Quality Applications

Zontec Synergy EQM SPC Software Benefits Provides real-time links between    operators, engineers and managers Monitors multiple parts, production    lines and departments Produces extensive customized    reports www.zontec-spc.com

SPC Software Recharges Quality for Electrical Connector Manufacturer
Zontec Synergy EQM SPC Software

ECO Electrical Connectors Inc. was looking for a way to increase its quality rating, improve its process control and boost its manufacturing capabilities. The company, which manufactures terminal blocks and connectors for printed circuit, panel, chassis and rail-mounted applications in industries such as heating, ventilation, air conditioning, industrial controls, instrumentation and telecommunications equipment, wanted to cut quality management costs by eliminating labor-intensive statistical process control (SPC) computations performed by hand. The WECO facility in Baie d'Urfe (a Montreal suburb) selected Synergy EQM, SPC software from Zontec, to meet these goals.

 Prior to implementing Synergy EQM, WECO dealt with the frustrations and expenses of rework, repair, scrap, lost time and missed delivery windows, all due to nonconforming parts. Mike Hodak, quality manager at the site, manages incoming, in-process, stock and final inspection stations. "Before Synergy EQM, inspection involved attribute counting," Hodak says. "Few measurements were made, and inspectors would insert these few measurements into spreadsheets that had all the pertinent quality data using samples grabbed from a lot. We had a few applications that required SPC, one of which was measuring screw depth. Because we were doing SPC manually with a calculator and a clipboard, it took a bit long to set up and to teach. It was a little messy."

 The major impetus for the change came after an audit from an important customer. "The audit findings were largely positive, but the customer requested that we monitor all screw heights, downtimes, conformance to set Ppk and Cpk requirements, and first-pass yield percentages, all in a certain area," Hodak explains. "This would have been impossible with the system we had before."

 Now installed in 10 computers on the production line, the SPC software monitors connection dimensions and machinery performance to prevent as well as catch such parts. Mitutoyo gages attached to the computers take automatic readings from the manufactured parts, which saves a great deal of time over recording the measurements by hand. Operators evaluate production machines in real time so that they can stop and adjust the machines when necessary to prevent defects and perform better machine output diagnostics. Diagnostic tools used include X-bar and R, attribute, Pareto, and gage repeatability and reproducibility charts. Other charting features and capabilities include histograms with normal and non-normal data, process capability and process performance charts, and summary and run charts.

 Results have come quickly for WECO. Real-time monitoring and the adjustments that result from it have greatly increased the number of products that pass final inspection. The return on investment took only four months due to higher productivity and increased sales (including a $200,000 sales increase on a $1 million account as a result of the facility's improved SPC methods). It also makes for a cleaner process: "There are no more charts and papers on the floor," notes Hodak. "They're all on-screen now."

 Synergy EQM can monitor processes at a single workstation or an entire plant. It has three discrete operation levels for operators, managers and engineers. The operator level offers streamlined data entry that allows users to enter data for one or more measurement characteristics with a keyboard or measuring device or both. They can then extract this information by lot number, time and date, and a host of other identifiers using the software's query function. Operators monitor the production status by means of control charts and green, yellow or red status flags. (Green signals that the process is in control, yellow means the process is experiencing some problems and red indicates that the process is out of control.) The system can also perform math functions, track gage R&R and do instantaneous trend analysis in real time.

 Although a team was established to train the operators, Hodak notes: "The operators can teach each other. And even better, they can't damage the system through human error--say, by entering incorrect data--at the operator level."

 The manager-level capabilities allow users to monitor processes plantwide on a single screen, assemble monthly summary reports for performance comparisons, produce Cp and Cpk reports by job or process, communicate with all other system levels and view on-screen data file spreadsheets. This level also provides color-coded and audible alarms for out-of-control and out-of-specification conditions throughout the plant and status flags that indicate which jobs are active and which are not.

 At the engineer level, users can create, modify and customize job setups. Data files can be created, configured and connected, and then edited and sorted. At this level, technicians can calculate control limits, change specification limits, change subgroup sizes or transfer data to and from other software programs.

 "The engineering level allows my reliability engineer or me to create new files or review existing ones in just a few minutes," says Hodak. "It's very efficient."

 "Synergy EQM promotes better quality, continuous improvement and a better way of doing things," Hodak summarizes. "Those are tangible results."