LO1. Assess Quality of Received Materials

Information Sheet 1.1: Relevant Production Processes, Materials and Products

When a company creates products to sell to consumers, they typically use a strict production process. This involves following various steps, from the input stage of product creation to the output stage of selling to consumers. The right production process for each organization typically depends on the technology available, how many products the company needs to produce and organizational structure.

  • Amount to produce

Review the order number of your products to determine your production method and creation process. If you realize you need to produce large bulks of the same product at once, you may follow a mass production method. You may need to practice a different and more intricate production process if you’re manufacturing several different unique products at once.

  • Whether to move forward with mass production

There may be some products or materials that require closer design or creation to provide unique and personalized features or elements to the product that you may have promised to consumers. Because of this, consider whether mass production or manufacturing is the best option to pursue. Instead, you can strategize a non-automated process that takes longer for product designers to create but provides them with a hand-crafted, customized final product.

  • Technology to use

Selecting the right production process can often depend on the type of technology you have available. For instance, if you have a large bulk of the same product orders, you may not be able to follow a clear mass production structure if you don’t have the proper technology to track, sort or build these products accordingly. Think about the technology you have available and the approved budget you can use to buy the necessary systems and items to use the production process needed.

  • Input combinations to use

Input combinations are the labor and capital methods that go into manufacturing a product. Before deciding how many products to produce and your method for building them, you must make sure the material costs and the payment of employees equal a fair enough amount. This ensures you’re still earning enough revenue from the products to make a decent and financially stable profit, which helps the organization function properly.

Types of Production

The different types of production businesses can implement depending on their product and organizational needs include:

  • Mass production

In mass production, employees continuously produce the same items. Team members are typically split up into different workstations for everyone to use at once. Each workstation typically represents one material or addition to a product. Once the product gets to the end of the line, it’s fully complete and ready to deliver to the customer. As one part of the product is being worked on, another is operating as well, which makes the process more efficient and productive.

  • Craft production

This is a non-automated process that’s usually used on products that need personal care and attention in order to deliver a quality product to the consumer. Many companies use this type of production when customers order customized products that include certain unique colors, shapes, patterns or words on the design.

  • Batch production

Organizations typically use batch productions when they need to produce several groups of items. When this occurs, employees work in subsections of each group to complete different sections of certain batches. It operates similarly to a mass production process, but instead of creating just one product, the organization builds several different products and splits them into various groups, also known as batches.

  • Job production

When creating lower-demand products, most organizations follow a job production process. This involves building a single item all at once, rather than splitting into groups that work on different parts of the product.

Since customers typically order this product less often than others, employees may briefly move away from their position in the mass production process and complete the entire automated system of building this product at once before returning to other ongoing tasks. This process usually only applies to items that have significantly low demand or are unique finds for consumers.

  • Service production

This process entails automating a certain service to customers. You can provide personalized services offered on machines that allow customers to press buttons to request and receive assistance. Another service production method is technical support. If customers experience issues with one of the company’s technical products and need additional guidance on how to use them, they can quickly access resources and materials to answer their questions if the support team is currently unavailable.

  • Mass customization

This type of process is a mass production line that creates products unique and customized according to consumers’ needs. The customer may have the option to select certain customization options from a list of colors, shapes or patterns. When they select certain options, the mass customization process completes a unique and automated process for each individual item. For example, many clothing and merchandising stores use this process to make clothing and accessory items according to customers’ measurements or color preferences.

Information Sheet 1.2: Characteristics of Materials, Software and Hardware Used in Production Processes

Production process definition

The production process is an essential part of any business. It is a process of turning raw materials and ideas into products and services. It is important to develop efficient and effective production processes because they heavily impact business performance.

The factors of production are explained in detail below:

  • Capital includes the amount invested in the process of production. Investment can be in terms of monetary investments or assets like machines, vehicles, etc.
  • Labor refers to the people involved and the time and effort that were put into the process.
  • Technology refers to the technology used in the production process, whether the kind of machinery, the programming of machinery, the capacity of machinery, etc.
  • Land refers to natural resources such as land, energy, etc., that are used in the process of production and are counted under the category ‘land’.

Examples of the production process

Let’s explore the production process with the example of biscuit production. To set up this production process, the company requires a place or land to set up the whole production unit.

Secondly, in the production of biscuits, the organization will need the machines to mix all the necessary ingredients. It will also need an oven to bake the biscuits. In addition, it will need machinery for making the biscuits’ packaging and labeling, which will all become capital investment for the company.

The company will also need labor to mix all the ingredients together, separate them into batches of production and different flavors, set the output levels of the machines and temperature of the ovens, decide on the labeling function, and oversee the overall production system.

Another important function and need of the production process is technology to ensure the labels are correct, the names of the product are rightly mentioned, the temperature is set correctly, and all other necessary technical aspects that do not require human intervention.

If all of the above factors of production are in place, the production process of biscuits runs smoothly and can match the requirement of the business and customers.

Production process flow chart

The production process goes through various stages, which can be understood with the help of the flow chart. There are multiple ways to create a production process flow chart, depending on the organization’s need and their production line. The following are generally the basic stages that are involved in most of the production processes. However, these may vary from industry to industry.

  1. Planning: usually the basic requirement of all production processes. This stage helps to define the purpose and how the goals of production can be achieved properly.
  2. Routing: This is the next stage in the production process where the raw materials may be procured, processed, finished, quality checked, and distributed. Decisions are made regarding the quantity and quality of goods and services as well as on the place of production. This is a crucial stage in the production process.
  3. Scheduling: Scheduling means deciding the timings of the production process. For example, how much time should each stage of production involve? How long should each person work on a particular workflow?
  4. Dispatching: This stage is the actual start of the production. It may involve the provision of necessary items, the maintenance of records, the monitoring of workflows as planned, the recording of the number of times a machine works, machine idling time, etc.
  5. Follow-up: Follow-up is the last stage of the production process. Follow-up measures the actual versus the expected productions. Follow-up helps to detect the problems and remove them to help with the smooth functioning of the process.

Information Sheet 1.3: Quality Checking Procedures

Quality control (QC) is an approach of quality management that businesses use to ensure that the manufactured product or service adheres to standardized quality criteria and meets the client’s requirements.

Organizations use a set of procedures and benchmarks to ensure that the quality of a product is maintained or improved and errors are reduced or eliminated. Quality control requires inspection and sampling to test whether the final product adheres to the set specifications.

Quality control testing is done at the various steps of manufacturing to identify the problems and help prevent them in the future.

Quality Control Methods

Six Sigma

Six Sigma is a set of quality control tools created by a scientist in the 1980s. This method is a data-driven process that was developed to reduce the defects and variations from set specifications. In statistics, Sigma is the standard deviation from the mean.

With this method, a process needs to have no more than 3.4 defects for every one million events or units. Originally Six Sigma was developed as a management method to enable companies to work faster with fewer mistakes, and has grown to become an industry standard that provides certifications. Companies use this model to boost their profits.

Over the years, Six Sigma has evolved to become a part of business management. Organizations use this method to meet customer requirements, improve customer retention, and sustain the business products and services.

Lean

Lean, or lean Six Sigma, is one of the latest quality control methods. This team-focused managerial approach identifies and eliminates waste in the production process to improve efficiency in the organization. In this case, “waste” is the tasks or steps that are deemed unnecessary in the company; therefore, they need to be discontinued.

Companies that use the lean model are focused on eliminating the following:

  • Inefficient transportation of materials
  • Overproduction that exceeds customer demands
  • Too much waiting
  • Inefficient processing standards
  • Excess inventory levels
  • Inefficient work execution by workers and machines
  • Work spent fixing production defects

Kaizen

Kaizen in Japanese means change for good; however, it’s loosely translated to “continuous improvement.” This quality control process is quite different because it includes the entire organization, from the top management to the rank and file. If you implement this method in your company, it means that every employee has the opportunity to improve daily.

Organizations that use the Kaizen model also use these implementation tools.

  • Gemba Walk: Management and top executives walk around the production floor or manufacturing plant to observe the work, ask questions, and identify areas of opportunity. This model enables the management to know exactly what’s happening.
  • SIPOC: Supplies, inputs, process, outputs, customers (SIPOC) is a mapping tool that provides clarity in the process workflows. With this tool, the overall process gets optimized and unnecessary tasks are discontinued.
  • 8D Report: Also known as the eight disciplines model, this problem-solving tool resolves and prevents issues identified by quality control personnel. This method identifies and eliminates the root cause of the problem to improve the quality.

X-Bar Chart

Organizations also use quality control charts to measure whether the sampled processes or products are meeting the set specifications. With the X-bar chart method, randomly selected products are tested for the attributes the chart is tracking. On this chart, the Y-axis tracks the variation, while the X-axis monitors the sample tested.

You can use the pattern of variance from the chart to determine whether the facts are systematic or random. Using the results, you can plan on how to improve your quality control processes.

100 Percent Inspection

This quality control method involves examining and assessing all parts of a product. Companies use this method to rule out defects on a product; therefore, it’s common in organizations that deal in produce and metals. Quality control inspectors will need the data on the entire manufacturing process and an inventory analysis.

However, this method comes with some disadvantages. Checking every item that makes up the product is expensive and time-consuming. In addition, if the product is delicate, such as fruits, the inspection process could render it unusable, leading to massive company losses.

Taguchi

Unlike other quality control methods, the Taguchi model focuses on product design, development, and research. Developed by Genichi Taguchi, a Japanese statistician, it seeks to eliminate variances during production before they happen. Companies that use this method aim to reduce the occurrence of defects in their products. This Taguchi method considers product design to be more important than the manufacturing process. Therefore, the focus is on using research and design to ensure every product will match the set specifications.

Information Sheet 1.4: Quality Workplace Procedures

When you conduct a professional small business, quality should be one of your top priorities. In order to properly commit your company to offering high quality products and services as well as quality operating standards, it’s helpful to create a set of procedures for you and your employees to follow.

Significance

Employees need structure and written goals to follow if you want them to produce a high level of quality of work. For instance, if a fast food business doesn’t have a written procedure for preparing menu items, the quality of the food may suffer. As the business owner, you can also use quality procedures to guide how you run the company. Adherence to strict quality procedures within a business is also a selling point that the company can use in advertisements.

Process

A company owner or manager must complete a number of key steps when establishing and enforcing quality procedures. First, he must review the situation at hand to obtain a full understanding of the concerns involved with setting these procedures and also perform research on how to resolve those concerns. Next, he must write the actual procedures down. After implementing quality procedures in the office, the business owner must then review the progress of employees and ensure that vendors and key parties to the production or service process are following the stated procedures.

Considerations

ISO 9000 is a set of general quality management standards that many businesses use to guide quality procedures. The standards, set by the International Organization for Standardization, are broken down by industry and apply to companies all over the world. So, for instance, a manufacturing company has to follow a strict set of ISO procedures regarding the production and distribution of its products in order to become ISO-certified. This certification gives customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders’ confidence in the company’s commitment to quality.

Solutions

A smart solution for a new business owner who isn’t familiar with the process of setting quality procedures is to hire an experienced quality control consultant to help navigate the required steps. This person can help the business owner understand and utilize quality management systems, like ISO 9000, and also advise her on an ongoing basis once the procedures are in place.

Types

Companies must evaluate quality procedures based on internal and external controls. Internal quality refers to the quality of the product or service and how it is developed. External quality controls refer to customer service and how the company delivers the finished product or service to the end user.

Information Sheet 1.5: Identification of Faulty Materials Related To Work

These are the things to be considered when receiving materials:

A. Received Materials

  1. Match the packing slip to the items received and ensures that the materials are destined on tour department.
  2. Materials received are indicated on the purchase order with regard to quantity and discount.
  3. Materials received are in acceptable condition.
  4. The terms regarding installation and/or set-up of equipment are met.

B. Receiving Reports

Whenever goods are received:

  1. The person receiving the goods must document that all goods were received for each requisition before any payment can be made to the vendor.
  2. Any exceptions must be noted so that partial payments can be processed or defective goods can be returned.

C. Return of Merchandise

When merchandise is received which is incomplete or defective, the supervisor will return the materials to the supplier or to the store where it was bought and make arrangements with the vendor for replacement.

D. Make an Inventory Report of the Materials

All materials received must be listed and be reported to monitor how many materials are already on hand, purchased or damaged. Effective management checks are an important means of providing assurance of the integrity and security of the benefit processes. They are also useful in identifying training needs; indicating possible weaknesses in procedure and ensuring the section meets its accuracy target set for Best Value Performance Indicators purposes.