The quality of a production depends to a large extent on the quality of its components. And yet, it's still very common to see large industrial companies sourcing components without controlling incoming quality or relying on 100% to supply them. This can be a costly mistake, and yet all the tools are at our disposal to best control incoming quality and minimize costs. Here are 5 tips on how to implement sample-based quality control in your company.
1. Guaranteeing incoming quality
Rather than testing every single production unit, sampling allows us to check a representative portion. Sample testing reduces the time needed for quality checks, while guaranteeing maximum quality.
By implementing sample-based quality control, you ensure that the rest of the production process is not impacted by poor quality from your suppliers, while minimizing control costs.
2. Boosting controls
Once sampling has been implemented, it's time to check only what's strictly necessary. To achieve this, two strategies can be combined:
- This means not measuring characteristics that have always been checked as good. If, over the last 20 batches, the supplier has never been faulted on a characteristic, it is reasonable to reduce the number of checks and even switch to "Skip" mode. This means checking only one batch out of 5.
- Progressive inspection: Progressive inspection involves calculating the probability of batch acceptance after each measurement. By doing so, we can stop the test well before reaching the minimum number of measurements required if the batch is extremely good or extremely bad.
3. Use data to compare suppliers
Measurements taken during incoming inspection provide you with valuable data for comparing your suppliers. Not only can you analyze this data to find out which one is the most consistent, but it can also be used for future negotiations.
4. Compliance with standards and regulations
Many industries must comply with strict standards (ISO 2859, ISO 3951 or other). Sampling ensures that your inspection meets current standards. So no more panic before an audit, you can be sure that your controls will meet requirements.
5. Use the right tool
Implementing sampling is complicated enough. If operators have to learn how to use a new tool, it's a real challenge. To do this, you need a tool that is both extremely easy for operators to use (no training required) and comprehensive enough for technicians to carry out advanced analyses. We know of one that does the job very well...
