Meta. It’s a term that means “self-reference” and was born in postmodernism, a description of the ideology, culture, and literature of the late 2oth century. Postmodernism, particularly in regard to literature, is marked by the rise of dark humor, unreliable narrators, and parody as a way to comment on our world in a fresh and interesting way. Think M. Night Shyamalan and plot-twists.
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?
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.
Statistical process control (SPC) charts are used in quality-focused facilities to monitor process output on a continual basis and alert process operators, managers and the support staff in real-time when the process is shifting towards an undesirable condition.
As with every other function in modern manufacturing operations, inspection is subject to the management team’s efforts at cost control or cost containment. It is good business sense to maximize the value of every dollar spent, but it also means that hard choices must be made when selecting handheld gages.
Vision systems provide peace of mind when it comes to production quality but they can also generate valuable data that tracks process variability. Diving into the world of vision data can seem overwhelming, but with the right tips and tricks you can set up a system to work for you.
Leak testing is a method of product quality control that identifies manufacturing inconsistencies by porosity testing a manufactured part or system leaks.