How to ensure quality with your manufacturing

Producing a product that is of high quality is of extreme importance when you are in the manufacturing business. There are a number of different ways to ensure quality with your manufacturing. There are a couple of different ways to go about looking at quality control. One of them is looking at the physical composition and product performance, and the other is looking at your employees and how you manage them, or Lean Manufacturing. Both play a big role in how you can ensure quality with your manufacturing plant.

Physical Composition and Product Performance

Testing


• Quality testing and inspections is one way to help ensure quality products from your manufacturing company. You can hire someone to come in and perform the testing, or sometimes you can have an automated inspection. Automated testing is only done with certain types of industries so make sure you check into it before you get excited about doing it. Sometimes manufacturing companies can hire individuals within their own company to do the testing. This is popular among companies as they don't have to hire another person they don't know or trust. It saves the company valuable time and money.


• Computer software can also be a great way to ensure quality products in your manufacturing company. There are many software programs available to help ensure product quality but it might take some time and research finding the one that is right for your manufacturing plant.

Lean Manufacturing
Lean manufacturing is a fairly new concept but many manufacturing plants have already adopted its tools and techniques to increase and ensure quality production. Lean Manufacturing is "the production of goods using less than everything compared to mass production" according to the encyclopedia. The idea behind Lean manufacturing is to:


• Use less waste. The eight main sources of waste are overproduction, waiting, transportation, non-value processing, excess inventory, excess motion, underutilized people


•  Use less human effort


•  Use less manufacturing space


•  Use less investment money in tools


•  Use less engineering time to develop a new product.

Lean Manufacturing main goal is to improve overall customer value and product value but also has some specific techniques to implement the idea. Six Sigma is often associated with the term because it too places an emphasis on reduction of waste. There are seven major wastes that are dealt with. By having more control on the reduction of waste, you can control the earnings and expenditure of the manufacturing plant. As the amount of waste is reduced, the quality of product is increased.

The five stages associated with Lean Manufacturing are as follows:


• Sort. This is the first stage of Lean Manufacturing. The idea is that you organize everything in order to only leave room for the materials and tools necessary to perform daily activities.


•  Set. The second stage involves arrangement of needed items.


•  Shine. Keeping everything clean and safe helps to maintain a safe work environment which in turn increases productivity.


•  Standardize. Creating a consistent approach to carrying out tasks and procedures.


•  Sustain. This is the last stage of the 5S program. This stage is the commitment and discipline of all the stages combined. Everything must be maintained in order to improve the workplace and ensure product quality.

Lean Manufacturing is a great way and a systematic approach to identifying and eliminating the waste, and increasing the quality of product for manufacturing companies. With this concept, and using testing to ensure quality in manufacturing can help your company reach its goals.

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Categories: Manufacturing, Quality,

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