Situation
Quality Manager for privately held metal fabrication company in automotive & heavy equipment industry.
Critical issue
Customer and ISO procedures require vendor to conduct periodic, destructive tests on finished product. Inspection sheets were rarely filled in completely or accurately. If the sheets were completed, the data was of little use to the company because it was not accessible in a usable format.
Reason
The inspection procedure is complex, requiring many steps, intermediate calculations and conditional branching. It is comparable to a federal income tax form. The sheets were rarely completed accurately, if at all. The volume of data made it difficult to computerize, and often a report sat in a queue for six or seven weeks before being logged in a database. Reports to customers were often delayed and incomplete, and the data was useless for process improvement.
Vision
The manager envisioned a computerized system that guided the operator through the inspection process, presenting on-screen forms that looked identical to the printed forms the operators were used to seeing. He wanted to eliminate math and transcription errors, and speed up the process by having the operator enter data directly into a computer system.
Hertzler Systems provided
We developed a custom data collection system using advanced web technologies that automated and controlled the inspection process. The new system, developed and fully deployed in less than a week, guides the inspector through the process and eliminates data manipulation and calculation. Users check buttons on forms or type in measurement values. The system calculates all other values and stores the data in a database for instant analysis and reporting.
Results
The new system reduces inspection time significantly. Additionally, data are more reliable, and instantly accessible for reports and analysis. This means faster response to potential problems, better customer service, and reduced operating costs.
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