, reject a lot, or hold a release, but they can’t move schedule, add headcount, or call the customer without spending someone else’s budget.<br>II can say here is the requirement, thou shalt follow it. But that doesn’t...