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Quality Management System (QMS)
Plex Manufacturing Blog
Where Did My Quality Go?
Many people only look at production operations to assess quality within an operation. But quality is imperative across all departments within manufacturing. Production processes, inventory management, maintenance, and the demand and supply planning process are all critical components of quality management.However, there are two different approaches for businesses regarding these processes -…
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Beating the Devil in the Details
Imagine driving down a dark road at night. You're cruising along, listening to the radio, and suddenly, your engine dies. You look down and see the “Check Engine” light as you ease to a stop on the side of the road.If your car is older, the technology on board may tell you nothing other than that your engine has a problem. If you're lucky, and your car's onboard technology is a bit more advanced…
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Dial in Quality with Smart Manufacturing
Traditional manufacturing has always sought to build quality into the process. Initially, these systems focused on quality control which required manual data collection and analysis and lots of inspection done by people. As systems improved, companies sought to move beyond quality control and toward quality assurance to prevent defects....
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A New Look at the Cost of Quality
The cost of quality has been a manufacturing KPI for generations. By understanding the cost of waste, rework, and scrap, companies can develop continuous improvement strategies that reduce or eliminate defects.Many manufacturers rely on technology to strive for 100% quality, which lets them focus on continuous improvement and leads to significant savings when combined with the right tools and…
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Plan – Do – Check – Act: An Essential Quality Management System Framework
What makes a good Quality Management System (QMS) tick?After all, you want to be able to rely on a QMS to help you achieve and maintain the highest level of quality control and quality assurance while meeting the modern needs of your manufacturing enterprise. It’s a big ask from any software system, but when your QMS employs the Plan-Do-Check-Act method, or PDCA, it can turn your current state…
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Workforce, Quality, and Technology: Old Struggles, New Angles
The Precision Metalforming Association (PMA) hosted the Metal Stamping Technology Conference recently in Nashville, Tennessee. A dynamic, thoughtful, and somewhat frustrated group gathered to talk through the state of manufacturing, the biggest challenges, and how we can begin to address those challenges with technology after we’ve started taking care of people and processes first....
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Your 6 Steps to Quality Management Success
Meeting customer demand, maintaining regulatory requirements, and competing in a global market all hinge on one critical aspect of your manufacturing business: product quality....
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Quality Management in an Age of Disruptive Supply Chains
Once upon a time, it was easier. For decades, supply chains stabilized globally, allowing companies to source components confidently and manage their supply chain plans with Lean methodology. And while supply chain complexity increased during this time, the ability to span the globe and know their materials would arrive on time....
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North American Food Safety and Quality: Your NAFS22 Recap
NAFS22 came packed with insights, ideas, and a shared call to action to achieve food safety and quality like we’ve never seen before. After days of conversations and presentations, the key question that remains is: how do we achieve this, particularly on a national and international scale? Of the many topics discussed over the last several days, these are the ones that stood out most:...
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The Shift to Electric Vehicles and Its Impact on Automotive Suppliers
The inevitable shift to electric vehicles is here and its impact on automotive suppliers will be drastic. OEMs are making major commitments to reduce their carbon footprint and eliminate their internal combustion engine (ICE) fleets. General Motors, for example, has made a commitment to be completely carbon neutral in their global products and operations by 2040 and eliminate tailpipe emissions…
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