QUALITY AT SOURCE

DEFINITION

• Quality at the source is the belief that it is far better to uncover the source of quality problems and correct it than to discard defective items after production.

• If the source of the problem is not corrected, the problem will continue.

• Quality at the source exemplifies the difference between the old and new concepts of quality.

• The OLD CONCEPT focused on inspecting goods after they were produced or after a particular stage of production. If an inspection revealed defects, the defective products were either discarded or sent back for reworking. All this costs the company money and these costs were passed on to the customer.

• The NEW CONCEPT of quality focuses on identifying quality problems at the source and correcting them

Implementing Quality at the source

In order to implement quality at the source the following items should be considered: Employee understanding of who the customer is and their requirements-Internal quality audits -Employee and team awareness of quality standards and benchmarks-Employee understanding of the customer's intended use of the product or service-Multi-skilled workforce which can provide support and help in different process steps-Required tools and technology to identify quality flaws and rectify them in an efficient manner-Proper data collection and tracking of quality faults-Open communication of standards, performance and processes

advantages

• The advantages of quality at the source are many including:

• reduction in rework expenses, reduction in production waste

• improvement in plant and process OEE(OVERALL EQUIPMENT EFFECTIVENESS)

• and most importantly the empowerment of employees in achieving the desired quality standard required by customers.

five key factors of Quality at the Source

• Standardized Work: To eliminate variation in production quality, first make sure everyone is making the product in the same manner. Document the work methods, materials, tools, machinery settings and training of each worker and work station.Focus on the methods, not on the output.If the methods are consistent, the output will be consistent.

• Self Checks: Design simple gauges to measure the key parameters of the production output at the work station. Enable the workers to measure the output themselves and if it is not to spec, raise the flag for help.

• Visual Management and Mistake proofing: if a drop in production quality is detected, a team of engineers and workers must immediately go to the work center to analyze the problem and implement corrective action. This corrective action is not something done once a week or at convenient intervals, the problem is addressed immediately when it is discovered. Why wait and continue to waste time and material on bad production?

• Mistake proofing related to analysis of the causes of the poor quality. Using root cause analysis, and other quality analysis tools you can determine the real cause of the problem, and make real changes that affect a permanent solution to the production quality. If a design has to be changed or a machine setting adjusted, there is no justification for waiting. Make the proper change and start back on production.

• Continuous Improvement: This is probably the hardest technique for management to understand. It incorporates a change in management style. As you introduce improvements to the process and quality improves, you can’t rest on your laurels. You must have a system to continuously evaluate the quality and make further improvements. In reality, you are always seeing production stoppages, but they will be of shorter duration than you saw at the start of this improvement process. You will see a constant improvement is quality and output.