The Challenge: Eliminating Subjectivity
Relying on the judgement of even the most experienced quality inspectors to determine what is acceptable (or not) as products roll off the production line creates opportunity for errors. When human emotion is involved in making critical decisions, results can vary from one inspector to the next or from one day to another.
But removing subjective interpretation from the equation is not always easy. For example, supplier requirements might call for the product to satisfy any number of specific design and performance parameters and be free of other objectionable noises. But how does one quantify what is objectionable?
Fortunately, technology has emerged that allows suppliers to inspect every part that they manufacture to identify flaws and ensure conformance to rigid specifications.
The Answer: Automating Objectivity
Quality inspection must be repeatable, consistent, metrics-based, and above all "objective." Faurecia, and many other suppliers, rely on automated end-of-production quality inspection technology from Signalysis, a provider of testing systems, to verify that parts are defect free.
The thorough, highly technical, and systematic approach begins by gathering customer specifications. This could be anything from specific failure modes – such as ticking in a motor, excessive noise or rattling, modal parameters for rotors or an OEM’s general specification to the non-descript ‘other objectionable noises’ catch-all.
The next step is to acquire baseline data on a sample of parts to help quantify and differentiate acceptable from non-acceptable. Ideally these test parts represent the full range for each failure mode including those that do not meet quality standards, borderline parts, and acceptable parts.
Signalysis' physics-based SigQC™ software powers these systems and decisions. The measurement hardware (data acquisition devices, sensors, triggers, and timing) along with the proper setting of measurement parameters drives the quality of the data. A robust and versatile software toolbox of functions and data management is the key to designing the perfect objective quality testing algorithm.
The sequence of actions used to create a production sequence is completely customized and can be made unique for any customer. A database of acceptance tests with complete description of products, test setups, and pass/fail specifications is available for automatic access. As a product arrives to the test station, a bar code scanner or keyboard entry provides the information needed for automatic selection and initiation of the acceptance test. Upon test completion, the unit automatically receives a pass/fail quality grade. The data for the unit under test is displayed on screen; but it can also be to customer servers or an in-house data display program.