Manufacturing Improvement : Information Technology Aided Manufacturing

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There are so many different things that you can do to improve the way your manufacturing company performs. One of the most important things to make sure that you do when owning manufacturing company is to make sure that your quality assurance process is up to par. The reason for this is because if you're not exceeding in quality assurance you are probably losing a lot of money. This is why it is important to pay close attention to your quality assurance process. One way that a lot of manufacturing companies are paying close attention to their quality assurance process is by using computers. If you need a better way to aid your quality assurance but don't have any ideas, here is some information on using computers to aid your quality assurance process that might help you.

The first thing is to make sure that you know what type of computers are out there that can help you. Depending on what type of manufacturing you are doing will depend on what type of computer you are going to want to aid your quality assurance process. Some computers will test your products every so often to make sure that they are working correctly. While others will test every single one of your products to make sure that the quality is good. The reason why there are different ones to choose from is because some manufacturing do not have to be crucial on having their quality assurance process be as exact as others might. For example if you are a manufacturing company that makes airbags you are probably going to need your quality assurance process to be more exact then a manufacturing company that makes basket ball hoops. This is the reason why there are different levels of computers out there.

The second thing is cost. Just because a computer costs a lot doesn't mean that it is going to be the best computer to aid your quality assurance process. You want to make sure that you look into different computers and see what type of functions they each have. You don't want to get a computer that is going to end up confusing you and making your quality assurance process more difficult then the way you do it now. You may also want to ask around and get references of different manufacturing companies that use the computers. This way you will be able to talk to some one that has actually experienced the computer and used all of its functions, instead of just talking to a sales person who wants to make a sale.

The third thing is research. You will want to make sure that you do your research. Find out what each computer does and if they have upgrades. Knowing if the computers have upgrades is important, especially if you are just starting out. The reason for this is because as your manufacturing company grows so will how much you are producing. You want to make sure that you computer will be able to handle the load and be able to aid your quality assurance process no matter what size it is.

This is just some of the information on using computers to aid your quality assurance process. There is a lot of other information that goes more in depth on how different computers work and how exactly they can aid your quality assurance process. So make sure to look around and get as much information as you can so you can get a better idea if using computers to aid your quality assurance process is right for your manufacturing company.

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Manufacturing Improvement : Cp and Cpk In Simple Word

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When we speak about the capability of processes we often refer to a couple indices called Cp and Cpk. These two indices, used together, can tell us how capable our process is and whether or not we have a centering issue.

For the math geeks out there here are the formulas for calculating Cp and Cpk.Cp = (USL - LSL) / 6*Standard Deviation (within)

Cpk = Min (Cpl, Cpu); where:Cpl = (mu - LSL) / 3*Standard Deviation (within)
Cpu = (USL - mu) / 3*Standard Deviation (within)

For the rest of us here is a nice golf analogy to help differentiate between Cp and Cpk. OK, I admit I don’t play golf but work with me here.Let’s say you want to learn how to drive a golf ball like Tiger does. Your first mission is to learn how to hit the ball consistently and to the same spot. When you have learned this fine art and are indeed able to hit the ball to the same spot over and over again you may say you have good Cp. This is to say that you have a very capable golf swing.This is all well and good.

But there is one big issue. You now need to learn how to aim since you have not paid any attention to where the pin was when learning how to hit the ball to the same spot. You may say your process is “shifted” away from the target (i.e. the golf pin which is the center of the process). So your over paid golf instructor now teaches you how to shift your body and aim your now capable shot.Assuming this process is successful you are now able to hit the ball to the same spot (good Cp) AND you are now able to aim the ball toward the hole (good Cpk).

Life is good… Tiger watch out!In summary, Cp tells us how capable our process is. If there is tons of variation your process may not be very capable at all. In this case you will want to reduce variation which will improve your Cp.When you are happy with Cp you can move onto to Cpk which tells us how centered our process is.

If your process is capable (good Cp) but is hugging the upper customer specification limit your Cpk will be poor. In order to improve Cpk you will need to work on “shifting” the process back towards the mean of the process.

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Manufacturing Improvement : What Should Company Do During Recession Period

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Everywhere you go, everybody will talking with the same topic; recession. Is that too bad compare with 1998? Some say yes, some say no. We can compare by numbers of retrenchment of worker, or number of company close and run away, or we could compare with how many losses declared by the main market player.


If we compare with number of worker, i can says that the impact still cannot be seen clearlly. We have to wait until at the top of the 'tragedy'. When? wait until US have no money to bare their oversea base Navy salaries. I can say that the 'tragedy' just kick off. Be petian.


Lets go into the topic. What should we do if this impact knock our manufacturing door? In any situation, the is good and bad. So lets we analaysis from the good view. It is very important to keep as much as you can your yearly profit. Dont say that we forget to keep some amount. We have bad tracking record. Almost every 10 years, the point become at the cordinate 0,0. - one circle.


Training / Re-training ponentional staff - Identify who is your petentional staff. Send them for training. Let them mastering their current area. If posibble, train them to others area too. For example, if you have Quality Enginner wich is still not certified, send them to be Certified Quality Engineer.


House Keeping / 5's - Keep your manufacturing clean. Dont let even single dust stick in to your machine. If possible, paint the old machine. Let its look new.


Maintenance - If during peak season / year (last and past year) you have no time to make maintenance of machine, this is the right time to do it. Change any spare part, put grease, check the lubricant oil etc.

Select new Sigma project - This is the best time to identify and select the six sigma project to kick off. You might know what is the critical problem that may highly cost saving during your peak season. So, now you have to define, measure, analysis and improve. Once the economy going better in future, you just need to control it.

Hiring suitable personnel - There is a lot of retrenchment everywhere. Some of them have better knowledge, experience as well as attitude. If you thing that you will have good customer new project, you can get correct personnel under the cost.

That is some of the thing may you can do during this season.

Note : Effected company is company that may have new pending order, temporary freez order from customer and manufacturing company that monthly and yearly sales only depend less than 10% with US base company.
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Manufacturing Improvement : What Should I Do During Recession Period

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There’s a ton of talk recently that we’re moving towards a Recession. That’s right… a Recession! Isn’t that horrible? Well, sort of, but what exactly is a recession? A recession, by definition, is when the GDP declines for two or more consecutive quarters; but how does that really affect you? In reality, it’s a period of economic slowdown that is marked with companies earning less, paying less, and generally things in life are a little less prosperous.

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So, what should you do to prepare yourself if a recession, specifically a prolonged recession, hits? It’s actually quite simple, the biggest fear you have and the biggest thing you should prepare for is the possibility that you could lose your job. In a recession, companies often scale back operations as sales lag and when that happens employees are often one of the things to hit the chopping block. To prepare for this, keep your ear to the ground and make sure that in the event that you are let go, the first you hear of it shouldn’t be the moment after your boss calls you to his office to deliver the bad news.

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The second part of preparation is to pull back your spending and boost your emergency fund. What? Don’t have one? Start one immediately! That’s what you will be to lean on as your income because you won’t be earning money if you’re unemployed.Now, preparing for the worst is always a good idea but the worst may never happen. In recent memory, recessions haven’t been all that bad for most Americans so the doomsday scenario isn’t all that likely. What’s more likely is that raises won’t be as big and promotions won’t be as plentiful, which is fine because it’s better than being fired.

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So, if the only real tip is to pad an emergency fund, what’s the big deal? The big deal is that you need to begin planning for it now. If you wait until it hits the cover of Time or the New York Times, it is already too late.How can you pad the emergency fund now? If you’re contributing more than your employer match in your 401k, consider pulling back so you can put that towards savings. If you’re making large payments on your car note, consider downsizing your car and getting into something you can handle better. Some things are easier than others (adjusting 401k contributions is easier than changing cars) but ultimately you want to reduce your spending to pad that fund.

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Whether or not a recession does hit, having a nice fat emergency fund is certainly something valuable in any economic situation (one can lose their job during a period of economic prosperity!).

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