The quality of manufactured products is a key factor in a company’s success. Low prices may encourage customers to make an initial purchase, but if the quality is unsatisfactory, the same customer is unlikely to recommend the product or make a repeat purchase. The key to achieving a consistent and satisfactory level of product quality is to establish quality standards for a given type of production and to monitor them. Here, we explain what quality management in production entails and how the quality parameters in a manufacturing facility can be improved.
Checking and Evaluating Product Quality
Quality control in a production facility is an essential process. Human errors, machine malfunctions, or the use of improper raw materials in production can lead to health hazards, endanger lives, or cause property damage once the products reach the end user. In such cases, the stakes involve not just the opinion of a single customer, but the reputation of the entire industry. Product quality, safety, and compliance with legal standards have a critical impact on a brand’s image and its future in the market. For this reason, quality in production, specifically its control, has become an integral part of standard practices across all industries.
Methods of Quality Control
Methods of production quality control should be tailored to the type of product being manufactured as well as the complexity of the production process. In monitoring the flow of goods on the production line, automation and robotics provide a significant advantage. Robots equipped with visual inspection systems can halt the processing of a defective component. Completely different quality control methods are suitable for the FMCG industry. The safety of food products must be verified through laboratory testing, meaning the production line must allow for the collection of samples for sensory or microbiological analysis. To ensure worker safety, sample collection and analysis can also be handled by specially programmed robotic workstations. At Taskoprojekt S.A., we make every effort to ensure that the design and construction of machines are fully adapted to the specifics and type of production being carried out.
Production Process – Where to Place Control Points?
Quality control in a production facility aims not only to protect the end customer but also to reduce production costs. If the only control point in the entire production process is the final product inspection, the company spends money and human resources on producing items whose defects occurred at the very beginning of the line. The more expensive and less stable the raw material, the more control points should be planned along the production line. An absolute necessity is the inspection of incoming raw materials, which ensures that the supplier has delivered materials that meet the specifications outlined in the order.
Benefits of Implementing Quality Control in Production
Quality control is often viewed by many entrepreneurs as an unnecessary, costly process that hinders the release of a product to the customer. However, this perspective is not correct. Production control should be seen as an opportunity to detect nonconformities within the company before they become a subject of public criticism and long-term legal and reputational consequences. Once control points are implemented, the question will certainly arise: how to improve production quality?
The first step should be to develop standards and procedures on which all quality control guidelines can be based. Considering that the human factor is responsible for the majority of production nonconformities, a solution may be the automation of quality control and the entire production line, especially in its most routine stages. Time should also be devoted to developing a CAP for detected nonconformities, that is, a corrective action plan to ensure that a similar error does not occur again.
