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These procedures apply to raw materials, components, subcontract operations, work in progress and finished products. |
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Our assurance methods being used are the Certificate of Conformance, Ship-to-Stock Program, AQL sampling plan and full inspection. |
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The data are collected, analyzed and distributed to all operational departments, suppliers and customers. |
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The Quality Manager reports to the President and holds the accountability of outgoing product quality. |
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Statistical Process Control (SPC) is a key component of our quality program. The SPC plan progresses in three phases: data collection (monitoring), process control (performance studies), and process improvement (process capability). Quality improvement teams (QITs), composed of the process engineers, shop supervisors, and representatives from Quality, identify the critical processes. The process engineer is responsible for completing performance studies on all nodes and calculating process capability (CP) indices for each node. The QIT seeks to reduce variation at all critical nodes. In addition to driving process improvements, the team has procedures for corrective action on all quality-related problems within its area of responsibility. It evaluates the potential impact of each problem in terms of customer satisfaction, performance, reliability, safety, and cost. Cause and effect are determined, and significant variables are identified.
The teams' control extends to remedial actions both on work in progress and on devices already shipped. If indicated, recall procedures and decision processes are implemented immediately to preserve customer confidence.
Based on its findings, the team recommends and implements changes to manufacturing, packing, shipping, and storage processes, or it revises specifications, or makes recommendations for improvements in the quality system. The team then tracks the successful implementation of its recommendations and monitors the results. |
