Customer getting Bad Counts

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B. Maynard

We do Molding of Plastic products and seem to send product to customer either overstated and/or understated. The lead operator fills out the counts and seals up the product at this time. Our QC Insp. them stamps the outside of box confirming ready to ship. ( I was over ruled on stamping the inside of box) Management says QC is responsible for counts. I have had Non-Conformance from this. From all you other wise Men. What do you do. (We bulk pack and layer pack) Also weigh scale. Thanks Bill

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A

Al Dyer

D.

It really ticks me off when I hear that management considers "Quality" responsible for things that are out of their control.

Are they just looking for a scapegoat?

I can only suggest you set aside the time to do a study on the counts in the cartons of finished product. You need ammunition to quantify your point.

By doing this you will show that there is a process failure and there needs to be a corrective action initiated.

From the sounds of your message, there are bigger problems with management structure, commitment, and thought process.

ASD...
 
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D. Scott

I'm not sure you should be so hard on management until we find out all the facts here. We too have the same problem with our molded parts especially with the very small ones. Weigh counting is commonly used and we supplement this with a count made on our vision system during the qualifying process.
If management is saying QC is responsible as relates to appropriate methods and suitability of measurement techniques (including counting methods)I tend to agree. Who else in the company should be responsible? The point is more - how do we resolve the count problem? This is certainly a quality issue. When you deal with bulk packaging, there is always a degree of inaccuracy using piece counts. It is compounded the smaller the product gets. To resolve this, we always make sure we have the customers agreement to understate. Most customers can live with extra parts - they complain when you don't send enough. Your degree of overfill has to depend on the product and the degree of comfort required as well as the obvious business considerations. Bottom line is - if the customer has no objection, overpack. It will save money in the long run. If this is impractical, you have no choice but to count (physical, vision system, more accurate piece counter).
Whatever direction you go - good luck.
 
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