| Ensuring Quality through 'Tear Down' |
At Hatteland Display we have a set of business objectives that we work to in order to provide the best products and services to our customers. Included in the list is our ability to deliver, our technology, our value and our people, but perhaps the most important item on the list is quality.
We ensure the quality of our products through several processes and one of these is called 'Tear Down'. A Tear Down is when a well experienced group takes a product and performs a reverse assembly, searching for anything that could have been done better at both the design and manufacturer stage. This month, we talked to Pablo Tveita, Sales Engineer, about the process and how it helps maintain and improve the quality of Hatteland Display products.
Who is involved in the Tear Down process?
The Tear Down group consists of people from R&D, Production, Service and Sales, and we make sure to choose different people for each new tear down. To take part in a tear down, the members of staff must meet certain criteria, which are based on an overview of the different disciplines that it takes to get a high quality product to market. These are:
Knowledge from the development of the product
Experience from production
Experience of servicing the product.
Knowledge of the product's market.
How do you choose a product to Tear Down?
Specifically, we choose a product because it is new and does not have much time in the field, we have received too many fault reports, we simply need to verify the quality of a product in general or it needs to be verified as specified. Once the team has decided on a product to Tear Down, they choose at random a single finished unit as it leaves the production line.
What does the Tear Down process actually involve at Hatteland Display?
Once at the Tear Down Workstation, an experienced technician follows the assembly manual backwards in order to disassemble the product. We carefully inspect every part for faults, whilst also checking the assembly procedure. We check documents to verify every part's serial number and revisions, and also check manuals for corrections and improvements.
Whilst doing all of this the team also considers the possibility of future faults. The end result of the Tear Down process is a work document including photos and instructions for improving the product and production methods. Tear Down is a laborious but vital process as it helps us to improve the quality of our products and our manufacturing.
What happens to the Tear Down work document?
Once the Tear Down work document is created and finalised, we sort the findings in two groups; Change Request (CR) or Quality Action Request (QAR). CR is the most urgent category and goes to R&D whereas a QAR often goes to production. Additionally, we will set all findings in a risk matrix and forward the report to QA Product manager who will follow up with all the involved departments. To make sure that every single point in the Tear Down work document is addressed satisfactorily, we hold a follow up meeting every 30 days until all points are solved.
It's a painstaking process, why do it?
The answer to that is simple. We believe that offering the best quality products is one of the biggest factors to success in business. Because of this we have set ourselves a target failure rate of just 0.7%. We are very close, and Tear Down has helped us achieve this.
|
|