Quality software aids manufacturing efficiency

When glass-container company Saint-Gobain Containers implemented a company-wide quality programme across its 18 plants, it standardised its quality data management with NWA Quality Analyst.

When glass-container company Saint-Gobain Containers implemented a company-wide quality programme across its 18 plants, it standardised its quality data management with NWA Quality Analyst software from Northwest Analytical.

"Our quality has always been very good, but to be the best in this marketplace, we wanted even higher levels of efficiency, productivity and quality", says Mike Puhl, Corporate Senior Process Engineer.

"Standardising on NWA Quality Analyst has created efficiencies and easy comparisons".

With 18 US plants, Saint-Gobain makes between 1000 and 1500 different glass container products.

Inside the plants, sand, soda ash and limestone are mixed with recycled glass and fed into a furnace, which melts the glass at 2700F over about 24 hours.

After going through a temperature-conditioning unit, the glass is cut into pieces that are the exact weight of the finished jar or bottle.

The pieces are then dropped into a forming machine and then transferred onto a conveyor for hot-end coating.

Then a cold-end coating is applied, and the finished bottles are inspected for multiple criteria such as thickness, cracks and bubbles.

During the process, NWA Quality Analyst is used to chart variables such as temperature in the hot-end coating hood, temperature of glass at cold-end coating, flow rates and furnace temperatures.

If the control charts show data points trending outside of the upper and lower control limits, mid-course corrections can be made before defects are produced.

"We focus on key characteristics of large-volume products", says Puhl.

"That's where the quality program can make the most difference".

Because NWA QA is offline software, St Gobain also uses it to see the big picture in terms of how processes perform over time.

The software makes it easy to compare data collected over days, weeks, months and even years, allowing them to spot large trends and unusual patterns that might otherwise be missed in the day-to-day views.

They also use the software for Pareto analysis of customer complaints, sorting them by defect types to help prioritise quality efforts.

Saint-Gobain's Pevely, MO, plant manufactures more than three million beer bottles per day.

One way it uses NWA Quality Analyst is to monitor and extend the life of bottle moulds.

Moulds break down over time and need retooling or replacing at a cost of between $50,000 to $60,000.

Replacing a mould too early - before it is necessary - reduces capacity and increases costs.

Replacing the mould too late causes product scrap and rejects.

By control charting container capacity measurements, the plant can determine more exactly when to make process adjustments to keep the product on target and extend mould life.

"If a product is budgeted for four moulds in a year and we only use three, that $50,000 goes straight to the bottom line", says Paul Delaney, Plant Quality Control Manager.

"And if you consider that each machine produces 20 to 40 products, each with their own set of moulds, you can see there is great potential for savings".

The plant also uses NWA Quality Analyst to track yields (how many bottles make it into final inspection from production).

They monitor a production shop's 30-day daily performance against its percentage pack (yield) target and review reasons for deviations.

Using the software in their daily production meetings allows the whole team to review shop performance data, calculating and projecting control charts, histograms and statistics on a screen for everyone to see.

Delaney says pursuing SQC with the NWA software has many benefits: It allows for comparisons between areas, shops, tools and products; he hss constructed customised templates for standardised reports.

It has removed the subjectivity from describing shop performance; there is more focus on numbers and trends.

Trends are visible; they are able to see problems developing earlier while there's time to prevent losses.

Having clear data stops people from saying "we can't do that" when the data shows they can.

Conversely, the data also stop people from saying "we can do that" when the data shows they can't.

The charts and graphs allow management to set goals based on data and tighten up performance.

Goals are becoming more based on control and capability rather than on just meeting specifications.

For Delaney, a typical Saint-Gobain SQC software user, flexibility and ease-of-use are what matter most.

"I just show people how to log on and navigate", Delaney says.

"With Quality Analyst they need almost no additional training, so we can get right to work".

NWA Quality Analyst software is supplied and supported in the UK and Ireland by Adept Scientific.

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