Lessons Learned from AGRSS Validations—From the Simple to the Complex

Dale Malcolm of Dow Automotive and Jeff Olive of Glasspro offered an informative session on some of the items that have been cited as non-conforming during the ongoing Auto Glass Replacement Safety Standards Council’s third-party validation review program.

Among these were a variety of common items, such as:

1. Not shaking primer for as long as needed;
2. Touching a primed area during the installation;
3. Not following the adhesive manufacturer’s instructions required time on urethane when placing in heater; and
4. Not using the adhesive system’s required form;

For the issues that fell under the area of urethane, Malcolm suggested consulting not only manufacturer’s instructions, but also the matrix developed by the adhesive manufacturers to provide guidance (available on www.agrss.com).

“That’s where the rules of the road lie,” said Malcolm.

In some cases, lot number records have been found to be missing as well.

“This info is critical,” added Malcolm. “Shops should warn your technicians. This is important.”

Keeping adhesive manufacturer’s current instructions handy also plays a role. Malcolm recommended keeping a binder with all training certifications and current adhesive manufacturer instructions handy.

In seven validation occurrences, technicians quoted the incorrect safe drive-away time to validators.

“This is something your technician should have and should be using everyday,” said Malcolm.

Noncompliance items that happened less often (usually with one occurrence or less) included the following:

1. Expired product use;
2. Technician didn’t clean windshield to adhesive manufacturer’s requirements;
3. Technician didn’t have means to read temperature/humidity; and
4. Technician didn’t shake cleaner as long as required by adhesive system manufacturer.

“Conduct mock audits with your techs,” suggested Malcolm, in an effort to avoid these items.

And what happens when there is an item of nonconformance found?

“You can dispute something if you think you were right,” Malcolm said.

But, if not, he suggested calling your adhesive manufacturer and undergoing more training to make sure the items are corrected.

“At any given moment during the process, you should be able to blow a whistle and stop and say, ‘What are you doing and why and where does it say you should be doing it that way in the standard?’”