QC Department Inspection Manpower Sufficiency

Hello Cove members,

I'm having a doubt currently where our production floor consists of 26 injection molding machines with only 2 QC inspectors per shift (2 shifts of 12 hrs) doing dimension checking of 5 pcs/hour on appearance check.

They are doing dimension checking for some parts for some customers as well (each customer 10 pcs for critical dimension check).

The rest of the time they are doing 100% inspection for the parts, as currently even this in place, still we are having quite a number of issues.

Average number of machines running everyday is around 16-22 machines

Shall I reorganize the QC inspectors daily task or increase the number of manpower to make it more effective?

Any suggestion to improve this

Re: QC department manpower sufficiency

Are the 16-22 machines automatic ?
If so, what are the production operators doing ??

Re: QC department manpower sufficiency

somashekar said:

Are the 16-22 machines automatic ?
If so, what are the production operators doing ??

Click to expand...

Yes, we are running toothbrush body, household products, bins, industrial containers and most of the parts have flashing which need an operator or two for rework or trimming process.

I have a thought where since current activities done by QC (which is the same since company establishment 15 years ago) doesn't make any improvement, i'm thinking to change their hourly inspection and sampling rate which is currently from 5pcs hourly to 25 pcs per every 2 hours (appearance and dimension check), any thought for this suggestion?

Inputs are welcome

KCIPOH said:

The rest of the time they are doing 100% inspection for the parts, as currently even this in place, still we are having quite a number of issues.

Click to expand...

If there continues to be a large number of issues despite the current inspection process, rather than do more of it (i.e, quantity) have you considered reviewing WHAT they inspect (i.e., quality)?

• Are they looking at the right characteristics / details?
• What is the process for when they find an issue?
• Can production not inspect their own work, possibly providing a 'pride in workmanship' culture instead of a 'push out as many parts as possible' attitude?

Sometimes MORE is not better...looking at WHAT they do, HOW they do it, and WHY they do it - in other words, investigate and determine what value the inspections add - can provide more benefit.

RCBeyette said:

If there continues to be a large number of issues despite the current inspection process, rather than do more of it (i.e, quantity) have you considered reviewing WHAT they inspect (i.e., quality)?

• Are they looking at the right characteristics / details?
• What is the process for when they find an issue?
• Can production not inspect their own work, possibly providing a 'pride in workmanship' culture instead of a 'push out as many parts as possible' attitude?

Sometimes MORE is not better...looking at WHAT they do, HOW they do it, and WHY they do it - in other words, investigate and determine what value the inspections add - can provide more benefit.

Click to expand...

Hello Roxane,

• Are they looking at the right characteristics / details?

I think they (QC inspectors) are looking at the right characteristics.

• What is the process for when they find an issue?

This is the hard part as it can covers area such as process
parameters, barrel cleaning, method or any other which could be
possible.

• Can production not inspect their own work, possibly providing a 'pride in workmanship' culture instead of a 'push out as many parts as possible' attitude?

A briefing was conducted daily before start work in the morning to all
the operators but as most of the operators are foreign workers. they
sometimes are not so sensitive to the critical issue and this has
greatly involve of their attitude as well.

but your advice will be a good guide for me to go in a right direction.

Please feel free to comment whenever you have any new inputs in the coming time

Re: QC department manpower sufficiency

KCIPOH said:

Yes, we are running toothbrush body, household products, bins, industrial containers and most of the parts have flashing which need an operator or two for rework or trimming process.

I have a thought where since current activities done by QC (which is the same since company establishment 15 years ago) doesn't make any improvement, i'm thinking to change their hourly inspection and sampling rate which is currently from 5pcs hourly to 25 pcs per every 2 hours (appearance and dimension check), any thought for this suggestion?

Inputs are welcome

Click to expand...

Apart from total process control (%100 inspection), think about the product you are producing! Sounds like mass production of injection molded plastics. Is there an industry standard? Are there Government requirements? You are a caring employee that want's to see the best product produced in your industry sent to viable customers. Please keep up the good work and keep questioning the powers that be.

Al...

Re: QC department manpower sufficiency

Al Dyer said:

Apart from total process control (%100 inspection), think about the product you are producing! Sounds like mass production of injection molded plastics. Is there an industry standard? Are there Government requirements? You are a caring employee that want's to see the best product produced in your industry sent to viable customers. Please keep up the good work and keep questioning the powers that be.

Al...

Click to expand...

Hello Al,

Thank you for your complement, it has been a great encouragement for me to go further. The reason i brought questions up is because i'm looking for a guidance that will lead me into changing the situation to be more effective instead of doing the same work day in day out and everyone in the production floor are busy and at the same time still the rejects have never improve to be better, another reason is i saw others can handle their job as QA very well and in tackling problems effectively to a secure and controlled state in their respective manufacturing operation, so why i can't be as competent as like them? like so many highly experienced Cove Members which have helped me a lot so far.

I am really appreciate that The Cove, 1 stop solution in answering doubt and queries for manufacturing operation, which have allowed so many experienced and expert from top management to share their thought and experience in helping those in need like myself to be better day by day in our field, THANKS GOD!!! GOOD JOB and WELL DONE TO ELSMAR.COM and COVE MEMBERS

There is some industry standard and we are try to follow it from time to time but not so effective, but I don't think that there is any government requirement on the quality or how we make it better.

By the way Al, can you hep me further describe on what you mean by 'think about the product you are producing!', not understand?

Look forward for your help

KCIPOH,

Nothing condescending implied. What I meant by the statement was that industries require a differing level of precision for the products they produce.

-If a company produces a critical engine part for a 747, that part will be held to a tight tolerance and possibly a 100% inspection level before shipment. That same company may also provide an injection molded plastic floor molding that has no critical application and would probably have less stringent tolerances and would probably not need 100% inspection before shipment.

All part of pre-production and the level of continuing process control.

I hope this helped.

Al...

Al Dyer said:

KCIPOH,

Nothing condescending implied. What I meant by the statement was that industries require a differing level of precision for the products they produce.

-If a company produces a critical engine part for a 747, that part will be held to a tight tolerance and possibly a 100% inspection level before shipment. That same company may also provide an injection molded plastic floor molding that has no critical application and would probably have less stringent tolerances and would probably not need 100% inspection before shipment.

All part of pre-production and the level of continuing process control.

I hope this helped.

Al...

Click to expand...

Hello Al,

Thank you for your explanation

Hi KC,

I've been in Molding industry for quite sometime. The problem does not lies on your QC workload. The problem lies on your process . Fixed your process and the rest will follow. Currently our company running 40 machine fully auto with an average of 5 critical dimension to measure. Our QC ration is 1: 8 same with operator . A very Lean manufacturing.How we do this ? Scientific molding..and fixed what ever problem youve encounter during validation be it mold /machine /auxilliaries. A stable process will give you a good part

Kuyakut