These are turbulent times. We are inundated daily by the media with bad news about the economy. We’ve heard about declining markets, job loss, home foreclosures, declining net worth and evaporating 401(k) plans. Certainly, the news is unsettling, but this country has been there before and survived, and we will overcome again!
I am sure everyone at General Motors (GM) is thinking about how everyone else is using GM’s misery as an opportunity. It is okay to learn from others’ mistakes. Does that mean GM is the only one that made mistakes? Absolutely not.
I still get asked questions that were answered many times years ago and wondered why this could be. The answer is simple: Years ago, the people involved in calibration or product inspection got their jobs after serving time as machinists and toolmakers. Today, people are plugged into these areas without the same kind of experience so they’re starting from square one.
I was in Detroit during the National Summit held June 15-17. I did not have the chance to attend that event, but read many of the presentations in their entirety afterward, as well as media reports of the event.
Process mapping tools are found in every quality practitioner’s toolbox. Whether flowcharts, SIPOCs (suppliers, inputs, process, outputs, customers), mind maps or swim lanes, there is a process mapping tool that can document the process under review. Since the 1970s, when the quality movement took hold in the United States, the most often used and most widely accepted of these tools has been the flowchart. It is from this basic mapping concept that all others have emerged.
Small part measurements can lead to big problems if done incorrectly. With parts getting smaller and tolerances getting tighter, it is important to consider the measurement method and device carefully. InsituTec’s MicroTouch sensor is able to measure micro and nanoscale parts and features that currently cannot be measured using other technologies. The sensor is a dimensional measurement scanning probe based on the company’s standing wave technology.
For many shops, inspection rooms and laboratories, precision granite surface plates are relied on as the basis for accurate measurement. Because every linear measurement depends on an accurate reference surface from which final dimensions are taken, surface plates provide the best reference plane for work inspection and layout prior to machining.
During the past 10 years, changes have occurred within the supply chain that are quite possibly greater than any others seen during post-war time. As a result of these changes and pressures, the management of suppliers has become more important to ensuring that the supply base is both efficient and effective. The single largest change impacting the management of suppliers has been engendered by the global economy’s development of suppliers in low-cost regions (LCRs) such as China, India and Mexico. Suppliers in these regions are flocked to because of the labor cost advantages they can provide; however, LCR suppliers can come with some unanticipated risks.
Optical inspection is an important part of the quality process in manufacturing. It can range from quick, subjective inspection by a person to automated quantitative inspection by a machine. It can be performed off-line, where the part is removed from the manufacturing process and brought to the inspection station; on-line, where the part is inspected without removing it from the manufacturing process; or near-line, where the part is inspected near the manufacturing process so it can be returned to the manufacturing process as quickly as possible.
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