Team Quality Starting New Venture: Engine Building

Article by Dave Kurtz | KPC News | July 9, 2020

AUBURN — While its core business was stalled by the COVID-19 pandemic, Team Quality Services was starting up a new venture producing vehicle engines.

A production line in a former warehouse shipped its first gasoline engine June 19, said Chris Straw, president and founder of Team Quality Services.

“The next time you see a UPS truck, it could have a TQS engine in it, which is pretty cool,” Straw told Auburn Common Council members Tuesday at City Hall.

With eight new employees, Team Quality Services is processing more than 250 engines per week from its assembly line at Phillip and 15th streets in Auburn.

The operation occupies half of a former warehouse — about 20,000 square feet — built by the former Auburn Foundry and now owned by Tempus Technologies. Straw said the building had been empty for around 20 years.

“In about six weeks, we turned that thing from scary to — it’s really cool now, and it’s actually quite nice on the inside,” Straw said. “We’re hoping to get other manufacturing lines in there for various things.”

Installation of the engine line began in April and May, he said.

“I couldn’t be more proud of our team and the work they did under extraordinary circumstances due to COVID-19 to get the warehouse prepped, line set up, validated and approved for production. It truly is a testament to the creative and entrepreneurial spirit,” Straw said in message to The Star.

The business idea came from a previous customer of Team Quality Services who recommended the Auburn-based company to his new employer, Straw said. Straw cannot reveal the customer’s name, but he can say that all of the engines are being built for UPS.

Team Quality Services employs 39 people at its new headquarters in downtown Auburn, providing quality-support services chiefly to automotive plants. Straw said that when the COVID-19 pandemic struck this spring, “We went from booming to 3% in about a week or so” in the company’s core business. Business now has recovered to about 98% of pre-pandemic levels, he said.

The company’s new venture could be the first time anyone has produced vehicle engines in Auburn since its automotive era of the 1920s and 1930s.

Article source: https://www.kpcnews.com/thestar/article_ab07d8ec-3ae5-5f2b-9b38-128b968c2890.html