A Faster Manufacturing World Demands Enhanced, Automated Quality Processes

To put it bluntly, quality a strategy that spans the entire scope of a successful manufacturing operation. For the end users—the customers—quality means that products perform as expected and are delivered on time at competitive prices. Anything less than end-to-end excellence across complex, high-speed supply chains will put a manufacturer at a competitive disadvantage.

Previously, manufacturers relied on systems that operated as islands of information, creating the need for discrete manufacturing steps that could lead to process disconnects and costly delays. However, modern software technologies are highly integrated, connected to the same data sources, and equipped with workflow and alert systems that turn previously manual process steps into business-wide automated workflows.

You are likely benefiting from these smarter processes. 

Collectively, these integrated technologies are often referred to as manufacturing enterprise resource planning (ERP). While enterprise resource planning originally centered on finance and manufacturing resource planning, ERP has since expanded to encompass a range of business needs. General-purpose ERP systems have added generic functions, such as human resources, customer relationship management (CRM), procurement, and supply chain management (SCM) over time. Manufacturing ERP solutions include these features and then go a step further by also incorporating specific functionality to meet the end-to-end needs of manufacturers. This typically includes manufacturing execution system (MES), quality management system (QMS), and warehouse management system (WMS) software.

Regardless of whether the manufacturing ERP software modules have been integrated by the manufacturer or provided as an all-in-one solution by a vendor, they enable the continuous flow required to adapt and respond quickly to change.

When manufacturing ERP is in place, a product’s lifecycle is traced through the genealogy of production runs, including lot and serial numbers. These unique identifiers are assigned at the time a production work order is created, enabling documentation and traceability of compliance and processes from pre-production through final shipment to create a seamless, end-to-end workflow.

Let’s review the key stages of this process.

Pre-Production

It starts with sales where a capable-to-promise (CTP) process running in the manufacturing ERP system evaluates the resources needed to produce a product, including materials, labor, and equipment. It also identifies any gaps between the desired delivery date and available capacity, suggesting ways to close those gaps. In this way, CTP helps ensure delivery commitments to customers are accurate and achievable.

Next, the production workorder is generated, kicking off the material requirements planning (MRP) process, which effectively provisions and schedules the job. MRP software automatically orders or reserves necessary materials; allocates required labor, tools, and production equipment; and creates the lot and serial numbers that serve as the production run’s unique identifiers.

As production is initiated, the necessary resources are validated. Raw materials are certified as correct through the quality management system (QMS); tooling and equipment are validated via the maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) functions, and operator training and certification are confirmed through human capital management (HCM) records.

The activities may sound like discrete steps, but they’re part of an automated manufacturing ERP workflow that must be followed and acknowledged before a job can start. Signoffs and records are automatically captured, and failure to complete and acknowledge a required step triggers an alert, which must be resolved before the job can proceed.

Mid-Production

Once a job is in production, three real-time quality-monitoring processes are at work.

Production monitoring tracks the progress of production, e.g., machine cycles or parts assembled. It measures progress against the planned schedule, informs inventory and financial systems of raw material consumption, and updates the MRO module with runtime data on tools and equipment. Essentially, it’s the automated real-time “eyes and ears” of production operations, backflushing actual production results throughout the organization.

In-line quality inspections often combine manual checks with automated inspections performed by cameras and digital instrumentation. Key characteristics are real-time measurement and automated record-keeping within the QMS module. If persistent problems are detected, automated supervisory alerts are issued and processes may be halted. Meanwhile, out-of-specification products are diverted to scrap queues and recorded as defective quantities. As a result, defects are removed early, samples are retained for statistical process control (SPC) analysis, and accurate counts of good parts are maintained.

Process monitoring gauges the operating parameters of production equipment, such as temperature, pressure, and amperage—strong indicators of whether a process is operating correctly or trending out of specification. Process data is recorded by time, serial number, and lot number, in histogram formats. This data is monitored in real time, and when necessary, can trigger alerts for supervisor intervention or even automatically halt production.

Histograms and other historian data are valuable resources for both real-time intervention and root-cause analysis. Today, manufacturers often share historian data with customers as proof of proper production controls and inspection, a clear value-added service.

Post-Production

With fast-moving, digital supply chains, accurate, machine-readable labels are essential. As such, most manufacturers automatically generate and apply digital labels at the point of production. Leveraging the manufacturing ERP system, these labels contain, not only descriptive product information, but also machine-readable data that supports material-handling systems and ensures traceability through lot and serial numbers, including recall if necessary.

Final fulfillment also shows how integrated workflows drive quality on the shop floor and across the value chain to the customer. For instance, the combination of production monitoring, in-process inspection, process monitoring, and lot-level tracking provides inventory control with accurate visibility into when, where, and how many finished goods are available for shipment. Accurate, machine-readable labeling ensures that finished goods are stored in the correct warehouse locations. And directed, scanner-based pick, pack, and ship functionality within a warehouse management system (WMS) ensures shipping accuracy.

Conclusion

Quality is now an integral part of every step in the manufacturing process with no room for shortcuts even as the global market moves faster. To keep pace, manufacturers need an integrated approach to automating their operations to run without disruption, meet compressed deadlines, and deliver quality-assured products. Doing so will create an engine for driving a resilient, competitive business that delivers value to customers while maximizing profits.