Quality is defined by the relative absence of defects and the degree of customer satisfaction with a products characteristics and features.

Quality can greatly impact both revenue and cost elements of the profit equation. The Strategic Planning Institute sponsored a Profit Impact of Marketing Strategies (PIMS) study. In PIMS Principles, it is noted that “there is no doubt that relative perceived quality and profitability are strongly related. Whether the profit measure is return on sales or return on investment, businesses with a superior product / service offering clearly outperform those with inferior quality.”

“Dedication, Imagination and Innovation” These are the traits that fuel Matrix Automation’s creation of industry changing technologies and Manufacturing Improvements that are embraced in the ProductionWare system.

ProductionWare Targets Cost of Quality

Those costs that are incurred because of poor quality and costs that could be avoided if a product were assembled correct the first time and every time thereafter. ProductionWare provides improvement and control of:

• Internal Failures (IPPM)
• External Failures (EPPM)
• Warranty Costs
• Sort and Rework Costs
• Containment Costs

Quality Improvement Supported by ProductionWare

A ProductionWare system installation will improve your training for quality manufacturing by providing operators the ability to utilize standardized work displayed at each operation. A visual display of instructions in conjunction with pictures reduces potential variation in assembly processes during training.

Variation is part of any process and tools that reduce this variation increase process control and allow for continuous improvement of product quality. A Manufacturing Execution System (MES) solution ensures the operator works in an environment and system that supports the development of their individual skills.

Our MES solution reduces defects and minimizes inspection required in the manufacturing / assembly process. Inspection is costly, non-value-added and will not find all defects. Building quality into the product is the most effective method of ensuring the delivery of defect free products on time.

Production line and product improvement Demands

As quality increasingly becomes one of the key attributes of corporate brands, manufacturers are looking for more ways to improve quality without compromising throughput. These two challenges are usually not seen as complementary: the concept of improving quality is often viewed to be achieved at the expense of throughput. However, the automation of assembly processes and the use of Matrix Automation’s PRODUCTIONWare Software system make it possible to control the elements that affect quality and yield.

Improvements using real-time process data

Without a clear picture of the process, improvements are difficult to make. Though on its own, Process Verification delivers the most accurate real-time defect detection, the real value is in the data that are collected and the instantaneous operational view of that data.

By feeding the data for each part into a central repository, future analysis and traceability is provided. The availability of historical process data enables analysis for constant review and improvement of the process as well as the ability to trace parts throughout the production line whether due to recalls of to identify upstream issues.

Improving yield

Test stations can be a bottleneck in the production process. ProductionWare assists in optimizing test cycle time to adjusting the cycle time itself through the analysis of past test data or it can be done by aborting a test cycle early when a critical test fails.

Using manufacturing intelligence directly in the assembly process enables manufacturers to more nimbly respond to the competitive pressures of quality and yield with the return on investment (ROI) that can be tracked in real time for measured reporting.