This SPC package manages data in a variety of ways across multiple machines and processes. Photo: InfinityQS International

Siemens Diesel Systems Technology (SDST, Richland County, SC), a joint venture between Siemens Automotive Corp. and NLP Inc., a subsidiary of International Truck and Engine Corp., needed a statistical process control (SPC) software solution to manage the quality of its diesel fuel injectors. The fuel injectors are used in the Power Stroke diesel engine built by International for Ford Motor Co.'s Super Duty trucks, Econoline vans and Excursion sport utility vehicles.

The company compiled a list of more than 30 features that it wanted in its SPC software. Among the features that SDST wanted for its quality system include:

• A user-friendly platform.

• Ability to perform repeatability and reproducibility at the gage station and send soft copies to a central system.

• SPC charts that are displayed only when a flag occurs.

• Ability to view charts online from anywhere in the facility.

• Solution that handles unilateral characteristics correctly.

• Ability to display several group control charts on one screen.

• Capability of collecting information from all systems and printing out reports in a central location.

Siemens decided that InfinityQS International's (Manassas, VA) SPC software best met the fuel injector manufacturer's needs.

"We needed an SPC package that could manage data in a variety of ways across multiple machines and processes based on the customers' needs," says Mike O'Shields, quality engineer at SDST.

According to O'Shields, InfinityQS met all the company's major requirements. SDST is now able to collect and analyze more than 1 million data points per day across the entire plant, according to O'Shields. In addition, the quality system at SDST has been recognized by Siemens VDO Automotive Corp. as "Best Practice." Siemens Corp. annually audits each of its facilities on 115 manufacturing categories-quality systems being one of those categories.

"InfinityQS worked closely with SDST to determine how to best satisfy [SDST's] specific goals and requirements, many of which were unique to their particular manufacturing environment," says president of InfinityQS International, Michael Lyle.

sidebar: Benefits

• The solution offers a user-friendly interface.

• The software is capable of collecting information from all systems and printing reports from a central location.

• It is possible to perform repeatability and reproducibility at the gage station and send soft copies to a central system.