I have an injection molded parts that is run-semi automatically. 0.5 operators are assigned to the job, and their function is to manually fill the boxes with 1,000 parts from the conveyor accumulator twice an hour, and fill the hopper with material, which should last about 45 minutes.
Any time the process stops and is re-started,we find a few flashed or non filled parts within the first few shots. The procedure is that whenever the machine has to be re-started, the accumulator is scrapped and the first 1- shots after start up are scrapped before we begin saving parts again.
After 6 months and over 1 million parts 0 PPM, our customer found 4 flashed parts and now wants a corrective action that will prevent this from re-occurring.
Part of the process is that the flash and non-fills are part of a start up, until things are settled in. We must rely on a human to follow the procedures and purge the system whenever a start up takes place, but how can you mistake-proof this type of operation without going to some type of vision system, that would totally wipe out all the profits from this job?
If you tried to built in this kind of mistake proofing up front, you would never meet the price targets on quotes. When <3PPM is not acceptable, what do you do?