Data Analysis Software Integrates with Shop-Floor
CMM
Statsoft's STATISTICA
Steelcase Inc., an international
work-effectiveness company, produces interior architectural
products, including furniture systems, technology products,
seating, lighting, storage and related services to individuals
and organizations around the world. The company currently
implements lean manufacturing, and Steelcase engineers and
quality professionals are charged with designing and maintaining
processes with the objective of producing consistently conforming
equipment that meets customer requirements while minimizing
associated costs.
Realizing that variations were apparent in the inspection
process, a team was created to improve process control for
automatic die presses and manual press brakes in the Steelcase
basic division.
Because of the noted success in its other manufacturing
facilities, Steelcase decided to use StatSoft’s STATISTICA
Enterprise-wide SPC System Interactive Quality Control Charts
to monitor inspection results. SEWSS helped to quickly identify
that measurement error was a key source of variation.
STATISTICA is a comprehensive, integrated data analysis,
graphics, database management and custom-application development
system featuring a wide selection of basic and advanced
analytic procedures for business, data mining, science and
engineering applications. “The enterprisewide nature
of SEWSS makes it easy to share data for collaborative problem
solving,” says Mike Linde, quality engineer at Steelcase.
“Current data is available for review almost anywhere.
Real-time charts and reports can be reviewed on the shop
floor, at an engineer’s desk or at a team meeting.”
The Steelcase team chose to modify the inspection method
from calipers and checking fixtures to inspection with a
shop-floor coordinate measuring machine. Technical support
from StatSoft worked with Steelcase and the CMM manufacturer
to integrate the software with the CMM. This gave the product-quality
team the ability to output the data collected directly into
the SEWSS database so the latest data could be available
for quick analysis with any of the SEWSS modules. Machine
operators using the shop-floor CMM for inspection receive
immediate feedback on the quality of key part features,
and engineers have real-time access to the CMM inspection
data for solving problems, making continuous improvements
and verifying ongoing capability. Short-term capability
improved 100 percent for some part characteristics and corrective
action requests from downstream operations were reduced
by more than 80 percent.
Statsoft's STATISTICA
- User-friendly interface
- Customizable applications
- Complete Web-enablement
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