Manufacturing data come from many sources and in many formats. A software solution can link these fragmented data sources and is a key aid in producing a higher quality product.

Manufacturing quality leaders are increasingly challenged to deliver improved value for their organizations. To do so, they must be willing to change the status quo.

To compare and align products and processes—even processes running on different lines and in different plants—take a look at the versatile box-and-whisker chart.

Collecting SPC data shouldn’t be just another task to add to your operators’ checklists. Give operators the power to use information—in real time—and positively impact quality.

It is a fact. Every company experiences scrap, rework and downtime. Unfortunately, many companies still don’t know how to predict and manage the impact of these events on their time, budgets, and quality.

Data isn’t everything. But it’s perhaps the main thing standing between you and a successful project. Continuous improvement takes effort, but more than anything, it takes solid information and analysis. In other words, wouldn’t it be more helpful to use statistical process control to find out where your process is going wrong, rather than just a hunch?

The key to adapting successfully is not whether you use SPC-based quality management solutions, but how you get the most out of them as we move further into the 21st century.

Over a career that spans 40 years, Steve Gruler has struggled with the fact that quality seems to be a soft term. “Companies often say, ‘We’ve got great quality. We’ve got the best quality,’ and they’re looking at customer complaints and certification systems as their primary metrics,” he attests. 

Until recently, most consumer electronics from different companies were designed to be incompatible with one another. This has led to the average person realizing, to varying degrees, that they live in an Apple, Google, or Amazon-dominated household.

Picture a plant floor that is updating operators, managers and even other plants about potential machine problems. It would connect one machine to another and one system to the next. In order to maintain the highest quality, the systems would monitor any data that seems out of order or check on the line in process.