｜Customer Background

A German processing company specializes in the production of automotive spare parts, with a focus on products such as shafts, sleeves, and hydraulic components. Renowned internationally for its meticulous production processes and inspection standards, the company has established a factory in China in recent years, successfully entering the Japanese market and becoming the supplier of internationally recognized car manufacturers. With high productivity, high-quality products, and excellent supply chain management, the company stands out in the competitive market, establishing itself as a promising automotive parts processing center.

｜Pain Points

The automotive industry holds stringent standards for the high quality of its spare parts; however, these rigorous quality criteria pose a series of challenges for its suppliers. The primary challenge is that the current quality system operates independently of ERP, JPI scheduling, and RQM quality control systems, resulting in scattered data across various systems and ineffective management. Additionally, the manual entry of paper measurement data is tedious and time-consuming, hindering subsequent analysis and statistics. Furthermore, the non-real-time processing of PQC inspections, leads to incorrect recording, causing delays in quality control. Dependency on manual calculations for machine wear compensation adds complexity to operations and increases the risk of errors. These pain points significantly impact production efficiency and the precision of quality management. Therefore, intelligent and data analysis solutions to address these issues will be crucial in enhancing production efficiency and elevating the level of quality management.

▲ Extensive workload for statistical analysis of measurement data, limited to paper sampling and recording of abnormal situations.

▲ After measuring by calibration tools, data must be transcribed for on-site technicians, involving manual error calculations and compensating for machine wear.

｜Overcoming Challenges

SynFactory's Quality Management Module, designed specifically for the metal processing industry, assists the customer in overcoming quality challenges. It digitizes quality inspection, remote tool compensation, and quality analysis dashboards, providing real-time insights into quality status and achieving a QC quality control loop.

Before implementing the new system, LEANTEC team assisted the customer in bulk transferring data from the old system. With a quick 5-minute switch between old and new systems, they successfully imported 300 materials, processes, and specifications entries at once. The first step of the solution involves digitizing and centrally managing process data (drawings, SOP, inspection specifications), allowing users to access information instantly. Subsequently, the system sets up scheduled tasks to remind inspectors to inspect at specific times, automatically displaying the inspection process. The system also automatically reads inspection data from quality inspection instruments and uploads it, eliminating manual transcription and improving data accuracy. Finally, real-time SPC reports are generated for managers to analyze anomalies promptly and make optimization adjustments.

▲ Process capability of SPC analysis dashboard

For the scenario of tool compensation, SynFactory offers remote tool compensation application. The tool compensation app automatically reads measurement files and data, and after operators confirm the suggested compensation values provided by the system, it corrects tool wear through remote compensation, eliminating the need for operators to calculate tool compensation values manually and reducing the risk of errors.

｜Benefits

SynFactory solution seamlessly integrates data flow, resolving the issue of scattered data. The digitization of the inspection process unlocks smarter and more efficient ways of working:

1. Digitalization of inspection specifications: Meeting product process requirements, digitize quality inspection requirements; support digital input of measurement instruments and integrate various formats of instrument inspection reports to avoid manual input errors.

2. Inspection task management: Utilizing an inspection task alert mechanism to instantly remind inspector to complete quality inspection tasks.

3. Real-time remote tool compensation: After accurate measurement, the system automatically calculates and instantly adjusts the machine tool wear compensation, ensuring safety and efficiency.

4. SPC/Yield Analysis Dashboard: Traceable product quality data with real-time SPC charts reflecting on-site production quality conditions, ensuring worry-free production.

Taking a small step towards digitization is a significant stride towards quality improvement. LEANTEC SynFactory solution not only reduces heavy reliance on manpower, freeing up personnel for decision-making tasks, but also empowers managers to leverage digital analytical and statistical capabilities to promptly identify and resolve abnormal issues, creating higher-precision and superior-quality products. This project is just the first step in the customer's journey towards digitization, with future cooperation plans to further collaborate with SynFactory in building an efficient digital factory.