Continuous improvement production

Statistical quality control is used to first measure and then continuously improve product quality. For example, The Dow Chemical Company s average 1989 performance compared to the typical sales specification were purity, = 99.65 wt % color, APHA = 4 acid (as HCl) = 7.3 ppm and water = 26 ppm. Averages of properties were based on rail car and tank tmck shipment samples during 1989. 

Process analytical technology continuously improves product quality, extends the acquired knowledge base for new projects, and shortens time to market. 

The enterprise shall monitor product and process quality factors and shall continuously improve products and processes throughout the system life cycle, as described in the following subclauses. 

Total Quality Management (TQM) An approach that involves aU employees in continually improving products and work processes to achieve customer satisfaction and world-class performance. TQM is generally associated with bottom-up incremental improvement. 

Never before has the customer been better travelled, more informed and had higher expectations. Many of these expectations began with the quality movement of the 1980s where it was trumpeted that the customer was king, and these expectations have been kept alive by continuously improved products and services, global advertising and for the last decade the World Wide Web. 

The specific character of NDT related to the quality assessment of safety critical products and objects requires constant analysis and continuous improvement of processes and their interconnection. Sometimes interaction of processes is very complicated (Figure 3) therefore the processes have to be systematized and simplified when possible to realize total quality management in NDT. 

Responsible Care is the incentive sponsored by the Chemical Manufacturers Association (CMA). Any CMA company must embrace the philosophy of continuous improvements of health, safety, and environmental efforts accompanied by an open communication to the pubHc about products and their production. Thus the total impact of any product on the environment, from the extraction of raw materials, their beneftciation, transportation, production of final product, and disposal of the product at the end of its useful life, must be taken into consideration. 

Some fabrication processes, such as continuous panel processes, are mn at elevated temperatures to improve productivity. Dual-catalyst systems are commonly used to initiate a controlled rapid gel and then a fast cure to complete the cross-linking reaction. Cumene hydroperoxide initiated at 50°C with benzyl trimethyl ammonium hydroxide and copper naphthenate in combination with tert-huty octoate are preferred for panel products. Other heat-initiated catalysts, such as lauroyl peroxide and tert-huty perbenzoate, are optional systems. Eor higher temperature mol ding processes such as pultmsion or matched metal die mol ding at temperatures of 150°C, dual-catalyst systems are usually employed based on /-butyl perbenzoate and 2,5-dimethyl-2,5-di-2-ethyIhexanoylperoxy-hexane (Table 6). 

Some of the early Thiokol soHd mbbers are stiU made and used in printing roUs, solvent-resistant spray hose, gaskets, and gas-meter diaphragms. Many of the polysulfide products have been in use since the 1940s with an exceUent track record. Continuing improvements in technology keep these products competitive. 

This technique, widely used in U.S. plants during World War II, helped to ensure rehabihty and performance of military supphes. Once the war ended, SPG lost favor. However, in the face of rising Japanese product quahty, SPG was reintroduced. In the chemical industry the use of SPG continues to grow in popularity as a key element of an ongoing continuous improvement. 

Reichsteia and Grbssner s second L-ascorbic acid synthesis became the basis for the iadustrial vitamin C production. Many chemical and technical modifications have improved the efficiency of each step, enabling this multistep synthesis to remain the principal, most economical process up to the present (ca 1997) (46). L-Ascorbic acid is produced ia large, iategrated, automated faciUties, involving both continuous and batch operations. The process steps are outlined ia Figure 7. Procedures require ca 1.7-kg L-sorbose/kg of L-ascorbic acid with ca 66% overall yield ia 1977 (55). Siace 1977, further continuous improvement of each vitamin C production step has taken place. Today s overall ascorbic acid yield from L-sorbose is ca 75%. In the mid-1930s, the overall yield from L-sorbose was ca 30%. 

The trend toward lower proof beverages will also likely continue because of new consumer preferences, cost reduction, and tax savings opportunities. Pressures to improve production efficiencies and lower costs will increase and new technology must play a greater role in this area. Distilled beverages have been produced for several thousands of years and will continue to be consumed in an ever increasing variety of forms and packages. 

Measurements and Audits. The enabling element of continuous improvement is measurement. An old rule of thumb says that increased accuracy in measuring an energy use ultimately yields a reduction in use equal to 10% of the increased closure of the balance. A basic principle of economics is that any thing that is free is used in excess, ie, an unmetered electrical use is bigger than expected by at least 10%. Metering of the cost elements at each unit in a chemical plant provides effective accountabhity. Measurements should be linked via computer software to production as weh as to weather to result in maximum feedback. 

There are important economic consequences of a process being out of control for example, product waste and customer dissatisfaction. Hence, statistical process control does provide a way to continuously monitor process performance and improve product quahty. A typic process may go out of control due to several reasons, including... 

Rubber and Elastomers Rubber and elastomers are widely used as lining materials. To meet the demands of the chemical indus-tiy, rubber processors are continually improving their products. A number of synthetic rubbers have been developed, and while none has all the properties of natural rubber, they are superior in one or more ways. The isoprene and polybutadiene synthetic rubbers are duphcates of natural. 

The role of quality in reliability would seem obvious, and yet at times has been rather elusive. While it seems intuitively correct, it is difficult to measure. Since much of the equipment discussed in this book is built as a custom engineered product, the classic statistical methods do not readily apply. Even for the smaller, more standardized rotary units discussed in Chapter 4, the production runs are not high, keeping the sample size too small for a classical statistical analysis. Run adjustments are difficult if the run is complete before the data can be analyzed. However, modified methods have been developed that do provide useful statistical information. These data can be used to determine a machine tool s capability, which must be known for proper machine selection to match the required precision of a part. The information can also be used to test for continuous improvement in the work process. 

Nowadays many companies have adopted a policy of continuous improvement of working conditions. Therefore, it is desirable to create target levels for those who want to pursue more efficient control by applying the best available control technologies. There are also endeavors to create optimal working conditions in order to improve the performance and the innovativeness of a staff, and hence enhance productivity. A series of laboratory and case studies show that employee productivity is higher when the work environment is appropriate for the tasks being done.- Such efforts are typical in the advanced sector of industry. One can say that there is a transition from blue-collar to white-collar work. ... 

Failure modes analysis Statistical process control Measurement systems analysis Employee motivation On-the-job training Efficiency will increase through common application of requirements for Continuous improvement in cost Continuous improvement in productivity Employee motivation On-the-job training... 

Delphi Chassis Systems will provide products and services to global markets that will meet or exceed customer expectations through people, teamwork, and continuous improvement. 

You need an improvement system that causes improvement opportunities to be identified. Relying on chance encounters will not create the conditions needed for continuous improvement. The data that needs to be analyzed will be generated by a particular process and this process governed by particular documented procedures. By having already placed instructions in these procedures for certain data to be transmitted to your data analysts, you can cause opportunities to be identified. Other opportunities that are less dependent on product or process data may arise from the audit process and particular projects such as benchmarking, customer and supplier surveys. 

Productivity is addressed under Continuous improvement and in order to improve productivity you will need to collect data generally in the form of resource/part produced. Resource can be hours, costs, weight, or volume of material consumed. Graphs showing the productivity trend over time for plants, products, and processes would satisfy this requirement. 

The standard requires that continuous improvement extend to product characteristics and process parameters with the highest priority on special characteristics. 

Subcontractor development should not be limited to the assessment for compliance to ISO/TS 16949 as indicated in Note 1. The standard contains the minimum requirements and, with the requirement for continuous improvement, it may be necessary to work with some of your subcontractors in order to develop their capability to improve process capability and delivery schedules or reduce avoidable costs. You can t develop all your subcontractors and hence Note 2 of the standard indicates that you should prioritize subcontractors for development based upon performance and importance of product or service supplied. 

Following production launch, process capability and performance should be measured continually in order to demonstrate that your processes remain capable and the capability index continues to rise. Appropriate action should be taken on characteristics that are either unstable or non-capable. Action plans should be implemented to contain process output and continually improve performance. 

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