Monitor the quality of your production processesNovember 2006The good doctor looks beyond product design, to seek out those software packages that can help you maintain the quality of your manufacturing processes As may have come across in many of my previous articles, you can make sure your product design is right until you are blue in the face, but unless you get the manufacturing right, it can all come to nought. So, this month, let's take a look at some of the latest developments in quality control software tools - in particular, the statistical process control (SPC) products that form the basis of many Six Sigma or ISO 9000 manufacturing process improvement projects.
Now in version 5, Major Micro Systems' (www.majormicro.com) SPC Express for Windows is now fully compatible with Microsoft Access 2000 should you wish to do any offline editing using this database. Another useful feature lets you specify a graphics file (gif, jpg, AutoCAD or whatever) for every characteristic. You simply click on the characteristic to open the graphic - handy for providing the shop floor staff with measuring instructions, part orientation, assembly diagrams and so on. Version 5 also allows a number of charts to be arranged on the screen exactly they way you want them to appear - and remembers this layout the next time you want to use it.
SPC for MS Excel (www.spcforexcel.com), now in version 3, lets you generate and update SPC charts as well as performing other statistical functions from Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. Targeted at the SPC novice and expert alike, version 3 makes powerful analytical tools, such as regression analysis, available to anyone with an Excel application, as well as graphics capabilities that extend to Pareto diagrams, histograms and scatter diagrams.
A wide range of SPC software products is available from Stephen Computer Services (www.datalyzer.com), from single-user packages like SPC Quickie to enterprise-wide applications such as SPC Datalyzer Spectrum. The beauty of Stephen's products is that you can migrate between these various level packages as you need, without having to establish new databases - the databases are compatible or convertible up and down the product line. Even the top-end Datalyzer Spectrum product is scaleable.
Get your manufacturing data organised effectively and you will get the best from your SPC application. So claims CimWorks UK (www.cimworks.co.uk) on describing the VisualSPC family of data collection SPC software products from robotics and factory automation specialist, GE Fanuc Automation. Developed originally by GageTalker, VisualSPC is a Windows based approach to collecting, monitoring and analysing plant floor quality data. It can be customised without resorting to programming and its 'openness' allows you to extract data from a huge range of plant level devices. And presentation can be as simple or complicated as you wish. With VisualSPC Designer, you can select the data you want to collect and create custom screens that best meet the needs and skills of your plant floor operators.
The latest version (6) of Northwest Analytical's Quality Analyst, which is supplied and supported in the UK by Adept Scientific (http://qa.adeptscience.co.uk) is designed to meet the needs of users embarking on manufacturing process improvement programmes such as Six Sigma, ISO 9000 or the FDA's CAPA scheme. Features include improved drill-down and clearer chart annotation in the Graphics Viewer, and the addition of an assignable cause/corrective action capability. Version 6 also offers improved database connectivity set-up, making it much easier to integrate the package with existing enterprise planning applications and manufacturing execution systems.
P Q Systems (www.pqsystems.com) says its SQCpack is one the most user-friendly SPC software products available today. SQCpack EZ lets you create a variety of charts and reports using the system defaults or your own custom settings; it provides all the tools you are likely to need for your Six Sigma or ISO 9000 programme, including control charts, histograms, Pareto diagrams and analytical functions. What's more, it compares the calculations with NIST data and popular SPC texts, such as AIAG, to ensure statistical integrity.
Dr Know's recommended download is the Quality Analyst demo - download yours today:
http://www.adeptscience.co.uk/download/dldcat/39/0/All/Quality+Analyst.html#1
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