Executive Spotlight: Leading Quality in Manufacturing

If you’ve ever had to defend your quality budget, you’re not alone. JD Marhevko has heard the same argument her entire career: that quality is just overhead. But in our conversation, she laid out a different way to think about it—one that ties quality directly to profitability and long-term success.

When she talks about quality, she grounds it in specifics—like how scrap cuts into capacity, warranty work eats into margin, and inefficiency drives up labor costs.

“Everything you do impacts either the scrap rate, warranty, or efficiency,” she said in a recent conversation. “Efficiency translates into labor. Warranty translates into margin, as does scrap. Scrap translates into both margin and capacity. So everything that you wanna be able to do to make a change in your process is gonna affect those three things, or even more.”

This view challenges leaders to stop seeing quality as optional or nice-to-have. Instead, it’s a direct driver of profitability and customer trust.

In this article, we’ll share JD’s approach to leadership in manufacturing quality. She lays out clear priorities, pushes teams to solve problems together instead of in isolation, and shows how to tie quality initiatives to business results.

We surveyed 1,000 manufacturing professionals to better understand how quality is perceived. See the results in our research report: Are Leaders and Frontline Teams Aligned?

Meet the Expert

During our conversation, JD shared how she didn’t follow a traditional path to executive leadership. She described working on the shop floor, in quality labs, and managing global teams with a hands-on approach.

She believes real leadership means respecting the people who do the work. That mindset comes from her grandfather, a Chrysler tool and die maker for over 40 years. When she was twelve, he made her rebuild a boat motor she dropped in the lake. Later, when she moved into management, he refused to speak to her for six months, warning: “Don’t tell a working man how to do his job.” He called it recognizing those with ‘chips in their shoes’ — the ones who truly know the work.

JD carries that lesson everywhere. She listens first, asks questions, and earns trust before suggesting changes. Leading global teams means adapting to local cultures, meeting in their time zones, and even learning bits of their languages to show respect. She responds to every email within 24 hours to keep work moving.

These everyday habits help build trust and accountability, which makes lasting, meaningful improvement possible.

Leadership Priorities for Quality Excellence

I asked JD how she prioritizes being a quality leader. She explained her approach clearly: safety comes first. Then business impact. People are equally important.

Manufacturing is unpredictable. Staying organized helps, but knowing what matters most is essential. “I have my A list, my B list, my C list. But for me, safety is number one. If it affects product or process safety, it’s the top priority. Then it’s business impact — if it will cost a lot or have a huge financial effect. Equal to that is the people side — taking care of someone who needs help.”

JD says her role is to get the right data to the right teams — operations, engineering, supply chain — so they can act quickly and solve problems collaboratively.

She emphasizes that quality isn’t about patching over issues. Leaders must fix root causes and manage the front end to prevent problems from returning.

This kind of clear prioritization creates a decision-making hierarchy in a chaotic environment. For manufacturing leaders, adopting a values-driven model like JD’s can mean the difference between reacting to problems and preventing them. That mindset shows up clearly in how she works across teams.

Breaking Down Silo Thinking

JD is clear about her approach to collaboration: “Yeah, I’m the worst silo person in the world,” she said.

She refuses to see quality as the job of one department. For her, it’s a shared responsibility that crosses operations, engineering, and supply chain.

She calls her approach a “squeeze play”: “If something happened negatively, shame on us for allowing the issue. But then, making sure the front end is absolutely managed so it can’t occur, then it just squeezes it in the middle, and you have a cleaner process.”

JD wants teams to collaborate early, share data, and fix root causes so problems don’t come back. She shared an example from aerospace manufacturing, when two planes had “unplanned landings.”

“Our product had failed. We knew it was our issue. I didn’t even have the part to see — it was in another part of the country. I was dropped into the facility, and in four hours, we had the root cause.” Her team found the problem was a flawed measuring method that missed shape defects. They worked with engineering to fix it and trained staff to prevent it.

For JD, breaking down silos is essential to stop failures from repeating.

Translating Quality into Business Value

Quality often gets labeled as overhead — the first place to cut costs. JD knows leaders have to change that perception.

Her approach is straightforward: connect quality initiatives directly to financial outcomes like reduced scrap, lower warranty costs, and improved labor efficiency.

But making the claim isn’t enough. She insists that quality leaders work with Finance to confirm real savings.
“I just can’t say, Ooh, I saved a million dollars for you. They have to be able to see it in their general ledger or in their bottom line.”

JD calls it the “Show me the money” mindset. She expects her teams to prepare clear, brief proposals that stand up to scrutiny: “You gotta keep it — I call it short attention span theater. If you can’t convey it in one page, you’ll lose them.”

For her, proving ROI is essential. When Finance confirms the savings, it builds credibility and ensures quality teams get resources to do the work that truly improves the business.

Conclusion

Talking with JD really highlighted her patient, respectful approach to leadership. She encourages others to see that improvement is always an effort by a team, never a solo act.

She points to The Art of War and Lean principles as personal favorites, valuing strategies emphasizing preparation and adaptability. For her, listening carefully, respecting experience — regardless of age or background — and staying open to new ideas are essential.

“It doesn’t hurt to try it for the most part. If it doesn’t work, then we can come back to the other way.”

This mindset builds trust, making people more willing to share their expertise and support change. JD believes leaders should recognize and develop their teams’ strengths, creating an environment where everyone can contribute to better outcomes.

Manufacturing quality isn’t just about processes—it’s about people and giving them the systems and insights they need to lead with confidence. Leaders who prioritize safety, business results, and their teams’ well-being will see lasting improvement.

Want more insights like these? Listen to the full episode to hear JD share more of her practical insights and stories from a lifetime in manufacturing.