by GREENVILLE, Florida—Why would Compass Sleep Products turn to an aerospace engineer to lead production of an entirely new manufacturing facility? According to Ricky Riley, CEO of Compass Sleep Products, the answer is simple: Quality.
With a 100 percent “Made in the USA” strategy, and as one of the newest Spring Air licensees, “The product we build simply has to be right,” Riley said. “For that reason, we hired Clint Glazener, a former aerospace engineer with deep knowledge and experience in quality principles as our production manager and it’s one of the smartest moves we’ve made.”
Indeed, before making the transition to Compass Sleep Products and the bedding industry, Glazener worked as a quality specialist lead auditor for L3 Harris Technologies, a leader in the aerospace and defense industry.
“While we are not building rockets in the bedding industry, the level of passion and integrity that Clint brings to his work in quality assurance was very appealing to me,” Riley said. “I also believe that it is vital to have fresh eyes on our industry, because there are so many new and exciting ideas, materials and components available, but we are all creatures of habit. As example, the first thing I did when I started Compass was to call all the vendors I knew and have had great relationships with over the past 15 years. But Clint didn’t do that when he came in. Instead, he reached out to people and suppliers I hadn’t even heard of yet. And frankly, to be successful today, we all need unique approaches and new ideas.”
Glazener also brings to the table deep knowledge of Kaizen, which incorporates small changes over time to create improvement and efficiency, along with expertise and experience in the principles of continuous improvement and just-in-time manufacturing. “My experience in the industry and Clint’s experience in different approaches to quality manufacturing are producing a workplace that is clean, organized and well structured, and most importantly, ensuring that we are supplying our customers with products of uncompromising quality,” Riley said. “The fact is, in aerospace, quality assurance can literally be an issue of life or death and Clint brings that same attitude to building beds. I can trust he would never even consider cutting corners and so can our customers. Simply put, with Clint running the Compass plant, you know that what you pay for is exactly what you get.”
For his part, Glazener said, “It has been an eye-opening experience working at Compass Sleep Products, especially coming from a completely different background, however the support from Ricky and the team has enabled a smooth transition. And it is very rewarding to see my team growing and producing consistent results.”
