What is QA/QC optimization?
For many products, the inspector can work off of the buyer’s list of requirements, use common measuring devices, and there is no need to improve that process.
However, when a lot of inspection work is spent on repetitive tasks, there is often a better & faster way to do that work. And, if there is doubt as to whether the criteria and the method really discriminate against bad products, there is always a way to verify it!
Why choose this solution?
If you are not satisfied with your current quality standard and inspection method this is a good option.
Who needs to perform QA/QC optimization?
A manufacturer or importer of products with relatively high quality requirements.
Specifically, if you buy mechanical products with many measurement points, or if some pass/fail criteria are not easy to communicate and enforce.
What services do we offer as a part of our QA/QC Inspection Optimization collection?
Depending on the product and your requirements, the “QC standard” might be a specifications sheet, a set of approved samples, and/or a set of boundary samples.
The objective is avoiding arguments when production has started and issues are found.
An important objective is also to indicate what checkpoints and measurement points are ‘critical-to-quality’. It helps make the right decisions on what the inspectors should spend most of their time checking.
The most basic document you need is a product checklist. For a simple product, we can prepare this for 99 USD. Other types of work are billed based on the number of hours needed.
If you have regular productions handled by a supplier, working on a QA plan will help you:
- Identify what components come with the highest risks
- Take into account custom parts, surface treatments and similar processing steps, and other sources of risks
- Map the suppliers associated with the above risks, if you have visibility
- Identify some of the worst failure modes that may come with your product
- Suggest a plan for mitigating those risks
Note, not all this work should be done by our company. If your supplier is cooperative, we can help them set up a self-inspection plan in good conditions.
Using a caliper and a micrometer to check whether the dimensions are within specifications may be extremely time consuming. If that’s the case on your product, there is probably a way to set a gauge or a fixture and make dimensional checks up to 50 times faster!
This is very common for bike frames, for example. We can’t show examples of our work for our clients, but here is an example of a checking fixture we found on the web:
(This is also very useful for the manufacturer’s self-inspections.)
If there is a doubt on the ability of your manufacturer’s ability to discriminate between good and bad product, we can look into the following points:
- Do they use the right equipment and do they follow the right method?
- Is their testing/measuring equipment within calibration? Does it have the right precision?
- Have they conducted a gauge repeatability & reproducibility (GR&R) to confirm accuracy, or should we set up such a study for them?
Examples of GR&R on variable data:
- Do inspectors find the same measurements when they check the same parts several times?
- Do all 5 inspectors working at the factory find the same measurements?
Example of GR&R on attribute data:
- Do all inspectors make the same pass/fail call when they evaluate a color difference?
What does it cost?
The cost depends on the nature of the work. 100% inspection for simple products can be inexpensive, while complex products and time-consuming packing will raise our quotation.
Please get a quotation based on your specific needs and discuss booking your project by hitting the button below.
