We've Sat on Your Side of the Table
Smarter Quality was built by manufacturing quality leaders who've lived the pressure of audits, delivery, customer complaints, and accountability.
We don't advise from the sidelines. We step in, take responsibility, and help you regain control.
Our Team
Ro Long
Co-Founder & Director
Ro holds a powerful blend of over 30 years’ experience in manufacturing, engineering and quality across high‑performing and highly regulated sectors including Automotive, Aerospace, Pressure Vessels and Medical Devices, to name but a few.
From humble beginnings as a Design Engineer, through to Project Engineering, Quality Engineering, Inspection Management and Senior Quality Leadership, Ro brings a strong background in operational excellence at the highest level, specialising in scaling quality frameworks across small and medium-sized enterprises.
Q: WHEN IT COMES TO QUALITY, WHAT’S YOUR PASSION?
A: “I’m really passionate about simple & sustainable quality.
All too often we see businesses that spend an enormous amount of time and money initialising a system which is too complicated, too costly and too reliant on the people that created it, to be fully embraced and adopted by the wider group. This in turn means the system isn’t robust, it doesn’t stand up to the ever changing world we live in, it cannot sustain the very goal it was created to achieve and ultimately leads to further self-created issues.”
Q: WHAT DOES SUCCESS LOOK LIKE FOR YOU?
A: “Success, for me, is taking a business from fearing quality involvement to embracing it.
Seeing quality as a competitive advantage and allowing the infrastructure to form the foundations on which projects are built upon means it does not become a weapon later down the line, used to try and improve an already flawed process.”
Q: WHAT WOULD BE THE ONE PIECE OF ADVICE TO GIVE A COMPANY LOOKING TO IMPROVE QUALITY?
A: “Keep it simple!
Delivering long-term value does not have to be complicated. Meaningful, sustainable change comes from simplifying complexity and embedding continuous improvement across all teams through cross functional collaboration.
What may at first appear to be complex quality and regulatory challenges can easily be turned into measurable gains with the right target in mind. Using tools such as those is the APQP framework at project inception (PPAP, FMEA, QPC, MSA etc), or hands‑on problem‑solving tools later down the line when things haven’t quite gone to plan (8D, 5‑Why, Ishikawa etc), are made far easier when you involve the right stakeholders. Ensuring everyone has a voice and all departmental needs are considered will help to ensure processes are robust & sustainable, products are to specification and customers satisfied. Quality isn’t just a compliance requirement, it’s a fundamental business need.”
Ben Hunter
Co-Founder & Director
Ben's passion lies in supporting manufacturing businesses build simple, effective quality systems that genuinely make projects easier. With over a decade of experience as a quality and technical professional across a wide range of highly regulated and fast paced industries including Aerospace, Electronics, Motorsport, Medical Devices and Pressure Vessels.
Focusing on turning messy processes into clear, practical ways of working that improve performance and reduce stress for teams. Ben is driven by integrity and a commitment to real, lasting value that helps businesses treat quality as a strength, not a tick-box exercise.
Q: WHEN IT COMES TO QUALITY, WHAT’S YOUR PASSION?
A: “My passion lies in stripping away the noise. Too often, ‘Quality’ becomes a byword for bureaucracy - mountains of paperwork and complex hurdles that slow manufacturing down.
I love taking a convoluted system, finding the waste, and simplifying it until it becomes invisible. For me, real quality isn't about how many forms you fill out; it's about building a process so robust and intuitive that getting it 'right first time' is the easiest path for everyone on the shop floor. When you remove the clutter, you don't just get better products; you get a happier, more efficient workforce.”
Q: WHAT DOES SUCCESS LOOK LIKE FOR YOU?
A: “Success for me is redundancy. That might sound strange for a consultant, but my goal with Smarter Quality is to remove the industry’s reliance on specific 'heroes' to save the day.
Success is walking into a client's facility and seeing a system that runs smoothly without needing micromanagement. It is seeing the shop floor team feel empowered to make decisions because the process supports them. If I can leave a business knowing that their quality standards will remain high not because I am there, but because the system we built is there, that is a job well done.”
Q: WHAT WOULD BE THE ONE PIECE OF ADVICE TO GIVE A COMPANY LOOKING TO IMPROVE QUALITY?
A: “Stop relying on people; start relying on processes.
Many SMEs rely on one or two key individuals to hold their quality standards together. If those people leave or have a bad day, quality drops. My advice is to engineer that risk out of your business. Don’t ask your people to be perfect; build a simplified system that makes it difficult for them to fail. When you shift the burden from human memory to process design, you gain consistency, scalability, and peace of mind.”