Corrective Action Tracking System Improves Data Access
AssurX's CATSWeb
Solectron Corp., headquartered
in Milpitas, California, provides a full range of global
manufacturing and supply-chain management services to the
world's premier high-tech electronics companies. The company
grew by providing circuit board assembly services to the
dense circle of electronics companies located in the Silicon
Valley. Founded in 1977, the two-time winner of the Malcolm
Baldrige National Quality Award was looking for an automated
system to extend failure process analysis to customer locations.
Solectron had no way of tracking and reporting product
problems nor querying information that needed to be addressed
immediately. When customers would demand data, engineers
would have to stop what they were doing, spend several hours
per week compiling data and producing reports--all of which
were completely paper-based. This caused numerous productivity
and data-compilation problems; paper-based systems are known
to be inefficient and can become outdated in a matter of
hours.
AssurX's CATSWeb is a Web-based, zero-client corrective
action tracking system designed to help firms track issues
and problems from identification through disposition and
corrective action. Some applications for CATSWeb include
manufacturing defects, audits and findings, customer complaints,
supplier returns, and corrective and preventive analysis.
First launched in 1995 as idsCATS, the traditional client/server-based
product was eliminated by AssurX in favor of a Web-based
version. AssurX realized the importance of the Internet
architecture early on and decided to reengineer the product
in 1998.
CATSWeb was chosen by Solectron because customers who
were standardized on Sun Solaris or other Unix-based systems
were able to retrieve and enter data without problems associated
with other Web-based systems that rely on Java, JavaScript
or VBScript code on the client browsers. Any type of browser
could be used to access CATSWeb around the world, and with
CATSWeb, Solectron was able to produce instantaneous dynamic
reports in real time, greatly increasing the visibility
of the problem.
Solectron opted for AssurX's hosted solution, as opposed
to installing the system in house, in order to free up IT
resources and show potential and existing customers how
efficient the company's problem resolution was. Using CATSWeb,
the company has increased efficiency and productivity, eliminated
multiple databases, minimized report generation and decreased
response time. Solectron has also improved failure analysis
turnaround times by 68 percent and improved communication
internally between manufacturing sites as well as with customers.
"CATSWeb has been invaluable to us," says Maria
Munio, site quality manager at Solectron's Milpitas headquarters.
"It has significantly improved communication internally
and the relationships with our customers and suppliers.
Specifically, it's improved failure analysis turnaround
times, which effectively decreased the time it takes to
solve problems and close corrective actions."
Solectron has plans for the implementation of CATSWeb
to include supplier management, bringing in the service
group and new product introduction, as well as using CATSWeb
as a workflow tool to manage projects. This will provide
communication with the customer, facilitate project execution
within teams and allow Solectron to share real-time information
between sites.
AssurX's CATSWeb
- Central repository of data
- Self-governing
- Provides automatic e-mail notification
- Comprehensive escalation to ensure timely actions
www.assurx.com
|
