Inside PNAA’s New Quality Cohort
By Nikki Malcolm — Pacific Northwest Aerospace Alliance (PNAA)
As aerospace production ramps up again across the Pacific Northwest, quality has become more than a requirement — it’s a differentiator.
Suppliers throughout our region are working harder than ever to meet customer expectations, navigate resource constraints, and scale for new opportunities. And yet, for many, the challenges are shared: maintaining consistent standards, preparing for audits, managing documentation, training new employees, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement when everyone’s already stretched thin.
That’s where the idea for PNAA’s new Quality Cohort was born, from a simple question: What if we didn’t have to tackle these challenges alone?
The Quality Cohort is a peer-led, collaborative program designed for aerospace manufacturers who are committed to improving quality together. Unlike traditional workshops or seminars, this isn’t a one-way training session. It’s a space where professionals from across the supply chain come together to share real-world experiences, problem-solve common pain points, and build better systems, collectively.
Each meeting centers on a discussion topic chosen by the group. Sometimes it’s about preparing for a customer audit. Other times it’s about how to measure quality performance in a way that drives improvement instead of just compliance. The participants decide the focus, which keeps every session practical, relevant, and immediately applicable.
In addition to the peer-led sessions, specialized training is being conducted through partners like Boeing and Impact Washington that reinforce the fundamentals of building a sustainable quality culture. Sessions will explore Training Within Industry (TWI) methods, developing lean leadership habits, and how to turn process discipline into a competitive advantage. These partnerships help ensure that the cohort blends real-world collaboration with proven, scalable tools.
While the first cohort is just getting underway, the early energy has been remarkable. Participants represent a cross-section of our region’s supply base from precision machine shops and processors to composite manufacturers and plastic molded product companies. What unites them is a shared belief that raising the bar on quality benefits everyone, not just the individual company.
As one participant shared, “It’s refreshing to sit in a room with people who face the same pressures you do.”
The diversity of experience in the room is another key strength. Participants range from two years into their careers to more than forty-eight. For newer professionals, it’s an opportunity to learn from the decades of wisdom represented around the table. For veterans, it’s a chance to see challenges through fresh eyes and be reminded that innovation often starts with curiosity. This kind of mutual exchange is exactly what makes the Quality Cohort more than a program; it’s becoming a community.
That’s exactly the culture we’re trying to cultivate at PNAA. When one company improves its processes, it doesn’t just strengthen its own business, it strengthens our region’s reputation for excellence. A shared commitment to raising standards is what gives the Pacific Northwest its competitive edge on the global stage. It’s also what allows our ecosystem to scale sustainably, deliver reliably, and attract new programs and investment.
For PNAA, this cohort represents the next evolution of what we’ve always stood for: collaboration that leads to action. Our industry thrives when companies talk to each other, share what works, and lift one another up. It’s how we’re tackling workforce challenges, building stronger supplier networks, and how we’ve navigated periods of disruption in the past. Now we’re applying that same collaborative mindset to one of the most critical foundations of aerospace manufacturing: quality.
The Quality Cohort is the first of several potential new peer-learning initiatives we’re exploring to help industry rise together. Similar formats could support other essential roles — purchasing, program management, and operations leadership — each providing a space for people to connect across companies, share insights, and learn from one another.
The first cohort has already filled, but this is just the beginning. If your company is passionate about building a stronger quality culture and contributing to a more resilient, more competitive Pacific Northwest aerospace ecosystem, we invite you to stay tuned. And if you have an idea for a function or topic that could benefit from this kind of community collaboration, reach out to us. PNAA’s mission has always been to listen to the needs of our members and design programs that help us all move forward collectively.
Because when we build better together, everyone wins.
