Quality Control Process Overview for Manufacturing

Overview of the Manufacturing Process

You go visit Ray, the Production Supervisor, for an overview of the process. He says: “Well, we get the raw material from our suppliers. As it comes in, we do an inspection and if product is good, it goes to the inventory area. However, if it’s bad it goes into our quarantine area to go back to the supplier. We get an order to make new parts, so we will pull the stock from inventory to one of our 5 machines. The lead operator sets up the machine and then needs to get authorization the setup is ok. If it’s ok, then we will run the order. If it’s not, they redo it again until it is. Once the order is running, they will inspect 1 in every 10 pieces. They assess this sample to make sure its ok to keep running. If the inspection is bad, they go back to working on the setup. Once the order is done, it’s sent to shipping. They wrap the order and send it to the customer. Pretty easy, really.”

You also find out they hired a consultant before you but she left before she was able to properly analyze the data and determine Upper and Lower control limits. However, the company, based on feedback from their customers, wants to see a goal of zero defects to a maximum of 10 per day.As you continue your investigation, you find out there has been a brainstorming session before you arrived so they could try to understand the recent quality issues. They put together the ideas in the minutes but haven’t done any other analysis with them so far. They are:

1. Our raw stock over the last few months seems to be getting worse
2. We got a lot of new operators over the last few months who’ve been pushed to the floor quickly
3. The dial on Machine No 4 is worn out and very hard to read
4. We’ve been using the same specifications since I started here 10 years ago
5. I really don’t know how they expect us to check the samples when half the lights are burnt out above the machine…I can’t see anything!
6. I don’t know what the issue is – I follow the standard procedures, same as John on Machine 1. Not my fault the other guys do things their own way.
7. I don’t know how they expect the glue to hold when it’s so cold in the warehouse
8. Machine No 3 has some very old parts that are loose
9. Bill is the only one who seems to know how to do the proper checks and he’s off on sick leave
10. I’m told to do a different type of quality check by the designers, the supervisor and even the boss!
11. When setting up our dies, the wood used on the dies is brittle and can crack causing issues
12. I’ve tried to check the depth of the finished goods, but the tape measures are all different