A company's identity is the services they offer and the products they sell, and hence quality control is a crucial factor for any company. Quality control is essentially a procedure or a set of processes that are carried out to ensure that the manufactured product is performing well and meets the requirements of the customers or clients. In the simplest terms, it is the testing done to ensure a product is up to the mark.
Quality control is the prime objective for any manufacturer and traditionally led by the top management. However, many businesses often only rely on manual paper-based methods, or the job is usually delegated to other workers. Given the advancement of technology during the recent times, the best approach to quality control is to invest in an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP).
ERP is the integrated management of all core business processes. It operates in real-time, mediated by software and technology. An ERP that is designed explicitly for manufacturing with a sophisticated quality control system can tie together all the production processes and quality functions. The main objectives of quality control mainly offer the construction and maintenance of reception, clients, audits, claims, internal rejections, identifying problems, and related follow-up until correction actions are taken. It allows you to have deeper insights to optimize all the processes and, in turn, maintain the quality of the products.
Here are a few ways you can use manufacturing ERPs for quality control
Developing a quality plan – A quality plan is a must for a quality product. A manufacturing ERP is an essential part of developing a fail-safe map of the entire production system. The plan ensures that all the workers are on the same page and know what will happen sequentially. ERP can also store inventory data, documents, and samples to prevent the company from using non-approved data. Other things that can be stored are product specifications of previous and current orders, employee list and IDs, any form of transaction IDs, certificates of conformance, or any other data that could deter you from producing the best quality products.
Real time data accessibility – Oftentimes, companies trying to improve the quality of their products don't have the data they need to troubleshoot the production problems. Consistently producing high-quality products is difficult when the correct information is not available. The finished products usually show the quality issues that happen during manufacturing. By the time the errors show up, it is impossible to do over the entire order, and the products are usually not the best.
This can be mitigated by coordinating the data correctly and continuously ensuring the new information that is being added is available to everyone in the supply chain. The ERP can ensure that collecting and distributing is done efficiently and that the changes are made in real-time. When data is available in real-time, a sense of urgency is added to improving the quality of products by providing insights on how it will affect their customer base with the best quality products. ERP can log data quickly and accurately and collect data from suppliers, customers, partners, and so on. This reduces the lag time, and you can focus more on the growth of the business.
Managing documents – Another crucial part of maintaining the quality of products is managing the company's records. An ERP catered for manufacturing will have a module that will allow the files to be attached to the projects or orders. For example, it would be possible for a supervisor to attribute images, documents, spreadsheets, PDFs, and many other files to the work orders to clarify the order's specifications further. It can also be used for the bill of materials, recipes, formulas, inventory, and so on. The accuracy of the information plays a vital role in how efficient the operations are.
Quality control metrics – A very important quality control metric is the Key Performance Indicator (KPI), which is a kind of performance measurement. It evaluates how successful the employees are and, hence, the organization's success and the particular activities they engage in. Being able to monitor personal goals and achievements, it motivates the employees to be efficient, and the overall quality of the work is boosted. Statistical process control (SPC) and statistical quality control (SQC) are also integral parts of controlling quality.
Standardisation – To consistently ensure the production of high-quality products, it is crucial to standardize the materials and procedures. A lot of the manufacturers directly buy raw or partially processed materials from the market. The problem with this is that a lot of the times, the product is not the same quality as the ones you produce. What the ERP can do is create a series of inspection which will allow the managers to make a quality checklist that the materials need to pass before joining the manufacturing process. Everyone involved in the supply chain should also have a set of KPI standards, and the ERP will be able to track the data and display it on the central dashboard. Whenever a problem arises, the data can be traced back to the source of the problem or the department, and quick changes can be made to ensure the best quality.
Ergo Ventures Limited possess the experience of working with companies big and small alike. We provide tailor-made solutions to meet your specific needs and assist you with accomplishing your business objectives. Using intuitive Odoo software modules, we offer innovative solutions to grow and upgrade your business processes. Our friendly neighborhood team comprises business experts, solution architects, experienced managers, and quality assurance engineers, all of whom are well-versed with the ins and outs of Odoo. We guarantee an effective implementation each time through an iterative and straightforward procedure. For a free evaluation, call us at +88 019 388 555 00 or shoot a mail at info@ergo-ventures.com.