SPM started in 1979, and its Quality Department [much like most starts-up companies], did more Quality Control Activity, rather than Quality Assurance. Quality Control Activity, by definition requires a lot of inspecting, sorting and rework. This approach is adequate in the beginning, but over time is very costly.
Over time, SPM has adopted a Quality Assurance approach. Quality Assurance is a discipline that anticipates what failures may occur and puts in place the safeguards to off-set the financial impact. This is done mainly by reviewing all activity from the Incoming PO to Outgoing Parts.
Quality Assurance
The Advance Quality Planning process covers many areas, but mainly the areas listed below. This discipline is thought more of an “Anticipatory Process”, whereby all of the “What-If’s” are reviewed:
1) Print Review
2) PFMEA
3) Process Flow Diagram
4) SPC Features
5) Manpower Needs
6) Equipment Needs
7) Training
8) Validation Requirements IQ-OQ-PQ.
The goal at SPM is to ensure all of the “What-If’s”, have been anticipated prior to running production. This approach has grown over the years at SPM and has been proven to be effective.
The discipline of SPC is widely used to monitor the manufacturing process and over the years has proven to be a very valuable tool. We utilize Cp, Cpk, as indices to help monitor process fluctuation and their impact. These tools, as well as others, are used to help facilitate our customer receiving quality parts.
Here in the present and well into the future, SPM will continue to be on the leading edge relative to Quality Innovations and ensuring its customers receive Quality Parts at a competitive price.
