Industrial Strength Data Collection for Your ERP System

I recently visited a major medical device company and was told that the company needed to increase the volume of parts passing through their receiving inspection department. I was given a tour of the receiving inspection area and immediately noticed that the company had made a large investment in various types of metrology devices. The receiving inspection area included a coordinate measuring machine, several optical comparators, vision systems, height gages, and digital indicators, all with the capabilities of interfacing with data collection software.

Current Situation

The quality manager showed me how inspectors evaluate incoming lots. I was told that the ERP system manages quality information and maintains histories on parts received from suppliers. I observed the entire inspection process from beginning to end and noted the following tasks being performed.

• Inspectors measure each dimension and then manually record the value on a paper checksheet. Some of the dimensions use calculated values taken from other dimensions and inspectors must perform arithmetic calculations using calculators.

• Inspectors pay attention to the number of parts that fall within specification limits. The number of parts accepted and rejected is entered into the ERP system and the inspector makes a final disposition to accept or reject the lot. The checksheet containing the raw data is electronically scanned and stored in the ERP system.

It became readily apparent to me that efficiency levels could be realized if inspection data could be captured and stored directly by the ERP system, thereby eliminating the time consuming and error prone process of recording measurements by hand. The quality manager reported to me that management had failed to take this into account upon purchasing the quality module from their ERP vendor.

Solution

The company undertook an investigation and determined that inspection throughput could be increased by 47% by investing in a new quality system that included a data collection interface. The chosen system also featured an integrated non-conformance reporting system and escalation management capabilities to improve communications with suppliers around the world. Additional cost savings were attained when it was discovered that the new quality system could interface directly with the existing ERP system and provide data output in Excel formats for their six-sigma teams.

Conclusion

The foundation of a good quality system is data integrity and without the proper tools in place the entire system is put at risk. ERP systems were designed to report business metrics, not quality metrics. Manual data collection of supplier data is prone to error when using checksheets and calculators.

When selecting a quality management system, you want a system that can leverage the investments you have made in your business management systems and metrology equipment. A quality system with electronic data collection is the right tool for the job.

#QualityImprovement #ERP