Why can input testing (FAI) save products from quality problems? (Part 2)

That is convenient, but many manufacturers often ignore FAI. The reason is simple: To save a little time. This is an indication of a tendency to be overly optimistic and not predict the potential problems that may occur. If they look back on their past quality issues (and the money they lost in that way), they will probably conclude that FAI is worth to take time.

Because their production operators are paid in pieces and want to work continuously the same way on the same lot. They don’t want to make their setup, create a piece and then wait a bit (or switch back to another job).

Example of practical entrance test:

Why can input testing (FAI) save products from quality problems? (Part 2)

When furniture is manufactured, a relatively frequent problem is the difficulty of fully assembling the product. There can be many reasons for that, among them:

• Manufacture of wooden furniture – The wrong cutting program is loaded in an automatic cutter
• Manual cutting is done in the wrong way because the piece is not correctly positioned into the mold
• The drilling equipment is loose and the drilled part is not always in the right position
• Wood chips accumulate in the drilling fixture, making the position of the drill hole change over time
• The bores are chipped on the edges
• The used drill is wrong (too small or too large)

In short, things can go wrong in many ways!

Imagine cutting and drilling all MDF wood to create 1,000 cabinets, just to discover at the last moment that you need to redo some parts and remanufacture some others. It was a very heavy loss – not to mention, a delay in shipment.

Good manufacturers do? Of course, they put processes in place to address all of these potential failure modes. But that is not enough. Occasionally, something will go wrong. So they cut and drill parts to make a finished product, and they assembled it right away. If that is OK, upstream processes (cutting, drilling, etc.) can continue.

Plastic injection molding

In plastic injection molding, confirming whether a first stage is satisfactory or not is an integral part of quality control. Requirements need a clear standard – for example, an checklist and an approved form.

The new mold is in situ in the injection molding machine, completely cleaned with old materials and loaded with the correct polymer that will be used in mass production.

Several pieces are carefully checked (visually, dimensions) based on the set of requirements (see step 1).

If deviations are observed and not accepted, a round of modification and testing of another instrument is required.

In the automotive industry, where demand can expand to millions of units and there is very little tolerance for quality issues, it is quite common to go through testing until the parts Injections are accepted.

Each round usually takes 1-2 weeks. Changing molds takes time.

Manufacture of garments

In the production of garments, buyers often request the first samples off the production line, to confirm that all is well. Many problems were found at that time, from misplacing the labels to mixing up the color products.

The first complete products come from the manufacturer’s top products, often referred to as Google’s top searched models, and they are usually sent by courier to the buyer for confirmation.

I have seen countless cases of buyers asking them to stop production, troubleshoot and resubmit top models. A first test at that stage is really, really important. There are several reasons for that:

In apparel, there is very little preparation for pre-production. It’s a relatively outdated approach, with one we’ll fix it if it’s wrong

In apparel, there is very little preparation for pre-production. It’s a relatively outdated approach, with one we’ll fix it if it’s psychologically wrong.

In most cases, a pre-production sample is approved. It is often included in the correct fabric and accessories, as it is used to confirm sizes. However, it does not always have the correct color. That leaves plenty of room for mistakes.

Misunderstandings are very common due to poor communication, different languages, distances, etc.

Productivity and Quality Office