Why Data Visibility is at the Front and Center of Shop Floor Quality

In September 2020, in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, we published a white paper titled "Gearing Up to Restart Shop Floor Operations? Here’s a Checklist for Manufacturing Leaders."

The purpose of publishing this paper was to help quality leaders and plant heads restart manufacturing operations with a "quality and safety first" approach, especially, at a time when shop floor managers were grappling with a plethora of challenges including the following:

• Rebuilding their supply chains
• Qualifying, on-boarding and re-boarding suppliers
• Setting up new processes to incorporate Covid-19 safety precautionary measures
• Adhering to new regulatory requirements
• Setting up new processes for employee well-being and workplace safety
• New customer-related processes, for increased collaboration and engagement
• Managing fluctuating demand
• Undertaking remote audits and inspections
• Ensuring all quality metrics were on track, in spite of new operational processes

The Rapid Adoption of New Technologies

Since we published the paper almost a year has gone by. The pandemic certainly accelerated the adoption of digital transformation. Leaders were forced to automate, using next-generation digital tools for streamlining internal operations, customer engagement, supply chain operations, quality, and safety management.

One of the biggest advantages to using next-generation tools is that shop floor leaders now have access to real-time data across the product and manufacturing lifecycle. Here are several examples of how shop floor employees are using these digital tools that enable data-driven decision making:

• Through ERP and QHSE dashboards, plant heads now have complete visibility into every aspect of operations, including the manufacturing schedule, procurement and inventory status, labor availability, inspection and audit schedules, and maintenance status of equipment.
• When it comes to quality management, the entire workflow is streamlined. For instance, let us say there is a complaint registered in the CRM. This automatically gets notified in the EQMS. The relevant stakeholder (in most cases a quality leader) is tagged to deal with the complaint. The quality team mediates to analyze the complaint — using data and dashboards. A CAPA and root cause analysis process is initiated and relevant people are tagged to not only resolve the complaint but also prevent similar issues in the future.
• Quality leaders conduct data-driven audits and inspections to drive continuous improvement. The process of conducting remote audits is seamless. In certain scenarios, it may be ideal to do a hybrid audit — one that is partly remote, partly onsite.
• Stakeholders who are responsible for risk management now also have access to AI-enabled predictive analytics, trends, and enterprise-wide data.

The list is endless, but, in short, to drive operational efficiency with a focus on quality — data is critical. Measuring the right metrics and being proactive about delivering continuous improvement is critical.

Data Visibility is Key to Effective Collaboration

A good automation solution must be connected, integrated and holistic. It must seamlessly allow the flow of information across customer, supplier, and internal dashboards. Collaboration is critical, both to analyze data as well as to take follow-up action.

ContiTech, a division of German multinational automotive parts manufacturing company Continental AG, implemented ComplianceQuest EQMS to automate and streamline their entire quality management system. At the time we implemented our solution, the company was generating over USD $7 billion in annual revenue and employed over 50,000 people.

In this webinar, we talk about how ContiTech leveraged the power of a next generation EQMS solution to get a 360-degree view of all quality and compliance metrics in real time. A modern EQMS like ComplianceQuest helps quality leaders have a finger on the pulse of all key quality data.

One of the biggest advantages of using ComplianceQuest is our dashboards and reports. The system offers the following features:

• A custom dashboard for various stakeholders
• Serves as an early detection and warning system for potential problems
• Predictive analytics can be used to better manage risk
• Easy access to up-to-the-minute information with one click
• A consolidated view across all your systems/processes
• Report builder and report scheduler
• Ease of collaboration
• Ensure data integrity, data security and data governance

At the present, we’ve implemented ComplianceQuest EQMS at more than 1,000 customer locations across the world. We’ve served shop floor leaders across a range of sectors including automotive, medical device, oil and gas, electronics and hi-tech, consumer goods and more.

Overall, at ComplianceQuest, we’ve built each of our solutions on the highly flexible, scalable and customizable Salesforce platform. It can be deployed at companies of all sizes – from high-growth startups to Fortune 100 companies.

Because of our experience serving a wide range of customers, we believe that the following aspects are absolutely essential in the factory of the future:

1. Embracing Industry 4.0 methodologies using best-of-breed technologies
2. Data, especially connected and automated data capture, plays a critical role in the automation of workflows.
3. Every shop floor is different, so a good quality and safety management system must fit into the workflow followed by the shop floor, and not vice versa. The tool must not dictate the process, but shall serve as a guideline.
4. Data analytics and strategic insights can drive continuous improvement of operations, delivering long-term financial impact.

If you are a manufacturing leader, look no further than ComplianceQuest EQMS to modernize your QMS. To request for a demo, visit: https://www.compliancequest.com/online-demo