ERP Functions: Quality 3

Last week we looked upon the operations involved in quality department and the methods they have adopted in their department. In this week we shall move one more step deeper as how the analysis of the data collected is done and how actually Quality Control is achieved.

Last week we have seen that after inspection one has to decide from 4 types decision about the tested item. Out of them if it is Accepted then the item will move ahead for further operations. But if it is not accepted then it should have particular reason for not being accepted. Dimensional variations, Physical Property variations, Mechanical Property variations etc may have caused the item to be not acceptable. The quality inspector has to identify the reason for the non acceptance. This is first level of analysis of the quality of the item produced.

Once the reason is identified the next step is to understand the cause behind the reason. There will be some common reasons of which the cause may be already known. But when the new reason is found then the cause is needs to analyzed. Secondly if a particular reason for the non-acceptance is repeating then also analysis is to be done. This is initial step of Rejction Cause Analysis (RCA)

Once the cause is found the immediate next step is to make the produced item correct. This is called as corrective actions. Items may be reworked to make it further usable or it may be converted to some other item. Immediate actions to remove the cause from doing damage to the produced item and making it acceptable is corrective actions. This is done to ensure production is continuously running and producing acceptable items.

We must understand that corrective actions are only temporary measurements to remove the defect cause. Further steps has to be taken in order not to have same cause in the production. This is called as preventive actions. This is done with complete understanding of whole production process and operating standards of items. This is involves deep study of overall factory operations. Storage of items, handling of items, conveying of items, operator skill level etc will all be be studied and suitable actions will be taken in order to prevent the same cause from occurring again.

In summary Route Cause Analysis Involves 3 steps

1. Finding the Cause of rejection

2. Corrective Actions

3. Preventive Actions

Efficient QC department will actively do RCA in order to ensure quality output of the factory. This is analysis part of non acceptance of inspected items. Here we have considered that the inspecting instruments/gauges and the inspector are able to perfectly compare required measurement and the produced item's measurement. But practically it is not the case. We shall deal with them in next week.

Keep watching space

ERP Functions: Quality 2

Last week we briefly looked upon the Check point department of the industry i.e. QA & QC.  Now in this week we shall go one step deeper in understanding the various functions of the department.

As defined in last week there are mainly two areas of Inspections. 1. Incoming Inspection 2. In house Inspection. Now we shall understand what is actually meaning of inspection?

Inspection is general term can be defined as verifying the internal and external (visual or measured) attributes of the item pertaining to its further usage with standard or required attributes and authorizing item for further usage.

So in order to do inspection one has to have the standard attributes that makes the item suitable for further usage. We must note that this standard attribute will different for different type of industries. And it is very much necessary that these standards are properly defined. However no machine can produce 100% exact match of standard ideal item matching all the attributes exactly the same all the time. So a tolerance for deviation from the ideal standard attributes will be defined, again based on further usage of the item. If the produced item attributes does not fall under the tolerance of ideal item, then it is "Not Ok" for further usage. This concept is used in both inhouse and incoming inspections.

In the last paragraph we saw that a decision is to be made based on inspection. There are mainly 4 types of decisions.

1. Accepted: The inspected item attributes fall well inside the tolerance limit of ideal standard attributes.

2. Rejected: The inspected item attributes does not fall well inside the tolerance limit of ideal standard attributes, item produced is not usable further.

3. Rework: The inspected item attributes does not fall well inside the tolerance limit of ideal standard attributes, but with some extra operations/treatment the item can be made further usable.

4. Hold: The inspected item attributes does not fall well inside the tolerance limit of ideal standard attributes, but one is not sure of declaring it as Rejection/Rework at the moment.

Next is how many items are to be inspected while doing inspection? There are 4 standard ways for doing inspection.

1. 100% - Each of the item produced/inwarded is inspected for all the attributes.

2. Quantity/batch - Total produced/inwarded items will be segregated in different batches of equal quantity. In the individual batches a fixed number of items will be inspected and the attributes and the decision for those selected items is considered those of whole batch.

3 Quantity/lot -  In the Total produced/inwarded items a fixed number of items will be inspected and the attributes and the decision for those selected items is considered those of whole lot.

4. Random - This is kind of inspection which is done in Random selection of items from the lot. One may also can choose 0 items!!

So now we are clear on the inspection definition and the methods of doing it. Further we shall see the analysis part of inspection.

Keep watching space.

ERP Functions: Quality 1

We have looked into Material Inward Production and Despatch sections.This week, We shall look into major functions of Quality Department.

Quality Department is usually termed as QA & QC. i.e. Quality Assurance and Quality Control. As the name suggests the department is the one which provides assurance of quality of the product. Secondly it also regularly verifies the quality of products and production processes there by controlling the Quality of overall factory.

There are majorly two sections under Quality Department.

1. Incoming Inspection :- Inspecting quality and standard of the materials coming into the factory from various suppliers. Also inspection of customer rejected products sent back to the factory.

2. In House Inspection :- This deals with quality inspection at various stages of production. Also majorly at final stage of production to assure the quality of finished product is matching with customer required standard.

We shall look into these in detail in coming weeks. Along with that we shall also look into the analysis part for quality deviations in material or in production processes and how the data is maintained.

Keep watching space

ERP Functions: Production 3

Last week we discussed about the Overall Equipment Efficiency of the production. In this week we shall see the constraints involved in achieving good OEE and how to measure them. Along with that we shall also see the implications of these parameters in production operations.

The first parameter is Performance. The performance is mainly depends on the machine and the operator. Machines needs to be properly maintained with periodical verification and other activities in order to make it perform to its designed capacity. We shall discuss the machine maintenance further. Second major effecting factor is the operator who is operating the machine. He/she must be skilled enough to utilize the machine to its maximum capacity and also for longer performance of the machine. In-fact the performance of the machine is actually the performance of the operator.

Next is Quality. Again this parameter is depending upon the machine, operator and material of the product. As explained before properly maintained machine with skilled and efficient operator are the major factors to produce defect free products. Along with this the quality of material is also effects the quality of finished product. Quality is in terms of dimensions, chemical composition, micro structure, free from unwanted or destructive materials. Usually every industry verifies the quality of the raw-material while inwarding inside the factory. Then in production after the operations that effects the quality parameters, quality checking is done before the product is moved for next operation. QA (Quality Assurance) & QC (Quality Control) department must ensure the quality of all the materials of overall plant. Also in case of deviations of quality the root cause is also to be analyzed. We shall discuss these further.

Lastly Utilization. This parameter is effected by various factors. Major factors are power break down, machine break down, non availability of input materials, non availability of operators etc. Each of these factors have caused by external and internal sources. Some are avoidable some are not. So since several sources are involved it is efforts of factory as a whole that can bring good utilization. Periodic review of the factors effecting poor utilization is must. Even though factory has high capacity machines and efficient operators and quality materials if all those cant be utilized i.e. cant be run means factory can't meet the production requirement.

So we now have looked into the factors effecting the production. Next week we shall discuss on another major function of the industry i.e. QA & QC.

Keep watching this space

ERP Functions: Production 2

Last week we moved to execution part of the industry, i.e. Production. We discussed about the definition of Production and then the information that the production departments are getting from Planning and Design departments.

This week we shall look into how the production is measured? What are the parameters involved in measuring productivity? What are the issues involved in production and how to record them in a system and track down for analysis and prevention?

Planning department provides the Production plan for execution. Based on that plan, Stores will issue materials (raw materials) to the production department. The production processes on the raw materials get started. The subsequent production processes follows one after another as per the routing card. Now we already know that in routing card the descriptions of process are mentioned. It also contains the machines that can perform the process and time required for the machine to complete the processes. This is called as Cycle Time In actual production due to various reasons machine may not produce as per the cycle time defined for it. The comparison of Theoretical Cycle time and Actual Cycle is called as Performance of Production.

The products produced may not be 100% matching with specification of the standard required product. In such cases the product is said to be "Not Ok" and considered as rejection. This verification is primarily done by production process owners, but finally approved by Quality department. This rejected product can be reworked in order to make it OK product, otherwise it is scrapped. The comparison of OK Qty produced with Total Quantity produced is called as Quality of Production.

Thirdly there is one more parameter which effects the production is the available time for production. Many industries run continuously 24 hrs a day in 3 shifts. So the maximum available time for production in any industry for a day is 24 hrs. But the workers are to be given minimum of 30 mins break in each shift for having food as per labor law and also humanity. So in 24 hrs 1.5 hrs is to be deducted to get the total available time for production.i.e. 22.5 hrs. Running the production for 22.5 Hrs is ideal for any production department. But there are various disturbances which can cause stoppage of production. Major among them are
1. Lack of Materials, Tools & Fixtures
2. Machine Break down. (Due to power, repair etc)
3. Lack of Manpower
4. Quality Inspection of sample productions
Many other small reasons will consume the time from 22.5 hours. So actual available time will be less than ideal. The comparison between Actual Available tile and Total Available time is called Availability of Production.

Combining all these we will get overall efficiency of the production. There is one term for this measurement called as
O.E.E = Overall Equipment Efficiency = Performance X Quality X Availability.
The O.E.E provides the measure of production performance of the industry.

Next week we shall see go in detail about issues involved in these parameters and how the data collection will help managers to reduce issues and increase efficiency of production.

Keep watching space.

ERP Functions: Production

So far we have discussed on Getting Order from Customers, Planning the production, procurement of materials. Now we shall move ahead on execution of production.

Production is sequence of processes carried out on raw materials to get final sale-able product. The sequence of processes varies from industry to industry. However certain parameters involved in them remains almost same. We first shall discuss on how production department gets information and later we shall see the execution of it.

As discussed earlier each product has its own defined Sequence of process with Bill of Material. Clubbing these two we call it as Routing Card. When a new product is taken in for to start production routing card has to be made. This is done by Product Design or Engineering Department. Usually roughly they do at the time of feasibility study of the new product. Finally when the order gets confirmed proper executable Routing Card is made by them. This also contains the parameters of processes like speed, feed along with major instructions of processes.This Routing Serves as master copy to all the production departments. Routing Card is to be strictly followed by production departments.

Then comes the execution process. We also discussed that Planning department does the Capacity Planning stating sequence of production processes for the products for the month. This Monthly Production plan is given to production department. Production department already have the Routing card for the production of the products. Now with the monthly production plan they are ready to execute the Monthly Production Plan. Only thing is proper supply of Raw Materials and other materials from Purchase and Stores from MRP and Min-Max Material Planning.

This is about information flowing into production department for the execution of production. In coming week we shall see the parameters involved in production execution and how they will keep track on their performance and improve it.

Keep Watch this space

Vacation and Review

Sorry for those who have waited for my blog this week. I had tight schedules and my internet connection had some problems. So could not post this week's blog. However Next week we shall resume the journey of SO ERP