The Intersection of Quality, Maintenance and Production
Production cannot be managed in isolation. Quality and maintenance are not processes that stand alongside production, but rather those that run through it . When managed as separate systems, all three will function inadequately.
1. Quality intersection
Incoming material control: Raw materials cannot be released into production without approval; quarantine stock cannot be considered usable in planning.
In-operation control: Checkpoints are embedded in the route; if the result is unsatisfactory, the next operation cannot be proceeded with.
Initial product approval: Mass production cannot begin until the first part is approved after installation. This is the most effective way to prevent mass waste caused by installation.
Batch release: The product cannot be shipped without quality approval; the shipping system must recognize this block.
Nonconformity management: Recording of defects, rework, and deviations; root cause analysis and linking them to corrective action.
Statistical process control: Monitoring measurement values with control charts; detecting deviations before specifications are exceeded.
Cost link: The reflection of quality costs (waste, rework, inspection, complaints) in the product cost.
2. Maintenance intersection
Equipment-work center link: The relationship between equipment in the maintenance system and the work center in the planning.
Impact of planned maintenance on capacity: Inclusion of maintenance shutdowns in the production schedule; development of a plan taking these shutdowns into account.
Fault logging and downtime link: The automatic conversion of a fault downtime entered in the field into a maintenance request.
Equipment history: A single place to view a machine's breakdown, maintenance, downtime, and production history.
Predictive maintenance: Predicting failures in advance based on sensor data and operating hours; converting unplanned downtime into planned downtime.
Spare parts management: Determining the critical spare parts inventory based on equipment criticality.
Total Productive Maintenance: Defining and tracking the operator's routine maintenance tasks within the system.
A common indicator of the three processes.
Overall equipment effectiveness is essentially a combined scorecard for three processes: availability is the responsibility of maintenance, performance is the responsibility of production, and the quality ratio is the responsibility of quality.
Therefore, improving this indicator cannot be the job of a single unit. Improvement truly becomes possible when three units look at the same data and discuss it in the same meeting. When they work in separate systems, each unit defends its own side, and the indicator remains stagnant.