How to Achieve Zero-Defect Manufacturing in the Automotive Industry

Every quality issue in any product adds to the costs - directly and indirectly. While quality issues in processes require rework, it means scrapping and wastage in products. If the regulatory authority detects it, it results in penalties and warning letters. If it reaches the customer, it results in complaints and loss of brand reputation, which can also hurt the business.

Therefore, not only are companies across industries looking at improving product quality and safety, but also focusing specifically on zero defects. The concept of zero defects works on the principle of intolerance towards defects and getting it right the first time. This helps further improve product quality and performance, reduces the cost of failure, enhances brand reputation and customer loyalty, and increases revenues.

The automotive industry is highly regulated as any quality issue or defect can affect customer experience and safety. Therefore, zero defects is becoming important in the automotive industry as well.

Best Practices to Achieve Zero Defect

Automotive companies aiming for zero defects cannot achieve it overnight. It is a slow process and, therefore, needs persistence, perseverance, and access to data for insights and informed decision-making. In quality improvement terms, it needs a proactive approach to identifying risks and implementing controls and measures to mitigate them before they become issues. It requires establishing metrics and measuring leading and lagging indicators to ensure that progress can be monitored and outcomes assessed. If the results are not achieved, mid-course correction is essential to meet the goals.

To achieve zero defects, the automotive manufacturer must implement the following best practices:

• Leadership Involvement: Top management commitment is necessary for any organization working towards zero defects. It begins with delineating quality policies, sharing them with the employees, identifying standard operating procedures, and creating training programs to upskill the employees to meet any skill requirements to meet the goals. Tools and technology also play a key role in facilitating quality improvement. Therefore, allocating a budget and investing in the right technology is also necessary. Periodic reviews and course corrections are also leadership responsibilities that enable the successful implementation of continuous improvement.
• Change Management: Continuous improvement = constant changes and finetuning. Each change directly impacts the process where the change is being made, but also upstream and downstream. Sometimes, while the changed process may give visible benefits, invisible damages may outweigh the benefits. Some changes may also require the worker to acquire new skills. Therefore, it is crucial to scope the change and assess the risks and benefits before implementing it.
• Training: Since continuous improvement requires constant changes to be made to the systems and processes, it is essential to identify gaps in resources to ensure enough access to budgets and skills to implement and sustain the changes. Doing a gap analysis and training the personnel to meet the new requirements becomes essential. This also includes assessing the sources for training and delivery and assessment methods to ensure their effectiveness.
• Monitoring: Since the continuous improvement is aimed towards zero defects, measuring it using pre-determined metrics and tracking progress is critical. Periodic reviews to see if milestones are achieved, errors are reduced, and the resultant outcomes are as per the established goals are crucial. In case of any deviations, this also serves to course correct.
• Supplier Management: Another area that must be monitored is supplier performance. The quality of inputs plays an essential role in the quality of the output. Therefore, the raw materials and other inputs must be inspected, supplier sites audited, and supplier processes evaluated to ensure that the manufacturer’s zero defect goals do not suffer a setback later. Providing suppliers with training and awareness will also go a long way in ensuring the proactive implementation of quality processes in their organization.

Tools and Technologies Facilitating Zero Defect Journey

Employee participation is critical for proactive quality management to achieve zero defects. Since they are hands-on, their input in identifying risks and ways to improve processes can be a game-changer and increase their engagement to contribute to the continuous improvement process.

Some of the quality management tools that can facilitate continuous quality improvement include:

• Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP) to define the flow for product development and qualification of new products
• Quality Function Deployment (QFD) to understand customer needs and improve product design and development
• Failure Mechanism-Driven Reliability Characterization (FMDRC) for identifying potential reliability failure modes with reliability assessment
• RFMEA (Reverse FMEA) to calibrate processing failure modes and risks using data analytics

The cloud-based quality management system also provides top management and quality leaders with enterprise-wide data to make informed decisions on areas that need improvement. It helps capture quality issue trends, identify potential risks, and predict future challenges. It also provides visibility into the processes to track and monitor the impact of the changes. Change management is facilitated using a QMS such as ComplianceQuest. Auditing, inspection, document management, and supplier management are also enabled using the CQ Quality Management System aligned with regulations and standards such as IATF 16949. This improves compliance while enabling a risk-based approach to continuous improvement.