Introduction of Equipment Audit by Production Engineers
In this article, I will talk about "Introduction of Equipment Audit by Production Engineers". As a production engineer, we outsource the manufacture of equipment. When the equipment is completed, we travel to the supplier to verify the equipment. In this article, I would like to introduce the outline of the equipment audit.
What is the equipment audit?
One of the tasks of the Production Engineering Department is to introduce mass production equipment.
In simple overview, this involves introducing mass production equipment to the plant in accordance with mass production start-up schedule and getting it ready for mass production. The work flow of production engineers until mass production starts is as following.
Review of entire mass production line --> Planning of equipment specifications for individual processes --> Equipment concept review --> Equipment order --> Equipment audit --> Installation of equipment in mass production plant --> Equipment evaluation and verification in mass production plant --> Start of mass production
This time, I am discussing equipment audit at equipment supplier.
Equipment audit is an activity to verify that the equipment has been completed in accordance with the equipment specifications. If you don't verify well in advance that the level of the equipment is acceptable for mass-production, you will have a hard time at mass-production plant.
To put it another way, it's like test-driving a car to check its driving performance before buying it. The main difference is that automobiles are mass-produced and subject to strict quality control, whereas mass-production equipment is custom-made. It's a unique piece of equipment in the world, which means it's not subjected to the same quality control as the cars on the market.
This means that you need to strictly check every detail in the equipment audit.
Items to be checked at audit
The following are the specific items to be checked at supplier location.
- Automatic operation check (to see if there are any bugs, including error recovery operation)
- Cycle time confirmation
- Continuous operation check (operation reliability check)
- Model change operation
- Safety actions (e.g., emergency stop actions)
- Quality confirmation (product assembly and inspection accuracy)
- How to operate and adjust equipment, etc.
It may seem obvious, but surprisingly it is not done.
It can be a matter of the quality of work and the level of awareness of suppliers and personnel in charge. To avoid such mistakes and gaps in understanding, the specification should be detailed before the order is placed. This is a bad part of Japanese way of working, but "the expectation that they should be able to understand without being told" is a convenient interpretation for you. The other party will not get it.
Preparation before audit
If your suppliers are located far away, the travel alone can be time consuming and expensive.
In some places, it can take hours to travel one way, while in others, it can be a week-long trip for an international business partner.
Prior to your visit, it is best to check the specifications and organize the items mentioned above so that the work goes smoothly. When you visit and are faced with unexpected matters, you not only fail to resolve them effectively, but you also waste extra time.
You must inform your suppliers of the items to be checked and prepare them for the visit. It should be a confirmation test, not an unannounced audit. The idea is to have a common understanding of each other and try to eliminate any negative surprises on the day. With experience, you will gradually learn to do this. Here are a few bad examples.
Bad case studies before equipment audit
When it comes to equipment audit, a production engineer travels in the customer's position. It doesn't seem like there is a big mistake, but not surprisingly, it's not. Even if the quality of the equipment is good, the quality of the equipment audit can be seriously compromised.
Continuous operation cannot be checked due to insufficient number of parts
In the case of assembly equipment, a large number of parts are inevitably required for continuous operation.
Some engineers said that they could not check the continuous operation of the equipment because they could not provide the necessary parts. This makes it difficult to see what you intended to check.
The equipment manufacturer has no responsibility for the mass-produced parts, as buyer must supply them to the equipment supplier.
In coordination with the related internal departments, the necessary components for equipment verification must be prepared and supplied by the required date.
Request later what is not in the specification
All professional work should be in writing.
Some engineers, after they have completed the equipment and seen it in action, will demand something that is not specified in the specifications. The same is true of the story of "what they said or didn't say at the time...". It's cause of confusion. Even if you have a sensory discussion on the day of the equipment audit, it will be taken differently by different people. The specifications should be clearly described in a way that everyone can understand. Use drawings and schematics if necessary.
Don't have a quality check method in place
In the case of assembly equipment, there was a person in charge who brought back the actual product without even measuring the dimensions of the parts after they were press-fitted on site.
You should check whether the supplier has a measuring instrument or not, and if not, you should bring it with you and measure it at the site, but some people cannot do that.
There are certain dimensions that can only be measured with CMM and certain characteristics that require special equipment. Take a sample home to check the quality. Except those cases, you should check it on site.
Actions after equipment audit
If issues arise during the equipment audit, you will take care of them.
Since it is not our job just to go and attend the event, the work of production engineers continues after the equipment audit. If there are too many issues, we have to travel back to the supplier to check them out. If it's a minor issue, you will have them take action and ship the equipment to the mass production plant.
After arriving at the mass-production plant, you reconfirm the equipment that you have audited.
This includes checking equipment specifications and product quality.
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