Article | April 25, 2022
Deciding on the right quality management software might be difficult for any business due to its features and return on investment evaluation. However, given the requirement for quality improvements, it is critical for a quick return on investment from the software. In addition, effective quality management software can assist in developing a culture of constant improvement in a company's manufacturing operations.
"Quality comes not from inspection, but from improvement of the production process."
– W. Edwards Deming,
Quality management software (QMS) has countless advantages, of which some are quantifiable, and others are more subjective. Quality management systems (QMS) are important because they can help manufacturers be proactive rather than reactive, leading to better overall quality.
In this article, we've included several metrics you may use to keep tabs on your progress and understand better your return on investment on manufacturing quality management software.
Directly Quantifiable Benefits (ROI)
Lowered Defect Management Expenses
Components that do not meet or exceed design criteria are wasted. Effective quality management software helps minimize failure rates, saving money. Quality data helps reduce scrap, rework, sorting, and processing costs. Manufacturing quality management software streamlines and modernizes complicated, often error-prone MRO procedures, which reduces maintenance costs and the risk of not complying with the law.
Less Expensive Supplier Management
Quality control software for manufacturing can be used to mitigate the costs associated with substandard supplier quality. Supplier performance, trends, and on-time delivery are all tracked in real-time. Managers can use supplier ratings to determine which suppliers are the most beneficial to the firm. This data is then used to minimize the risk and expense of working with suppliers and sub-tier suppliers.
Higher Supplier Recovery Success
Supplier recovery establishes accountability throughout the supply chain, thus mitigating overall risk. Within the quality management system, timely and reliable data on nonconformance suppliers is available, resulting in proactive payback or product replacement. Substandard supplier material can also recoup warranty return costs incurred due to substandard supplier material.
Lowered IT Support & Costs
Quality management software automates removing excessive applications, hence lowering IT expenses and increasing data consistency. Without additional programming, a best-in-class solution is easily customizable to suit requirements. In addition, having all of the important data in one place eliminates the need for manual data entry, improves data integrity, and saves a lot of time and money.
Paperless Workplace
A paperless shop floor increases efficiency by saving time spent preparing paper and forms. You save time preparing, distributing, and collecting work instructions, work orders, travelers, and quality data forms with quality management software. Real-time reporting helps managers make better judgments. Apart from saving time, electronic document management also allows administrators to regulate user access to sensitive data and handle document approval electronically.
Long-term Financial Return
Ensured Product Compliance and Reduced Risk
Complex manufacturers must constantly adapt to changing norms. The software can handle quality and compliance issues across departments, process areas, and locations. In addition, the solution simplifies the procedure and improves the results.
Better Decision-making with Better Operational Visibility
Real-time historical data improves accuracy, efficiency, and quality. Enterprise quality management software can assist managers in discovering trends, repetition, and relative cost. In addition, actionable data helps respond to changing markets and client demands.
Complete Traceability of Each Part, Subassembly, and Final Assembly
Comprehensive quality management software creates, records, queries, and manages traceability requirements for compliance and quality. The system lets you keep an eye on quality through the product's life cycle to make sure it meets regulatory, quality, and customer requirements.
Final Word
Quality management software must be evaluated using quantifiable and long-term subjective returns to gain a realistic picture of a system's future performance. When an effective system is in place, employees can focus on high-value chores instead of managing documents or processes. Manufacturing businesses can gain a competitive edge by implementing quality management software for manufacturing. The best quality management software should pay for itself over time.
FAQ
What is quality control software testing?
Quality control in software testing is a systematic set of techniques used to verify software product or service quality. The fundamental goal of quality control is to ensure that the software meets the actual requirements by testing and reviewing them.
What are the three types of quality management?
Each quality management system is divided into three stages: conceptualization, documentation, and implementation.
What are the seven principles of quality management?
Engagement of people, customer focus, leadership, process approach, improvement, evidence-based decision making, and relationship management are the seven principles of quality management.
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Article | March 29, 2022
Smart manufacturing industry 4.0 is based on the concept that machines should be able to communicate and collaborate to produce new products and services. Industry 4.0 solutions, often known as the fourth industrial revolution, are transforming the way we live and work—and significantly impact the global economy.
“As companies learn to tap into the potential of the vast amounts of data emerging across all areas of operations, decision-making and action-taking are taken to a new level.”
- Thomas Erwin Global Head of KPMG Lighthouse, CoE for data-driven technologies
Industry 4.0 solutions or technologies are used to alter the way industrial companies function. Industrial IoT, automation and robots, predictive maintenance, simulation, additive manufacturing, and IoT analytics are a few of these technologies.
In this article, we will take a look at how these industry 4.0 technologies are accelerating the shop floor activities to optimize the overall manufacturing operations.
Industry 4.0 Technologies and How They Can Help
Robotics: The application of computer-controlled robots to manual tasks, such as assembling.
3D Printing: Manufacturing a three-dimensional item by layering material under computer control.
Sensor Technology: A sensor capable of detecting and responding to environmental circumstances.
AI and Machine Learning: Enables the extraction of fresh insights and decision-making capabilities from massive amounts of information.
Digital Twin: Creates digital replicas of operations to diagnose problems and test operational adjustments.
Augmented Reality: This allows for new data visualizations to increase worker productivity.
Communications Network Infrastructure: Enables data transit between machines and humans and comprehensive system integration.
Big Data Platforms: Stores, manipulates, and shows data while also providing new degrees of operational management.
Digital Supply Chain: Provides real-time visibility into supply and demand to eliminate network delay.
IoT Enabled Cybersecurity: New cyber security techniques are required due to newly digitized and automated activities.
Improve Shop Floor Operations with Industry 4.0 In Manufacturing
Digitize Each Process
Recognizing machine availability, idle state, running status, efficiency, and product quality data in real-time is crucial for any shop floor supervisor or manager to meet the actual vs. target production for that day.
Digitizing the manufacturing operations enables everyone on the shop floor to precisely comprehend machine parameters and meet day-to-day production targets.
With real-time data collection, supervisors, operators, and plant managers can easily track the overall effectiveness of their equipment.
Track OEE Using IoT and Mobile App
Capture and monitor the accuracy of sensitive data in real-time using IoT devices to record and deliver threshold alerts to supervisors’ and plant managers. This can be done using the mobile app to examine each machine's performance and efficiency. The data acquired by the OEE monitoring software will aid the organization in increasing its overall productivity rate.
Keep Track of Product Counts
Monitoring production in real-time is difficult for most operators, but digitizing the process with a TV dashboard enables operators to keep track of the number of goods produced on the machine. A production monitoring system allows operators to keep track of the number of products manufactured each day compared to the expected number.
Assign Tasks Dynamically
Supervisors spend considerable time allocating jobs to operators and tracking their efficiency. Digitizing job card processes makes it easy for supervisors to assign tasks seamlessly to operators on a shift or transfer tasks to others in the absence of an operator via automation. It also efficiently tracks each operator's performance across multiple changes.
Keep Track of Machine Failures
Maintaining accurate machine uptime and downtime records is a constant challenge for operators. With the arrival of industry 4.0 technologies such as industrial IoT solutions in the market, operators now have real-time data on machine uptime and downtime, allowing for smooth analysis of machine performance. In addition, preventive maintenance software helps operators and managers monitor equipment data while on the go. Unplanned downtime and frequent repairs are incredibly costly, and prevention is critical to achieving a higher return on investment.
Utilize Data with a Predictive Maintenance System
Tracking machine data and identifying machine downtime in real-time can significantly lower the TCO (Total Cost of Ownership). Collecting machine data for at least five years and evaluating it using a predictive maintenance system powered by AI and machine learning will help your organization reduce unplanned downtime or unexpected machine failures and increase production.
In the future, with predictive maintenance software, industrial businesses can figure out what will happen to their machinery and how to avoid it.
Many manufacturing organizations have already begun to utilize the potential of industry 4.0 solutions to improve their day-to-day operations and efficiency to satisfy the ever-changing and expanding needs of their customers, resulting in an increased return on investment.
Final Word
Industry 4.0 technologies enable firms to optimize their daily manufacturing operations and business processes in various ways. As a result, industry 4.0 solutions are generating significant interest in the industry, and several businesses are implementing them on their shop floors. Apple, Amazon, General Electrics, Siemens, Ford, and Bosch are some of the industry's biggest employers of industry 4.0 solutions.
However, manufacturers must implement these industry 4.0 technologies correctly. Instead of going with the flow, examine your business requirements and choose the appropriate technological implementation.
FAQ
Why is Industry 4.0 so critical?
Industry 4.0 technology helps you control and optimize your manufacturing and supply chain processes. It provides real-time data and insights to help you make better business decisions, increasing your company's productivity and profitability.
What is Industry 4.0's key objective?
Industry 4.0's primary purpose is to propel manufacturing forward: make it faster, more efficient, and customer-centric. Also, push beyond automation and optimization in search of new business prospects and models.
What are the benefits of smart manufacturing?
Improved efficiency, leaner processes, maximum flexibility, enhanced agility, innovation, and higher-quality products are some of the significant benefits of smart manufacturing.
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Article | December 13, 2021
Lean manufacturing principles enable manufacturing businesses to achieve spectacular results and overhaul their conventional operations. A wide range of industries have adopted lean manufacturing because of its enormous advantages, and they have seen excellent results as a result.
The 2010 Compensation Data Manufacturing survey indicated that 69.7% of manufacturing organizations employ lean manufacturing principles. By consuming this data, we can understand how far organizations have progressed toward incorporating lean principles into their operations.
“Many companies are not willing to change or think they are done once they make a change. But the truth is technology, consumer demands; the way we work, human needs, and much more are constantly changing.”
–Michael Walton, Director, Manufacturing Industry Executive at Microsoft
Let's look at some examples of lean manufacturing from some well-known companies. These leading-edge examples of lean manufacturing will shed light on how lean principles positively affect.
Leading Companies Using Lean Manufacturing Effectively
Successful manufacturing businesses like Toyota, Nike, and Caterpillar are currently employing lean manufacturing ideas in their production processes. In addition, Intel, Parker Hannifin, and John Deere embrace these techniques. From them, we've described three different organizations in various sectors that are successfully adopting lean manufacturing.
JOHN DEERE
John Deere has also implemented a lean manufacturing strategy. As a result, many of their quality control procedures are automated, which means that more components can be checked for flaws in less time. This means that more supply can be released each day, and the product can be supplied at a lower price to the consumer.
Additionally, these controls monitor the manufacturing process for each component of their products, ensuring that they never manufacture more than is required and waste essential materials in the process.
INTEL
Intel, known for its computer processors, has used lean manufacturing techniques to provide a higher quality product for an industry that requires zero defects. In the past, it took more than three months to get a microprocessor to the manufacturer, but this principle has helped shorten that time to less than ten days.
Intel rapidly learned that creating more but worse quality was not the way to raise revenues and increase consumer satisfaction with its products, which were extremely precise and technical. Instead, both parties gain from quality control and waste reduction initiatives. This is even true in the tech industry, where goods are constantly changed and upgraded.
TOYOTA
Toyota, the world's largest automaker, was the first to implement lean manufacturing in its manufacturing operations. But, even more importantly, they've learned how to limit products that don't match customer expectations by eliminating waste. To achieve these goals, Toyota employs two essential procedures.
The first is a method known as Jidoka, which loosely translates as "automation with the assistance of humans." This implies that, although some of the work is automated, humans always ensure that the result is of the highest quality.
When something goes wrong, the machines have built-in programs that allow them to shut themselves down. Known as the Just In Time (JIT) model, this is the second stage. Once the last part of a process has been finished, the next phase can begin. No unnecessary work will be done if there is a problem with the assembly line. This lean manufacturing technique has inspired thousands of other businesses.
Final Words
Lean manufacturing principles and their execution require discipline and patience to get the results out of them. When we see the successful lean manufacturing examples, it is not a fraction of a second success. They have devoted their time, energy, and efforts to modifying every single operational process in order to become a part of lean manufacturing. Lean manufacturing is not a method; it is a way of life that transforms your business practices and takes your firm to a new level of operations. Gain insights from renowned organizations' lean manufacturing success stories to help you become a part of the lean companies of 2022.
FAQ
What is the effect of lean manufacturing?
Lean is a performance-based, continuous-improvement strategy that removes waste and unnecessary processes from organizational operations. As a result, your company becomes more focused on the results.
Is it possible for lean manufacturing to fail?
It is conceivable in some circumstances, such as failing to focus on a single system implementation or implementing too many system changes at once and failing to have a sound follow-up system to check that everything is working effectively.
Why do certain businesses struggle with lean manufacturing?
Most businesses fail to see that lean is a management philosophy, not a set of tools. As a result, most corporate leaders either don't understand or lack the patience and control to implement lean manufacturing.
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Article | December 8, 2021
An agile manufacturing strategy is one that places a strong priority on responding quickly to the needs of the customer, resulting in a major competitive advantage.
It is a captivating method to build a competitive work system in today's fast-moving marketplace. An agile organization must be able to adapt quickly to take advantage of limited opportunities and rapid shifts as per client demand. Agile manufacturing is gaining favor among manufacturers due to its several benefits, including increased work productivity and good control over the final deliverable. Furthermore, the shorter time to market is expanding the global market for enterprise agile transformation services.
According to Market Watch, with a CAGR of 17.9% from 2019 to 2026, the US enterprise agile transformation services market is predicted to reach $18,189.32 million by 2026.
So why is agile manufacturing gaining traction? What challenges do manufacturers encounter when implementing agile manufacturing, and how have industry leaders like GE, Adobe, and Accenture effectively implemented agile methodology in their organizations and become the best examples of agile manufacturing? In this article, we'll take a closer look at each point.
What Is the Importance of Agile Manufacturing?
The term "agile manufacturing" refers to the use of a variety of different technologies and methodologies in the production process. In order to meet market standards and criteria, organizations must be able to adapt quickly and effectively to their customers' needs by bringing agility to manufacturing. To ensure the quality of products and the cost of production are kept to a minimum, agile manufacturing helps firms to regulate their end product.
Because it immediately addresses the needs and worries of the clients, it is an effective strategy as well. By using this method, firms may better understand the market and use it to their advantage by creating products that meet the needs of their customers.
Challenges While Adopting Agile Methodologies on a Project
When we talk about agile challenges when implementing it on any project, some will be routine and some will be unique. So, let's get a quick grasp on the agile challenges.
Communication about the project: Clear communication between the development team and the product owner is critical throughout the project development life cycle. Any miscommunication can have an impact on the product's quality and the end result of the entire process.
Managing the day-to-day operational challenges: Throughout the project, daily minor or large operations play a significant impact on the overall project output. Any obstacles encountered when working on everyday chores should be resolved immediately to avoid any delays or halts in the process.
To make it function, you'll need experience: Any inexperienced product owners, scrum masters, or individuals new to the agile approach may have a negative impact on the project's expected output.
Various project contributors' buy-in: Inadequate training, a lack of motivation to show up from project participants, keeping customers in the loop, and a lack of departmental management are some of the problems that may hinder the accurate implementation of the agile methodology. The presence of one or more of these obstacles in any business or project may jeopardize the agile methodology and its total output.
Though there are many online training courses and books available on how to integrate agile practices into your project, each organization's scenario is unique, as are the challenges they encounter. As a result, handling the situation with experienced personnel that have a can-do attitude is what is required to make it work.
Following that, we'll look at some manufacturing business agile examples and how they've successfully implemented agile methodology in their organizations.
Agile Manufacturing Examples
We'll look at one of the most well-known industrial examples of agile manufacturing that has successfully implemented the methodology and achieved great outcomes. Take a peek at it.
Adobe
One of the most popular agile manufacturing examples in performance management revamps is Adobe. When Donna Morris was Senior Vice President of People Resources in 2012, she thought the annual performance evaluation and the stack-ranking process were bureaucratic, paperwork-heavy overly complicated, taking up too many management hours for the company. Aside from this, she discovered that it set barriers to joint efforts, creativity, and development.
The Adobe team ditched annual performance reviews and encouraged managers and employees to regularly discuss performance via a system called “Check-in.” Adobe has reduced voluntary turnover by 30% and increased voluntary departures by 50% since making the transition. Moreover, the company saved 80,000 management hours annually.
General Electric
General Electric famously overhauled its performance management system in 2015, paving the path for other global firms to follow in the electronics industry. Annual performance evaluations and the infamous rank-and-yank performance rating system (ranking employees and regularly eliminating the bottom 10%) had GE decide they needed to update their performance management system. The annual appraisals lasted a decade longer than the ranking system. They are now a more agile organization.
Instead of directing employees to attain goals, managers now guide and coach them. GE also decided to deploy an app they designed called PD@GE to facilitate regular employee feedback and productive performance discussions.
Using the app, each employee establishes priorities and solicits feedback. They can also give real-time feedback. Employees can request a face-to-face meeting at any time to discuss transparency, honesty, and continuous improvement.
These traits will not arise quickly and will require motivation and commitment for self-growth.
Accenture
According to Accenture's previous system, employees who perform well tend to be the most narcissists and self-promoters. Accenture wanted to revamp their system and reward genuine employees. So they started using on-going performance conversations while focusing on performance development.
Because it required employees to compete with coworkers who may have had a different position, Accenture decided that forced ranking was illogical. The new system is more centered on the employee and aims to assist them in becoming the best version of themselves.
Final Words
Agile manufacturing is a way to get the finest results and exceed client expectations on every project. Businesses are benefiting from agile manufacturing because it improves the end product and helps them better utilize their resources. The necessity of agile manufacturing in business is vital, and organizations must overcome the challenges they encounter while applying the agile approach to any of their projects in order to reap the benefits of agile production.
FAQ
How does agile manufacturing help businesses?
An agile manufacturing process enables organizations to respond to client requests with flexibility when market conditions change, as well as regulate their intended production while preserving product quality and minimizing costs.
What is an agile organization?
Unified alignment, accountability, specialization, transparency, and cooperation are key elements in an agile organization. To guarantee these teams can work efficiently, the organization must maintain a solid environment.
What are the core elements of agility?
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools are the four values of the Agile Methodology. A working program is preferable to in-depth documentation. During contract negotiation, the customer's cooperation is valued.
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