Sorting and inspection is an essential function of manufacturing quality control. Devoting minimal effort to quality assurance causes significant issues for a manufacturer in the form of increased returns, reputation damage, loss of business, and more.
Inspection and Sorting in Manufacturing
Manufacturers who place a high value on quality assurance practices will gain a competitive advantage over competitors.
Inspection/Sorting
Rework/Repair
Containment
Quality Assurance Services
Rework Support
Quality Representation
Process Auditing
Production Support
You have bad parts and need them contained, controlled, and reworked immediately.
Clients call us when they recognize an issue with their parts and they need to be contained and reworked. We are able to either deploy teams to our client’s multiple locations, or we can oversee containment with the removal of the parts from the manufacturing environment. Where our teams will sort, contain and then rework the necessary aspects of each nonconforming part. All parts do not leave our facility or oversight until they have received our quality inspection stamp of approval.
Our sorting and inspection services incorporate a variety of methods. Each process offers advantages for specific applications.
Visual inspection locates surface defects and is among the most common inspection methods used by manufacturers. This method identifies and separates parts that show surface cracks, corrosion, contamination, discontinuities, and finishes which may lead to the structural or mechanical failure of the part. Visual inspection includes both naked eye and magnified inspection processes.
Gauges measure whether an object conforms to specified dimensional standards. While measuring checks the actual dimensions of the object, gauging evaluates the dimensional variation of an object from an established standard. When used for quality control processes, gauging identifies and separates parts that fall outside the allowable tolerances specified by the application.
Inspection of parts with complex geometries often requires a custom designed tool known as a check fixture to verify that the part is within appropriate tolerance limits. Pins attached to a base stabilize a manufactured product over a pattern that fits the desired shape of the part.
Some separated parts may have correctable defects like surface finish, cracks, marring, or slight tolerance variations. These parts can often be reworked to appropriate specifications using processes such as:
Grinding
Machining
Adhesive bonding
Heat staking
Ultrasonic welding
Soldering
If economically feasible, problem parts can be reworked in-house. We can work with customers to have parts sent directly from their vendor to our facility for incoming inspection.
Quality control is essential to cost-effective manufacturing. Best practices for quality control include adherence to the following principal
Lean Manufacturing
Lean principles take a minimalist approach to manufacturing. In Lean production, processes are optimized to ensure they produce minimal waste. By implementing Lean methodology, we can help customers to minimize waste by lowering their overall defect rates.